| Our Faculty

William Mair, Ph.D.

Research in the Mair Lab

The Mair lab’s research studies the basic biology of the aging process, driven by the central question: Why are we more likely to get chronic diseases when we are old than when we are young? What goes wrong in cells and tissues to increase overall disease risk, and is this decline inevitable, or can we reverse it to bring healthy years to the elderly?

Aging is a universal trait that is observed across the evolutionary spectrum. From a public health perspective, aging is also the critical risk factor for a variety of human pathologies, including neurodegenerative diseases, many forms of cancer and metabolic disease. Our lab is interested in understanding the molecular pathways underpinning the aging process, with the goal of using this knowledge to develop novel therapeutic strategies to treat age-onset disorders.

In particular, we study the mechanisms by which animals can modulate the rate at which they age in response to changes in nutrition and the environment. The profound ability to slow aging when energy availability is low is seen in organisms ranging from yeast to primates and is coupled to a striking protection against a suite of age-related pathologies. By elucidating the genetic and molecular pathways that dictate this response, we aim to recapitulate the positive effects of dietary restriction on lifespan and health without the need for changes in dietary intake and its associated detrimental side effects.

Biosketch

William Mair completed his B.Sc. in Genetics and Ph.D. in Biology at University College London, UK. He moved to San Diego to carry out his postdoctoral training at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, before joining Harvard as an Assistant Professor in November 2011.

  • Associate Professor of Genetics and Complex Diseases
    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Contact Information

Harvard School of Public Health, Bldg 1, 665 Huntington Ave., Boston MA 02115

Featured Publications

  • Weir HJ, Yao P, Huynh FK, Escoubas CC, Goncalves RL, Burkewitz K, Laboy R, Hirschey MD, Mair WB. 2017. Dietary Restriction and AMPK Increase Lifespan via Mitochondrial Network and Peroxisome Remodeling. Cell metabolism. 26(6):884-896.e5. Pubmed: 29107506
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  • Han S, Schroeder EA, Silva-García CG, Hebestreit K, Mair WB, Brunet A. 2017. Mono-unsaturated fatty acids link H3K4me3 modifiers to C. elegans lifespan. Nature. 544(7649):185-190. Pubmed: 28379943 DOI:10.1038/nature21686
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  • Hine C, Harputlugil E, Zhang Y, Ruckenstuhl C, Lee BC, Brace L, Longchamp A, Treviño-Villarreal JH, Mejia P, Ozaki CK, Wang R, Gladyshev VN, Madeo F, Mair WB, Mitchell JR. 2015. Endogenous hydrogen sulfide production is essential for dietary restriction benefits. Cell. 160(1-2):132-44. Pubmed: 25542313
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  • Burkewitz K, Zhang Y, Mair WB. 2014. AMPK at the nexus of energetics and aging. Cell metabolism. 20(1):10-25. Pubmed: 24726383
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  • Jacobi D, Liu S, Burkewitz K, Kory N, Knudsen NH, Alexander RK, Unluturk U, Li X, Kong X, Hyde AL, Gangl MR, Mair WB, Lee CH. 2015. Hepatic Bmal1 Regulates Rhythmic Mitochondrial Dynamics and Promotes Metabolic Fitness. Cell metabolism. 22(4):709-20. Pubmed: 26365180
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  • Hwang AB, Ryu EA, Artan M, Chang HW, Kabir MH, Nam HJ, Lee D, Yang JS, Kim S, Mair WB, Lee C, Lee SS, Lee SJ. 2014. Feedback regulation via AMPK and HIF-1 mediates ROS-dependent longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 111(42):E4458-67. Pubmed: 25288734 DOI:10.1073/pnas.1411199111
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  • Burkewitz K, Morantte I, Weir HJM, Yeo R, Zhang Y, Huynh FK, Ilkayeva OR, Hirschey MD, Grant AR, Mair WB. 2015. Neuronal CRTC-1 governs systemic mitochondrial metabolism and lifespan via a catecholamine signal. Cell. 160(5):842-855. Pubmed: 25723162
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  • Silva-García CG, Lanjuin A, Heintz C, Dutta S, Clark NM, Mair WB. 2019. Single-Copy Knock-In Loci for Defined Gene Expression in. G3 (Bethesda, Md.). Pubmed: 31064766
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