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Allen Taylor (scientist)

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Allen Taylor is an American scientist and Professor of Nutrition, Development, Molecular and Chemical Biology, and Ophthalmology at Tufts University. He focuses on the intersection of proteostasis, nutrition, and aging, specifically age related eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts. He initiated his work asking if calorie restricted diets, which are known to prolong life and improve health, could also be used to delay cataracts.[1] His epidemiologic and laboratory animal work indicates that there is an association between consuming higher glycemic index (GI) diets, typical of Western diet patterns, and increased risk for AMD. Glycemic index (GI) indicates how quickly blood glucose is raised following the consumption of a carbohydrate containing food. This property has been associated with many disorders such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, and AMD.[2] This effect is independent of intake of antioxidants, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids (including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)) indicating that AMD is largely driven by dietary GI.[3] Attributable risk calculations suggest that by lowering the glycemic index only by 5 points would save >100,000 people from AMD in 5 years.[4][5] This change in glycemic index can be achieved by exchanging the equivalent of 5 pieces of white break for 5 slices of whole grain bread daily.[6]

This has been corroborated in multiple laboratory animal models in which his group revealed that consuming lower glycemic index diets preserves retinal integrity upon aging.[2][7] Mechanistic experiments demonstrated that readily digested dietary carbohydrates result in loss of photoreceptors, basal infoldings, and accumulation of lipid products, lipofuscin, and basal deposits. Limiting antioxidant potential accelerates this damage, but enhancing protection against sugar breakdown products such as methylglyoxal, or enhancing proteolytic potential, delays the sugar associated damage. This can be accomplished by over-expressing the glyoxalase, or p62, or by used of drugs to limit plasma glucose.[8] His group is executing the GLOVE (Glucose Lowering for Vision Extension) clinical studies to determine if patients with earlier AMD will be willing to adhere to diets that may slow the progression or limit risk for AMD.[6]

His group has also been involved in the analysis of dietary patterns and their association with risk for age-related diseases. Using data from the American AREDS cohort, they found that a higher Oriental pattern score was strongly associated with 25% lower odds for early AMD and over 60% lower odds for advanced AMD. In comparison, there is an almost 60% increase of early AMD odds and almost 3-fold increase of advanced AMD odds for eyes among consumers of diets with the highest western pattern scores.[9]

Proteostasis experiments identified p62 or the sequestome as a glycation-susceptible link between the ubiquitin proteolytic pathways and lysosomal proteolytic pathways.[8] They recently found that a ubiquitin ligase known as SMURF1 works with the ubiquitin conjugating enzyme UbcH7 to stabilize p27, a protein that negatively regulates G1 to S phase of the cell cycle and is involved in cancer.[10] His prior work demonstrated that deaminated proteins and oxidized proteins are substrates for the ubiquitin proteolytic pathway and that activity of this pathway is controlled by redox status.[11][12] Redox status, or oxidative stress, can be assessed using the ratio of glutathione disulfide dimer to glutathione. Taylor has expanded on this research by demonstrating that unbalanced redox status is an underlying mechanism behind lens opacities and cataracts, even in early life.[11][13]

After his experience as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Israel, Dr. Taylor founded and codirects the Scientific Training Encouraging Peace- Graduate Training Program[14], which pairs Israeli and Palestinian (from West Bank and Gaza) advanced level health science students in the same graduate training program, often in the same laboratory. The STEP program aims to foster enduring, cooperative relationships that advance the careers of the Fellows, enrich their academic departments and universities, start new industries in the communities they serve, and provide improved health care. STEP alumni have become professors, government ministry officers, and other influential professionals in both Palestine and Israel; thus STEP educates societal influencers who understand the importance of cooperative and productive relations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Education

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Taylor earned his B.S. in Chemistry from City College of New York, Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Rutgers University, and completed his postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley.[14]

Positions and awards

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In addition to his work at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and with STEP-GTP, Dr. Taylor has been the Morris-Belken visiting professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and a Senior Fulbright Scholar. He has been awarded the Osborne and Mendel Award for Excellence in Nutrition Research,[15] the Denham Harman Award for Excellence in Aging Research,[16] a Guggenheim Grant, and the Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Nutritional Sciences Award.[15] Recent awards include the City College Townsend Harris Humanitarian medal. Taylor was honored as a fellow in the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the American Association for Advancement of Science and American Society for Nutrition, and the American Society for Nutrition.[17]

