Dr Cynthia Kenyon is Vice President of Aging Research at Calico, a Google company dedicated to investigating the science of age and extending healthy long life. After delivering the Norman Heatley Lecture, organised annually by the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology in honour of the scientist who mass produced penicillin during WWII, Dr Kenyon speaks with the School’s Head, Prof Matthew Freeman. They discuss her research on C. elegans, a small worm which through processes of genetic manipulation can now live up to ten times longer than its normal lifespan. They go on to talk about the implications for human health and disease in old age, and whether it would indeed be desirable to extend human life. The interview finishes with Dr Kenyon’s advice for people to make more out of each day, so as to live life to the full. Recording took place in the Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford.
