Rochelle Buffenstein

Rochelle (Shelley) Buffenstein is a senior principal investigator at Calico, an Alphabet, Inc. funded research outfit investigating aging. Previously, she had been a professor of Physiology at the Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Her research focuses on comparative vertebrate physiology, energetics, cancer biology, and aging. She has worked with marsupials, mole-rats, tenrecs, bats, subterranean mammals, and primates. Her best known work involves exceptional aging—specifically, why naked mole-rats live for so much longer than other rodents. Her lab has investigated theories of aging including oxidative damage theory, the advanced glycation end product theory, and the telomere theory.

In a 2010 interview following the death of Old Man, a naked mole rat believed to be 32 years old, Buffenstein said, "In many ways, [naked mole rats] confound what scientists think they know about how diseases progress and why living things age."

Awards and recognition

• 2013 ADPS Longevity Research Award
• 2015 Gerontological Society of America, Chair Elect Biological Section