References

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  1. ^ Taylor, Allen; Lipman, Ruth D.; Jahngen-Hodge, Jessica; Palmer, Victoria; Smith, Don; Padhye, Nita; Dallal, Gerard E.; Cyr, Deana E.; Laxman, Eric; Shepard, Douglas; Morrow, Frank; Salomon, Robert; Perrone, Gayle; Asmundsson, Gudbjorn; Meydani, Mohsen (March 1995). "Dietary calorie restriction in the Emory mouse: effects on lifespan, eye lens cataract prevalence and progression, levels of ascorbate, glutathione, glucose, and glycohemoglobin, tail collagen breaktime, DNA and RNA oxidation, skin integrity, fecundity, and cancer". Mechanisms of Ageing and Development. 79 (1): 33–57. doi:10.1016/0047-6374(94)01541-S.
  2. ^ a b Rowan, Sheldon; Jiang, Shuhong; Korem, Tal; Szymanski, Jedrzej; Chang, Min-Lee; Szelog, Jason; Cassalman, Christa; Dasuri, Kalavathi; McGuire, Christina; Nagai, Ryoji; Du, Xue-Liang; Brownlee, Michael; Rabbani, Naila; Thornalley, Paul J.; Baleja, James D. (2017-05-30). "Involvement of a gut-retina axis in protection against dietary glycemia-induced age-related macular degeneration". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114 (22): E4472 – E4481. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114E4472R. doi:10.1073/pnas.1702302114. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC 5465926. PMID 28507131.
  3. ^ Chiu, Chung-Jung; Milton, Roy C.; Klein, Ronald; Gensler, Gary; Taylor, Allen (October 2007). "Dietary carbohydrate and the progression of age-related macular degeneration: a prospective study from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 86 (4): 1210–1218. doi:10.1093/ajcn/86.4.1210. ISSN 0002-9165. PMID 17921404.
  4. ^ Chiu, Chung-Jung; Milton, Roy C.; Gensler, Gary; Taylor, Allen (July 2007). "Association between dietary glycemic index and age-related macular degeneration in nondiabetic participants in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 86 (1): 180–188. doi:10.1093/ajcn/86.1.180. ISSN 0002-9165. PMID 17616779.
  5. ^ Chiu, Chung-Jung; Milton, Roy C.; Klein, Ronald; Gensler, Gary; Taylor, Allen (October 2007). "Dietary carbohydrate and the progression of age-related macular degeneration: a prospective study from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 86 (4): 1210–1218. doi:10.1093/ajcn/86.4.1210. ISSN 0002-9165. PMID 17921404.
  6. ^ a b Francisco, Sarah G.; Smith, Kelsey M.; Aragonès, Gemma; Whitcomb, Elizabeth A.; Weinberg, Jasper; Wang, Xuedi; Bejarano, Eloy; Taylor, Allen; Rowan, Sheldon (2020-09-18). "Dietary Patterns, Carbohydrates, and Age-Related Eye Diseases". Nutrients. 12 (9): 2862. doi:10.3390/nu12092862. ISSN 2072-6643. PMC 7551870. PMID 32962100.
  7. ^ Weikel, Karen A.; Chiu, Chung-Jung; Taylor, Allen (August 2012). "Nutritional modulation of age-related macular degeneration". Molecular Aspects of Medicine. 33 (4): 318–375. doi:10.1016/j.mam.2012.03.005. ISSN 1872-9452. PMC 3392439. PMID 22503690.
  8. ^ a b Aragonès, Gemma; Dasuri, Kalavathi; Olukorede, Opeoluwa; Francisco, Sarah G.; Renneburg, Carol; Kumsta, Caroline; Hansen, Malene; Kageyama, Shun; Komatsu, Masaaki; Rowan, Sheldon; Volkin, Jonathan; Workman, Michael; Yang, Wenxin; Daza, Paula; Ruano, Diego (November 2020). "Autophagic receptor p62 protects against glycation-derived toxicity and enhances viability". Aging Cell. 19 (11): e13257. doi:10.1111/acel.13257. ISSN 1474-9726. PMC 7681057. PMID 33146912.
  9. ^ Chiu, Chung-Jung; Chang, Min-Lee; Zhang, Fang Fang; Li, Tricia; Gensler, Gary; Schleicher, Molly; Taylor, Allen (July 2014). "The relationship of major American dietary patterns to age-related macular degeneration". American Journal of Ophthalmology. 158 (1): 118–127.e1. doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2014.04.016. ISSN 1879-1891. PMC 4101985. PMID 24792100.
  10. ^ Weinberg, Jasper; Whitcomb, Elizabeth; Bohm, Andrew; Chekkilla, Uday Kumar; Taylor, Allen (March 2024). "The E3 ligase SMURF1 stabilizes p27 via UbcH7 catalyzed K29-linked ubiquitin chains to promote cell migration SMURF1-UbcH7 K29 ubiquitination of p27 and cell migration". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 300 (3): 105693. doi:10.1016/j.jbc.2024.105693. ISSN 1083-351X. PMC 10897894. PMID 38301893.
  11. ^ a b Obin, Martin; Shang, Fu; Gong, Xin; Handelman, Garry; Blumberg, Jeffrey; Taylor, Allen (May 1998). "Redox regulation of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes: mechanistic insights using the thiol-specific oxidant diamide". The FASEB Journal. 12 (7): 561–569. doi:10.1096/fasebj.12.7.561. ISSN 0892-6638. PMID 9576483.
  12. ^ Taylor, Allen (June 2019). "On "Isomerization as the secret Achilles' heel of long-lived proteins"". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 294 (25): 9689. doi:10.1074/jbc.L119.009476. PMC 6597831. PMID 31227621.
  13. ^ Bejarano, Eloy; Domenech-Bendaña, Alicia; Avila-Portillo, Norma; Rowan, Sheldon; Edirisinghe, Sachini; Taylor, Allen (July 2024). "Glycative stress as a cause of macular degeneration". Progress in Retinal and Eye Research. 101 101260. doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2024.101260. ISSN 1873-1635. PMC 11699537. PMID 38521386.
  14. ^ a b "Allen Taylor, PhD | Sackler". Sackler.tufts.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  15. ^ a b "American Society for Nutrition - Past Recipients". Nutrition.org. Archived from the original on 2015-05-25. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  16. ^ "Awards". Americanagingassociation.org. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  17. ^ "American Society for Nutrition - Fellows". Nutrition.org. Retrieved 2015-06-02.

[1]

  1. ^ Whitcomb, E.A.; Taylor, Allen (2015). "Dietary glycemia as a determinant of health and longevity". Molecular Aspects of Medicine. 46: 14–20. doi:10.1016/j.mam.2015.08.005.
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