Organisms have to control their growth in accordance with environmental conditions. Interestingly, the pathways regulating growth often also affect aging. This course focuses on the analysis of growth regulation in yeast, Drosophila, and mammalian cells and on its connection to aging. The participants will perform experiments to study insulin/TOR signaling as a key regulator of growth and aging.

The course accompanies the “Biochemie” course and covers similar topics (properties of biomolecules, metabolism, signal transduction, motor proteins etc.). However, in this course these topics will be covered from the perspective of the pathological consequences that arise when these molecules and process do not function properly.