Rapamycin Assay in C. elegans

A positive control for longevity research

Ageing is accompanied by cellular damage that contributes to various age-related disorders. The mTOR signalling network plays a crucial role in regulating ageing and associated diseases like metabolic disorders, neurodegeneration, and cancer. Rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, has demonstrated the ability to slow ageing and extend healthspan and lifespan across different model organisms, and shows promise in humans

The Challenge:

Despite its potential, Rapamycin’s effectiveness in extending lifespan has shown inconsistent results in C. elegans studies. Its commercial use to slow ageing in humans has been impeded by its known toxicity against β-cells, and efforts to develop rapamycin analogs (rapalogs) and similar molecules with a lower toxicity profile have been slowed-down by the lengthy duration of ageing studies in mammalian models.

Our Solution:

Magnitude Biosciences developed a novel assay using our automated WormGazer^TMtechnology to consistently demonstrate positive effects of Rapamycin on worm movement and improved healthspan in aged worms. This robust assay provides a decisive method to investigate new mTOR inhibitors and other novel longevity compounds, using Rapamycin as a positive control.

Our Rapamycin Assay:

Our assay evaluates the effects of compounds on age-related mobility decline and healthspan extension compared to Rapamycin. Using metabolically-inactive bacteria and our automated imaging system, we monitor worm movement 24 hours a day over 14 days to quantify healthspan extension.

Rapamycin causes both increased mobility at a younger age, which continues through to old age, showing an increase in healthspan.
This increase in healthspan our automated WormGazer™ quantifies also translates to an increase in lifespan in our manual assay.

Partner with Us:

Collaborate with Magnitude Biosciences to accelerate your research on compounds to slow ageing. Our Rapamycin assay offers a streamlined approach to assess compound efficacy and compare results to the gold standard.