PARMINDER SINGH

Hot off Buck Blog press! Meet Dr. Parminder Singh from @KapahiLab. Dr. Singh's research explores how communication between organs influences biology of aging, uncovering new insights into mechanisms that drive health and longevity. buckinstitute.org/blog/faces-of-… @Parminder_S94

Amazing @NIHFunding NIA training course in aging. Had so much fun with this talented group! @BuckInstitute

@LidskyPeter Is it related to reproductive investment?

@Parminder_S94 Nope)))

This Friday Aging Puzzle is on air! Today, it is not about aging specifically. It is about death, which is close but not the same thing. The topic is the evolution of semelparity and what drives its repeated evolution in carnivorous marsupials. As you may know, semelparity is a type of death that happens rapidly after reproduction. The classic example is Pacific salmons that go up the rivers to lay eggs and die soon after this. The exact evolutionary reason for this is unknown (we discussed it last week x.com/LidskyPeter/st…). Semelparity can also be found in lampreys, octopuses, some insects, and ticks. Some people say it is because of the tremendous effort these animals put into reproduction, but this take is likely wrong. For example, the mechanistic reason for death in the Pacific salmons is a hormonal spike. If the glands are removed, salmons can survive spawning. Phenotypically, muscle and neural system degeneration, as well as immune and kidney decline in fish, looks like a programmed suicide and not as a consequence of exhaust. Strange, right? And what about mammals? Is semelparity found in mammals? Surprisingly, it evolved only in two groups of carnivorous marsupials, Dasyuridae and Didelphidae, from Australia and South America. The North American opossums belong to Didelphidae, but is not semelparous, so today’s puzzle does not inspect garbage in your garden right now. North American opossums reproduce several times, while some of their relatives die very soon after replication. Paradoxically, in most semelparous species, only males die after breeding. It would be quite strange to believe they exhaust more than females. Surprisingly, semelparity evolved in marsupials at least five times independently! So, something is not random about these species! Why is it never found in placental insectivores or carnivores that occupy similar ecological niches? Initially, when semelparity was discovered in marsupial mice, people also hypothesized that this was about exhaust. However, when it was found in Northern quolls (aka northern native cats), this model was challenged: quolls are quite big animals; they eat during the breeding season, so there are no good reasons to believe they get exhausted (doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2…). Currently, I am finishing a book about my aging theory, and this theory, among many others, can also explain this puzzle. I believe that the key evolutionary determinant that dictates why marsupials, but not placental animals, evolve semelparity is embryonic development. Placental animals nurture their embryos via the placenta and evolved mechanisms. This placenta (which is partially made by embryonic cells) is not attacked by the immune system. Marsupials also nurture their embryos while they are in the uterus. However, attachment of the embryo is accompanied by activation of the immune system that attacks the embryo as an alien tissue (similar to transplant rejection). Embryo tissue also activates immune response. All together, it is called “cooperative inflammation” (see doi.org/10.1016/j.jri.…). However, marsupial embryos are not attached for a long time, they come out as tiny pink beans, attach to the nipples, and are nurtured further with the mothers' milk. Finally, the question: my theory states that cooperative inflammation can be an initial but indirect reason for the repetitive evolution of semelparity in marsupials. It determines some important ecological factor that in turn, makes semelparity a good evolutionary strategy. Try to guess what this mysterious selective factor may be! The correct answer must be only two words long! As before, the first person providing a correct answer will get my signed paperback!

Practice the pause!! “Self-protection is learning how to take a pause between what you feel and how you react. When there is no awareness between what you perceive and the way that you respond, anything can control you.” @AcademicChatter

“Honesty without kindness is brutality Kindness without honesty is manipulation” @AcademicChatter

Here is another obituary we wrote which covers Judy’s contributions in the field of cancer and the role she played in getting people in aging and cancer fields to talk. Judy was one of the most unifying forces in our field and will be missed by so many.

3/3 When individuals prioritize their own brilliance over collective intelligence, the entire team suffers, and opportunities for innovation and collaboration are lost.

2/3 confidence with competence. However, true leadership isn't about being the smartest in the room but about including and learning from diverse voices.

1/3 In academia, one of the most undervalued roles is that of nurturing and fostering the growth of team members. Unfortunately, there aren't enough incentives for this vital task. Instead, we often reward individuals who dominate conversations, mistakenly equating their

We had a fun lab outing and team building day. Making it out of the Escape room and Chinatown visit was fun with this great group of talented and fun peeps.

@achirpingbird @Winer_Imm_Lab Congratulations priya, amazing study 🥳🙌🙌

It is my pleasure to share my 1st independently led primary research pub w/ @Winer_Imm_Lab With many pointing out the leaky gut + dysbiosis that come with Alzheimer’s disease,we set out to investigate changes in the gut immune system in a mouse model of AD biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Have you ever thought about to what extent gestation influence organismal homeostasis during adulthood? In our most recent publication, we addressed this question through the hormone Osteocalcin. embopress.org/doi/full/10.10…

@kapahi_pankaj Very practical indeed!!

Love this! Group think doesn’t work for disruptive ideas but you need 2-3 people for stimulating discussions to start something new.

@longlabstanford @WeiWei_Stanford @BrunetLab @StanfordMed Indeed, cool study!! Looking forward to see the final product. 👍

Also great to see lots of interest in @WeiWei_Stanford’s unpublished work on taurine metabolism at the Bay Area Aging meeting @Parminder_S94 @BrunetLab @StanfordMed

💛 VitaDAO Fellowship Updates! Our latest fellowship batch has been selected and funded! 🎉 Here's a 🔍 closer look at the incredible minds in longevity research and why we chose to back their promising ventures. 💡 Parminder Singh, Cassy Le, and Marton Meszaros: 😍We're thrilled to have sponsored their attendance at ARDD 2023 - one of the top aging conferences. Their representation of diverse 🧬aging-related domains made this decision a no-brainer

Our tiny lab worms reveal big insights! My new @eLife study shows Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs) in processed foods caused worms to overeat. Check out! doi.org/10.7554/eLife.… @KapahiLab @BuckInstitute @ellie_elegans @theElegantWorm @AM_OMRF @americanaging @ScienceNews

Buck CEO @EricVerdin and Buck Postdoc @Parminder_S94 representing the Buck in Copenhagen today as invited speakers at the global 2023 Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting @ARDD_meeting agingpharma.org

@TrumanLab @DrDDOM In ideal world may be yes, but in practical world its almost inevitable. Postdocs writes grant claim in CVs to show their demonstrative skill set. A Win-win solution that any grant agencies can do is to have a small contribution section in the grant for people other than PIs.

@DrDDOM If a grant is not awarded to you, you can’t lost it as your grant on your CV, plain and simple. Should PIs make a postdoc write a whole grant and then claim it as their own-absolutely not

Re: discussion of switching co-first authors on CVs for faculty positions. Another thing that I see commonly are postdocs listing themselves as having grants when they are not the PI of the grant. Don’t do this-it’s easy to look up and check…