Researcher

Matt Kaeberlein

Last updated Mon Jun 08 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)· 2 min read

Background

Matt Kaeberlein trained at MIT with Lenny Guarente on yeast sirtuin biology, then spent two decades at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he led one of the leading translational geroscience labs and co-directed the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute. In 2023 he left to lead Optispan Health, a clinical-translation venture.

Lines of work

mTOR / rapamycin biology

Foundational contributions to the mechanistic and translational characterisation of mTOR inhibition as a lifespan-extending intervention. Kaeberlein’s lab work spans yeast, worms, mice, and the early framing of human translational protocols using low intermittent dosing.

Dog Aging Project

Co-PI with Daniel Promislow of the Dog Aging Project, a large longitudinal cohort study of companion dogs (~50,000 enrolled) that includes the TRIAD randomised trial of rapamycin in pet dogs. Dogs share the human environment, develop many of the same age-related diseases, and live long enough to detect intervention effects on healthspan within feasible trial durations.

Companion-animal geroscience

Frames pet aging studies as a translational bridge between rodent and human work. Dogs in particular split the difference: long enough to age naturally, short enough to study, breed-stratified for genetic heterogeneity, and exposed to the same modern human environment.

Public communication

Hosts the Optispan podcast. One of the field’s more careful public voices: enthusiastic about the science, sceptical of over-stated clinical claims, willing to publicly disagree with louder figures when the evidence supports it.

Notable papers

Mannick et al. 2014 (collaborator role): low-dose mTOR inhibition improves immunological response to vaccines in older adults.
Kaeberlein & Galvan 2019: mechanistic and translational review of rapamycin in Alzheimer’s disease.
Creevy et al. 2022 (Dog Aging Project Nature paper): study design, cohort characteristics, open-science framework.
Multiple foundational yeast and mouse mTOR papers from the 2000s.

Public stance

The careful voice

Kaeberlein has consistently been one of the more measured public voices in geroscience. He has publicly disagreed with overstated claims about partial reprogramming, NMN supplementation, and various longevity- clinic offerings. His position: be enthusiastic about the underlying science, demand RCT evidence before clinical recommendations, and call out hype that misleads the public.

Affiliations & disclosures

Founder and CEO of Optispan Health (clinical-translation venture). Author of advisory roles with several biotech and consumer-health companies, disclosed on the Optispan site. Not a major equity-conflict figure relative to academic-founder peers.

References

Kaeberlein, M. & Galvan, V. Rapamycin and Alzheimer's disease. Sci. Transl. Med. 11, eaar4289 (2019).
Creevy, K. E. et al. An open science study of ageing in companion dogs (Dog Aging Project). Nature 602, 51–57 (2022).