After receiving his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Cordoba, Spain, Dr. de Cabo earned his Ph.D. in 2000 from the Department of Foods and Nutrition at Purdue University. Upon completion of his graduate education, he received a postdoctoral position in the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2004, he was appointed as a tenure track investigator in the Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology, where he now heads the Aging, Metabolism, and Nutrition Unit (AMNU). The AMNU applies both physiological and tissue-specific molecular approaches to investigate effects of nutritional interventions on basic mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases. Research within his unit strives to identify protective mechanisms invoked by caloric restriction and to evaluate the consequences of dietary interventions on lifespan, pathology, and behavioral function. The AMNU balances the exploration of in vivo rodent, as well as in vitro, paradigms of caloric restriction. Dr. de Cabo is an active member of the Board of the American Aging Association. AMNU applies whole body physiological and tissue-specific molecular approaches to investigate effects of nutritional interventions on basic mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases. Caloric restriction (CR), without malnutrition, is widely known to extend lifespan and retard a wide variety of aging processes in several short-lived species and is the primary paradigm employed by AMNU scientists. Research within this unit uses both rodent models of CR as well as an in vitro model for CR. CR affects metabolic regulation to induce an overall phenotypic change leading to a decrease in cellular proliferation and growth rates.