Medicine: Endocrinology & Diabetes: Faculty: In This Section

Dr. Atzmon, a graduate in Population Genetics of Hebrew University, completed his Fellowship in Human genetics under the mentorship of Nir Barzilai, M.D at AECOM. He then joined the faculty where he rose to the rank of Assistant Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine. He is also a member of the Institute for Aging Research (IAR) and the Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC).

Dr. Atzmon’s work has provided the foundation for the genetic approaches of the Institute of Aging here at Einstein. He has adopted numerous new technologies, most recently the 6.0 Affymetrix platforms, to probe the genomics of aging and longevity. He implemented other novel procedures such as measuring telomere length by qRT-PCR which have increased his ability to answer relevant biological questions in aging. He has received a grant from an NIA longevity consortium, and is a Core leader for 2 Programs funded by NIH.  

Dr. Atzmon’s recent work, together with Dr Nir Barzilai, involves the identification of the first longevity gene CETP followed by other newly discovered genes, APOC3 and ADIPOQ. These genes, in association with large lipoprotein particle sizes, may protect from a variety of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart disease. This finding is potentially very important for understanding the molecular mechanism of exceptional longevity and it may lead to potential new treatments for aging disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. 

Examples of epigenetic regulation of genome architecture and gene expression are paved across the evolutionary lineage. Even if only a small proportion of human genes are subject to similar effects, they may still play a major role in the phenotypic variation and susceptibility to diseases. His long-term research goal is to investigate changes in the epigenetic control of gene expression which may be one of the central mechanisms by which aging predisposes to many age-related diseases and therefore lifespan. 

1.    Atzmon G, Cawthon RM, Katz M, Yang X, Siegel G, Bergman A, Barzilai N. Heritability of Long Telomeres in Families with Exceptional Longevity.PNAS, 2009.

2.    Shlush LI, Weisshoff R, Atzmon G, Behar D, Yudkovsky G, Skorecki K, Barzilai N. Ashkenazi Jewish Centenarians do not Demonstrate Enrichment in Mitochondrial Haplogroup J. PloS One, 2008.

3.    Muzumdar R, Allison DB, Huffman DM, Ma X, Atzmon G, Einstein FH, Fishman S, Poduval AD, McVei T, Keith SW, Barzilai N. Visceral Adipose Tissue Modulates Mammalian Longevity. Aging Cell in press, 2008.

4.    Muzumdar R, Atzmon G, Buettner C, Budagov T, He W, Cui L, Einstein F, Fishman S, Poduval A, Hwang D, Ma X, Yang X, Cohen P. Humanin: A novel central regulator of insulin sensitivity. Plos One, 2009.

5.    Einstein FH, Bauman J, Fishman S, Thompson R, Atzmon G, Barzilai N, Muzumdar RH. Enhanced Activation of ‘Nutrient-Sensing pathway’ with Age Contributes to the Insulin Resistance and Inflammatory State. FASEB J in review, 2008.

6.    Atzmon G, Pollin TI, Crandall J, Tanner K, Schechter CB, Scherer PE, Rincon M, Siegel G, Katz M, Lipton RB, Shuldiner AR, Barzilai N. Adiponectin levels and genotype: A potential regulator of life-span in humans. Journal of Gerontology in press, 2008.

7.    Fishman S, Einstein FH, Jerschow E, Atzmon G, Muzumdar RH, Yang X, Ma X, Barzilai N. Aging Increases the Susceptibility to Free Fatty Acid-Mediated Lipotoxicity In Vivo. J. Of gerontology in review, 2009.

8.    Atzmon G, Blum S, Feldman M, Cahaner A, Lavi U, Hillel J. QTLs detected in a multigenerational resource chicken population. Journal of Heredity, 2008.

9.    Suh Y, Atzmon G, Cho M, Hwang D, Liu B, Leahy D, Barzilai N, Cohen P. Dysfunction of the IGF1 receptor is associated with exceptional longevity in humans. PNAS 105(9):3438-42, 2008.

10.Einstein FH, Fishman S, Muzumdar R, Yang X, Atzmon G, Barzilai N.Accretion of Visceral Fat and Hepatic Insulin Resistance in Pregnant Rats. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 294(2):E451-5, 2008.

11.Iwata N, Zhang J, Atzmon G, Leanza S, Cho J, Chomyn A, Burk RD, Barzilai N, Attardi G. Aging-related occurrence in Ashkenazi Jews of leukocyte heteroplasmic mtDNA mutation adjacent to replication origin frequently remodeled in Italian centenarians. Mitochondrion 7(4):267-72, 2007.

12.Atzmon G, Blum S, Feldman M, Lavi U, Hillel J. Detection of agriculturally important QTLs in chickens and identification of the best genotyping strategy. Cytogenet Genome Res 117:327–337, 2007.

13.Fishman S, Muzumdar R, Atzmon G, Ma X, Barzilai N. Resistance to Leptin Action is the Major Determinant of Hepatic Triglycerides Accumulation in vivo. FASEB 21(1):53-60, 2007.

