Engy › Who's who in longevity › Venki Ramakrishnan
At a glance
- Venki Ramakrishnan is an Indian-born British-American structural biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.
- In 2009 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath for research on the structure and function of the ribosome, the cell’s protein factory.
- He was President of the Royal Society from 2015 to 2020 and was knighted in 2012.
- In his book Gene Machine (2018) he tells the story behind unravelling the ribosome.
- In Why We Die (2024) he explains what biology says about ageing and death: from DNA damage and protein waste to senescent cells. He also discusses what can realistically be expected from longevity research and warns against hype.
- For longevity, he is a valuable, sober voice: a top scientist who takes the field seriously but looks critically at exaggerated promises.
- Takeaway: the proven basics — not smoking, exercise, good food and sleep — do more than most ‘anti-ageing’ products.
Recent
- Interview Venki Ramakrishnan, Premio Nobel de Química: “Nuestros cerebros parecen haber desarrollado un mecanismo de protección con la muerte”
- Interview Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan on living longer, techie arrogance, & frontiers in biology
- Interview Venki Ramakrishnan, premio Nobel de Química: "El límite natural de nuestra especie está alrededor de los 110 años"