Linda Partridge

At a glance

• Dame Linda Partridge is a British geneticist and biogerontologist. She is Weldon Professor of Biometry at University College London’s Institute of Healthy Ageing and Founding Director Emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne.
• She studies in fruit flies and mice how genes and diet influence lifespan and age-related disease.
• Her work showed that reduced insulin/IGF signalling and dietary restriction extend lifespan in several species, and that the balance of protein and amino acids in the diet is particularly important.
• She has also tested existing drugs, such as rapamycin, lithium and trametinib, that extended life in flies or mice.
• A Fellow of the Royal Society and its former Biological Secretary, she was made a Dame in 2009 for services to science. She co-authored the influential review The Hallmarks of Aging.
• For longevity, her work is fundamental: it shows that ageing can be influenced through shared mechanisms.
• Takeaway: these drugs are not proven for longevity in humans; a varied diet without excess remains the safe foundation.