14.Atzmon G, Rincon M, Schechter C, Shuldiner An, Lipton R, Bergman A, Barzilai N: Lipoprotein genotype and conserved pathway for exceptional longevity in humans. PLoS Biology 4(4):e113, 2006

15.Atzmon G, Ronin YI, Korol A, Yonash N, Cheng H and Hillel J. QTLs associated with growth traits and abdominal fat weight and their interactions with gender and hatch in commercial meat-type chickens. Animal Genetics 37:352–358, 2006.

16.Lahav T, Atzmon G, Blum S, Ben-Ari G, Weigend S, Cahaner A, Lavi U, Hillel J. Marker Assisted Selection Based On Multi-Trait Economic Index In Chicken: Experimental Results And Simulation. Animal Genetics 37: 482–488, 2006

17.Muzumdar R, Ma X, Fishman S, Yang X, Atzmon G, Vuguin P, Einstein FH, Hwang D, Cohen P, Barzilai N. Central and Opposing effects of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 on systemic insulin action. Diabetes 55:2788-96, 2006

18.Terry DF, Diego FW, Atzmon G, Schoenhofen EA, Pennington JY, Andersen SL,  Wilcox MA, Farrer LA, Perls TT, Barzilai N, Baldwin CT, Asea A, Serum Heat Shock Protein 70 Level as a Biomarker of Exceptional Longevity. Mechanisms of Aging and Dev. 127(11):862-8, 2006

19.Barzilai N, Atzmon G, Derby CA, Bauman JM, Lipton RB, A Genotype of Exceptional Longevity is Associated with Preservation of Cognitive Function. Neurology 26;67(12):2170-5, 2006

20.Bergman A, Atzmon G, Ye  K, Barzilai N: Differential Survival as an Approach to Aging and Longevity Genes Discovery. PLoS Computational Biology in Press, 2007

21.Muzumdar RH, Ma X, Yang X, Atzmon G, Barzilai N: Central resistance to the inhibitory effects of leptin on stimulated insulin secretion with aging. Neurobiol Aging, 27:9:1308-1314, 2006

22.Atzmon G, Einstein FH, Yang XM, Ma XH, Rincon M, Rudin E, Muzumdar R, Barzilai N: Differential responses of visceral and subcutaneous fat depots to nutrients. Diabetes 54:672-678, 2005.

23.Arking DE, Atzmon G, Arking A, Barzilai N, Dietz HC: Association between a functional variant of the KLOTHO gene and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, stroke, and longevity. Circ Res 96:412-418, 2005.

24.Atzmon G, Rincon M, Rabizadeh P, Barzilai N: Biological evidence for inheritance of exceptional longevity. Mech Ageing Dev 126:341-345, 2005.

25.Rincon M, Muzumdar R, Atzmon G, Barzilai N: The paradox of the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway in longevity. Mech Ageing Dev 125:397-403, 2004.

26.Muzumdar R, Ma X, Atzmon G, Vuguin P, Yang X, Barzilai N: Decrease in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion with aging is independent of insulin action. Diabetes 53:441-446, 2004.

27.Atzmon G, Schechter C, Greiner W, Davidson D, Rennert G, Barzilai N: Clinical phenotype of families with longevity. J Am Geriatr Soc 52:274-277, 2004.

28.Barzilai N, Atzmon G, Schechter C, Schaefer EJ, Cupples AL, Lipton R, Cheng S, Shuldiner AR: Unique lipoprotein phenotype and genotype associated with exceptional longevity. JAMA 290:2030-40, 2003.

29.Muzumdar R, Ma X, Yang X, Atzmon G, Bernstein J, Karkanias G, Barzilai N: Physiologic effect of leptin on insulin secretion is mediated mainly through central mechanisms. FASEB J 17:1130-1132, 2003.

30.Ma X, Muzmudar R, Gabriely I, Atzmon G, Barzilai N. Does the brain lead the metabolic decline in aging?: Lessons from animal models and human centenarians. Clinical Neuroscience Research.  2(5-6): 269-362. 2003.

31.Atzmon G, Yang XM, Muzumdar R, Ma XH, Gabriely I, Barzilai N: Differential gene expression between visceral and subcutaneous fat depots. Horm Metab Res 34:622-628, 2002.

32.Atzmon G, Gabriely I, Greiner W, Davidson D, Schechter C, Barzilai N: Plasma HDL levels highly correlate with cognitive function in exceptional longevity. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 57:M712-715, 2002.

33.Gabriely I, Ma XH, Yang XM, Atzmon G, Rajala MW, Berg AH, Scherer P, Rossetti L, Barzilai N: Removal of visceral fat prevents insulin resistance and glucose intolerance of aging: an adipokine-mediated process? Diabetes 51:2951-2958, 2002.

34.Atzmon G, Cassuto D, Lavi U, Cahaner A, Zeitlin G, Hillel J: DNA markers and crossbreeding scheme as means to select sires for heterosis in egg production of chickens. Anim Genet 33:132-139, 2002.