A big tree seemed even more beautiful to me when I imagined thousands of tiny photosynthesis machines inside every leaf. So I went to MIT and worked on bacteria because that's where people knew the most about these switches, how to control the genetics.

The hope is that if we can increase youthfulness, we can postpone age-related diseases.

Age is the single largest risk factor for an enormous number of diseases. So if you can essentially postpone aging, then you can have beneficial effects on a whole wide range of disease.

It was like stepping on to an escalator; I could do anything. I was just made for science.

The idea that ageing was subject to control was completely unexpected.

If I were a worm, I would rather be the long-lived mutant than the normal worm, that's for sure.

If the aging process is controlled in a similar way in worms and humans, then we can use what we learn about worms to speed our study of higher organisms.