Benjamin Miller, Ph.D.

It is projected that by 2035, the number of people in the US over the age of 65 years old will be greater than the number of people below 18 years old. This projection illustrates the massive shift in the United States to an aged population. With the aging population comes challenges because of the increase costs and burdens of the diseases that accumulate with age. In our lab, we study the aging process in order to understand how to make people age slower. Our goal is not to make it possible to live 150 years, but rather to extend the period spent free of disease. In other words, rather than increase the lifespan, we aim to increase the healthspan. Of particular interest to our lab is how to maintain muscle, which is important for maintaining independence and a healthy metabolism.

In our laboratory we use models that live longer than they should, to understand what gives rise to increased healthspan. We focus on how to maintain proteins in a “young” state so that cells and tissues can continue to function normally and absent of disease. Of particular interest are mitochondria since these cellular organelles seem to be central to the aging process. Our research seeks to determine if we can maintain the quality of proteins in mitochondria to maintain overall health. In a tissue like muscle, it is our hope that maintaining mitochondria will help preserve muscle function with age. Importantly, it is always our goal to take what we learn in our laboratory experiments and translate them into human treatments that improve human healthspan.

Maintaining proteostasis with aging: The Geroscience Initiative identified proteostasis as one of the seven “pillars” of aging research. Proteostasis refers to the processes that maintain proteome fidelity. My research focuses on the biosynthesis and turnover components of proteostasis. In this regard, we make direct measures of these dynamic processes, not markers or indicators, which has led to important insight into shared characteristics of slowed aging. By using stable isotopes to simultaneously measure both protein synthesis and DNA synthesis in vitro and in vivo we have made two discoveries: 1) mitochondrial proteins are selectively translated in slowed aging models, and 2) when accounting for cell proliferation, the turnover of proteins in existing cells is increased, not decreased. These findings are repeatable in several slowed aging models and slowed aging treatments.
Stress resistance and slowed aging: Like proteostasis, The Geroscience Initiative identified stress resistance as a “pillar” of aging research. My interest in stress resistance spurred from our work with the transcription factor Nrf2. From this work, we proposed a Nrf2 activator to the NIA Interventions Testing Program (ITP), which increased median lifespan in male mice. We followed this up with the proposal of a second-generation Nrf2 activator, which is currently in testing. We have used these Nrf2 activators both as a means to understand the aging process as well as treat it.
Translation of treatments to slow aging: It is my goal to translate our more basic science into potential human treatments to slow aging. We do this using unique animal models and with clinical trials in humans. My work in humans has focused either on exercise, metformin, or Nrf2 activation. More specifically, we have investigated the efficacy of these treatments to slow age-related declines in skeletal muscle mitochondrial function and skeletal muscle mass. For example, some in the aging field are pushing metformin to be the first drug used to treat aging. We have data both in support and against such use. It is clear to us that the field needs more evidence before pushing such an expensive clinical trial.
Approaches: Stable isotopes and mass spec are key features of my research program. In this regard, I consider our lab a leader in the use of D2O to measure in vitro and in vivo biosynthetic processes. We are working on methods to expand these approaches in order to continue to improve measurements of kinetic processes. I also have extensive experience in using stable isotopes for the assessment of metabolic flux. In combination these approaches allow us to explore the interface between protein and energetics.

Education
Ph.D., Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 2002
M.S., Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 1998
B.S., Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 1995

Honors and Awards
2003    United States National Institute of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Post Doc Fellowship - Turnover of Musculotendinous Collagen Following Exercise
2004    American Physiological Society Young Investigator Award, Environmental and Exercise Physiology, Washington DC
2006    University of Auckland Early Career Research Excellence Award, Auckland, New Zealand
2006    National Institute on Aging, Summer Institute on Aging Research, Maryland
2008    Fellow, American College of Sports Medicine
2010     National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program
2010     College of Applied Human Sciences Tenure-Track Faculty Scholarly Excellence Award, Colorado State University
2010     Selection, Eighteenth Annual Summer Training Course in Experimental Aging Research.  NIA and The Buck Institute, UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX
2010     Selection, Marine Biology Laboratory, Summer Program in Molecular Biology of Aging (declined)
2012     Journal of Physiology Century Citation Club – publications that receive 100 or more citations in less than 10 years.
2012    National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program-Renewal
2014    National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program-Renewal
2014    American Physiological Society (APS) Journals Star Reviewer
2015    American Physiological Society (APS) Journals Star Reviewer
2017    MVP Associate Editor, Exercise and Sport Science Reviews

Memberships
American College of Sports Medicine (Fellow from 2009)
American Physiological Society (Fellow from 2018)

Joined OMRF’s Scientific Staff in 2018

Selected Publications

Miller, B. F., Hamilton, K. L., Majeed, Z. R., Abshire, S. M., Confides, A. L., Hayek, A. M., Hunt, E.R., Shipman, P., Peelor, F.F., Butterfield, T.A. and E.E. Dupont-Versteegden. (2018). Enhanced skeletal muscle regrowth and remodelling in massaged and contralateral non-massaged hindlimb. The Journal of Physiology, 596(1), 83–103. PMID: 29090454. PMCID: PMC5746529.

Miller BF, Seals DR, Hamilton KL. A viewpoint on considering physiological principles to study stress resistance and resilience with aging. Ageing Res Rev. 2017 Sep;38:1–5. PMID: Abstract

Hamilton KL, and Miller BF. Mitochondrial proteostasis as a shared characteristic of slowed aging: the importance of considering cell proliferation. The Journal of Physiology. 2017. 595(20):6401-6407. PMID: Abstract

Miller BF, Drake JC, Naylor B, Price JC, Hamilton KL. The measurement of protein synthesis for assessing proteostasis in studies of slowed aging. Ageing Res Rev. 2014 Nov;18:106-11. PMCID: PMC4258117

Drake JC, Peelor FF, Biela LM, Watkins MK, Miller RA, Hamilton KL, Miller BF. Assessment of mitochondrial biogenesis and mTORC1 signaling during chronic rapamycin feeding in male and female mice. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2013 Dec;68(12):1493–501. PMCID: PMC3814233

Miller BF, Hamilton KL. A perspective on the determination of mitochondrial biogenesis. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Mar 1;302(5):E496–9. PMCID: PMC3311289

Aging & Metabolism Research Program, MS 21
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 N.E. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Phone: (405) 271-7767 or (405) 271-7760
Fax: (405) 271-1437
E-mail: benjamin-miller@omrf.org

Shadi Khademi, Ph.D.
Assistant Staff Scientist

Marcus Lawrence, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Rick Peelor
Senior Research Assistant

Jaime Laurin
Graduate Student

Justin Reid
Graduate Student

News from the Miller lab