Linda Partridge

Professor Dame Linda Partridge DBE FRS is a world-renowned geneticist. She is the founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne and a Professorial Fellow at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing.

Partridge studies the processes and genetics of ageing, the mechanisms that can extend lifespan in model organisms and also age-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Her work has applications in the development of new treatments for these diseases, as well as in maintaining good health as we age.

Her research is directed to understanding both how the rate of ageing evolves in nature and the mechanisms by which healthy lifespan can be extended in laboratory model organisms, particular the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Her work has focused in particular on the role of nutrient-sensing pathways, such as the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway, and on dietary restriction.

Her current focus is on pharmacological treatments that ameliorate the human ageing process to produce a broad-spectrum improvement in health during ageing.

Partridge has been afforded many honours in recognition of her work, including — in 2009 — both the Royal Society’s Croonian Lecture and the Darwin–Wallace Medal of the Linnean Society of London. Partridge has been elected to many prestigious scientific organisations, including the Academy of Medical Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009, Partridge was named a DBE for her services to science. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1996.