Steven Austad explores the science of aging

The longest-lived human on record didn’t make it much past 120 years. That’s nothing compared to the ocean quahog, a fist-sized clam found off the coast of Maine. “They can live 500 years or longer,” said Steven Austad, Ph.D., chair of UAB’s Department of Biology and associate director of the UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging. “They’ve been sitting out there on the sea floor since before Shakespeare was born.”

Austad’s research focuses on understanding the underlying causes of aging at the molecular level. Although his studies take him in many fascinating directions, it’s the ancient clams that everyone remembers. “I’m known in the field as the guy who works with weird animals,” Austad said.

So what do animals like the quahog know about healthy aging that we don’t? That question drives Austad’s studies in comparative gerontology, which look to long-lived animals to identify new molecular targets to help humans.