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Dr. Keshav K. Singh is the Joy and Bill Harbert Endowed Chair and Professor of Genetics, Dermatology and Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Mitochondrion Journal. In addition, Keshav is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the company Yuva Biosciences. Keshav began his studies in India, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from Rohilkhand University and his Master of Science from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. Next, he moved to Australia and was awarded his Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the University of Wollongong. Keshav then conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He later moved to the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and served as Distinguished Professor of Oncology. Next, he joined the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he is today. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Honor Society). He has been recognized as one of the Innovation Heroes by Newsweek, and Yuva Biosciences was the recipient of the “Company of the Year – Innovation and Excellence into Mitochondrial Science” award at the Indian Icon Awards. In our interview, Keshav shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:28)
Outside of work, Keshav enjoys flying kites on the beach, traveling, and painting. In particular, he gets creative painting all different kinds of mitochondria, and this is a great outlet for him when experiments aren’t working in the lab.
The Scientific Side (5:38)
Research in Keshav’s lab focuses on how to reverse aging and diseases like cancer that are associated with aging. Mitochondria are relevant for all of the hallmarks of aging, including things like changes in epigenetic regulation, genomic instability, and communication problems between cells. He is working to better understand the intricacies of how mitochondria work and how they can be targeted or leveraged to improve health.
A Dose of Motivation (7:33)
“If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied.” – Alfred Nobel
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill
What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:33)
In school, Keshav was fascinated by many areas of science, and he wrote for a children’s section in the newspaper during high school and college. He remembers borrowing his older brother’s Science Reporter magazines to find interesting facts and ideas to highlight in the newspaper. Keshav’s older brother was an electrical engineer, and Keshav was really inspired by how hard his brother worked and his dedication to translating ideas to be useful in everyday life. Their two sisters pursued careers in electronics engineering and the fine arts, and Keshav’s parents persuaded him that he should become a doctor. However, when Keshav took the entrance exam for medical school, he failed. These programs are very competitive in India, and Keshav didn’t get in.
Scrambling for a new plan, he began applying for programs in many different scientific fields, and he decided to focus on microbiology. During his master’s thesis, Keshav leveraged the anaerobic bacteria in cow dung to make methane gas, which can be used to produce electricity. Keshav learned to speak English while completing his PhD in Australia, and during his PhD studies, he received a scholarship to go to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the U.S. This was a transformative experience. Being there helped him gain confidence, both in his English language skills and his science. Keshav enjoyed his time there so much that he ended up staying longer than the three months he had initially planned. When he returned to Australia, Keshav worked hard to finish his PhD quickly, and he returned to the U.S. for postdoctoral studies. There have been some twists and turns in Keshav’s career path, but he is really passionate about the research projects he has worked on over the years, and they have resulted in some very exciting discoveries.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (29:00)
When starting his faculty career, Keshav almost failed to meet his research milestones and secure funding for his work because he got caught up in writing a book about mitochondria, starting the academic journal Mitochondrion, and creating the Mitochondria Research and Medicine Society. Scientists typically take on these kinds of projects later in their careers, after they have a stable lab and research funding. As the grant rejection notices continued and time was ticking down for Keshav to get funding to support his salary, he stumbled upon a web page for The Elsa U. Pardee Foundation, an organization that funds cancer research. He submitted a two-page application by mail to the foundation’s post office box, and then quickly moved on to the next grant application. Several weeks later, Keshav received a check in the mail for over $200,000. Thinking it was a joke from his daughter, Keshav tore it up and threw it away. After his daughter denied sending it and he spent the evening thinking about the mysterious check, Keshav retrieved it from his office trash and pieced it back together. He wrote a letter to the foundation to see if the check was real, and they confirmed that it was. That changed everything for him, and Keshav still has the check framed in his office to keep him motivated and inspired.
