Old age is a risk factor for a variety of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and fatty liver. Prof. Haim Cohen researches the mechanisms that will help us maintain a healthy life
Since the beginning of the 20th century, human life expectancy has increased by 70 percent, mainly following the invention of antibiotics, which led to a significant decrease in complications as a result of infections. Thus, a Western baby born at the beginning of the twentieth century lived for about 50 years, while today he will live for about 80 years. As a result of this continuous increase in life expectancy, it is expected that within a few decades, between a quarter and a third of the people in the world will be over the age of 65. This change poses social, family (transition from a two-generation family to a five-generation family), moral, economic and above all - medical challenges. Meet Prof. Haim Cohen, a researcher at the Faculty of Life Sciences in Bar-Ilan, whose research deals with the extension of life expectancy and its health and medical implications.
Old age is a risk factor for a large variety of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, fatty liver, skeletal problems and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. However, the increase in life expectancy is also an opportunity unprecedented in human history for a significant growth in the number of people who have experience, desire and knowledge that may have a positive impact on society. The realization of the human potential of the older third in society is likened to the growing revolutions in human history in Prof. Cohen's eyes. Accordingly, his research deals with understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the aging process and developing therapeutic approaches that will inhibit these mechanisms.
In Prof. Cohen's laboratory, they study the key enzyme SIRT6, which mediates the positive effect of calorie restriction on healthy life expectancy. Prof. Cohen and his team showed that increasing the activity of SIRT6 may extend life by dozens of percent and prevent the health damage of obesity and old age. Today, the laboratory is developing new ways to extend a person's healthy lifespan based on these findings. The research on the SIRT6 enzyme and the real hopes it raises was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature and received great resonance in the scientific and general community.
Prof. Cohen, who returned to Bar-Ilan University after a post-doctorate at Harvard University, won prestigious awards and grants for his research and is the head of the National Metabolic Center in the Center of Excellence for Scientific Research in the Field of Complex Diseases in Humans (part of the national I-Core initiative). The center is a partnership of Bar-Ilan University, the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, and Sheba, Tel Hashomer and Hadassah hospitals. The metabolic center, established at Bar-Ilan University, is unique of its kind in Israel and has advanced scientific equipment. Prof. Cohen also heads the Israeli-German Minerva Center for the Study of the Biology of Aging and the Segol Family Center for Healthy Aging in Man.
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