A Shining Success! (32:59)
When he moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Keshav began working to create a specialized mouse model with disrupted mitochondrial function. He was surprised to see that their mice with disrupted mitochondria quickly developed wrinkled skin and lost their hair, suggesting rapid aging. Unable to believe what he was seeing, Keshav had researchers from other labs validate his findings. Next, they succeeded in restoring mitochondrial function in a conditional knockdown model, and they were amazed to see that the mice began growing hair again and their wrinkles disappeared. Their findings generated worldwide media attention and led Keshav to launch a startup company called Yuva Biosciences. A novel ingredient they developed to slow age-related changes in hair and skin has been incorporated into a hair care product from Bosley. They are now wrapping up a clinical trial with good results for addressing skin wrinkles, and Keshav is excited to be working on ovarian aging. Premature ovarian aging can lead to the development of early menopause symptoms and infertility in women before age 40, and there are currently no treatments available. Mitochondria are critical for ovarian function, and they now have a mouse model that they are using to identify ways to protect or restore mitochondrial function to address ovarian aging issues.
Book Recommendations (39:10)
The Book of Kayakalpa
Most Treasured Travel (41:30)
Last year, Keshav had the opportunity to visit Chile for the first time last year. The people he met were so welcoming that they are like family members now. There were wonderful conversations about science, they got to visit many interesting places, and they enjoyed fantastic meals with their hosts.
Malta was another memorable place that Keshav visited for science. While there, Keshav made many new friends, and the hospitality was absolutely remarkable. On the day of his departure, Keshav had to leave very early to catch a 6:00 am flight. He left his hotel room and went downstairs around 4:00 am, and they already had a full breakfast ready for him. The manager of the hotel even helped him with his suitcase!
Innsbruck, Austria, is also a phenomenal place to visit. The city is surrounded by the breathtaking Alps mountain range, and Keshav attended a conference in a charming church in a village nearby. When he arrived, the organizers showed Keshav to his room, and he was surprised to see bunkbeds. Shortly afterwards, one of his colleagues joined him in the room, and they realized they were roommates for the event. The conference was memorable, and they even used a tree branch for a pointer during presentations since they didn’t have a laser pointer. Since then, Keshav always keeps a laser pointer in his bag, just in case.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (45:00)
Keshav and his colleagues have attended multiple Gordon Research Conferences in New Hampshire. After a the conference sessions concluded for the day, the group went to dinner and then continued having great conversations at the local bar until it closed at 11:00 pm. They were dismayed to lose their venue and call it a night so early, so the group decided to continue the festivities in their room until the early morning. Throughout the night, they came up with some really good ideas that Keshav has since followed up on. One of the attendees now brings his own supply of drinks in preparation for late-night gatherings with colleagues at these conferences. Informal discussions with colleagues at conferences can turn into productive collaborations, and Keshav has even caught the interest of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with an idea that started as a conversation in a bar.
Advice For Us All (50:03)
Fail successfully. Put in 100%, and even if you fail, you’ll know that you gave your best effort. Also, do what you love, and love what you do. If you have passion for something, you can overcome many hurdles.
Guest Bio
Keshav’s professional journey blends science, entrepreneurship, and a passion for impactful innovations. As a founder of Yuva Biosciences, he leads a startup at the forefront of advancing our understanding of mitochondrial science and its profound influence on human health and longevity. Keshav is investigating the intricacies of mitochondria transfer, transplantation, and communication inside and outside of the cell to understand, prevent, and cure diseases. These include mitochondrial diseases, aging, and aging-associated diseases such as cancer. His laboratory was the first to describe the role of mitochondria in the epigenetic regulation of the nuclear genome. He also demonstrated the role of mitochondria in nuclear genome instability. Keshav’s laboratory created a unique mouse model to manipulate aging at will and explore interventions for aging itself and aging-associated diseases. Through a multidisciplinary approach, he is aiming to translate fundamental mitochondrial research into therapeutic advancements. Outside of work, he enjoys painting, flying kites, and traveling around the world.
Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by Innovative Research, Inc.
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