Calen Ryan

  • Associate Research Scientist in the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center
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Overview

Dr. Ryan studies the effects of reproduction and stress on health and biological aging. To do so, he uses high-dimensional epigenetic data and computational statistics to examine the molecular processes that can tell us about the aging process.

Much of Dr. Ryan’s work over the past decade has been carried out in the Philippines with the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS). More recently, he has applied the same tools to study epigenetic processes in other large, longitudinal population studies, as well as randomized-controlled trails of geroprotective interventions, such as caloric restriction.

Dr. Ryan’s research is situated at the intersection of evolutionary biology, medicine, and public health, and has received support from institutions such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Research Scientist in the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • B.Sc., 2010 Zoology, University of Manitoba
  • M.Sc., 2013 Biological Sciences , Simon Fraser University
  • M.A., 2018 Anthropology, Northwestern University
  • Ph.D, 2020 Anthropology, Northwestern University

Editorial Boards

Epigenetic Reports

Honors & Awards

Harold E. Welch Award; David Ian Mackenzie Medal

Research

Reproduction, Aging, Epigenetic Processes, Health, Evolutionary Theory, Trade-offs, Social Determinants of Health, Inheritance, Inequality, Computational Statistics, Longitudinal Studies, Data Science

Selected Publications

Ryan, C.P., Corcoran, D.L., Banskota, N., Eckstein Indik, C., Floratos, A., Friedman, R.A., Kobor, M.S., Kraus, V.B., Kraus, W., MacIsaac, J. and Orenduff, M.C., Pieper, C.F., White, J.P., Ferrucci, L., Horvath, S., Huffman, K.M., Belsky, D.W. The CALERIE Genomic Data Resource. 2024. Nature Aging.

Ryan, C.P., Lee, N.R., Carba, D.B., MacIsaac, J.L., Lin, D.S., Atashzay, P., Belsky, D.W., Kobor, M.S., Kuzawa, C.W. Pregnancy is linked to faster epigenetic aging in young women. 2024. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 121(16). e2317290121.

Waziry, R.†, Ryan, C.P.†, Corcoran, D.L., Huffman, K.M., Kobor, M.S., Kothari, M., Graf, G.H., Kraus, V.B., Kraus, W.E., Lin, D.T.S., Pieper, C.F., Ramaker, M.E., Bhapkar, M.,Das, S.K., Ferrucci, L., Hastings, W.J., Kebbe, M., Parker, D.C., Racette, S.B., Shalev, I.,Shilling, B., and Belsky, D.W. Effect of long-term caloric restriction on DNA methylation measures of biological aging in healthy adults from the CALERIE trial. 2023. Nature Aging:1–10. doi:10.1038/s43587-022-00357-y. †These authors contributed equally to the manuscript.

Ryan, C.P. Epigenetic clocks: Theory and application in Human Biology. 2020. American Journal of Human Biology. e23488

Ryan, C.P. and Kuzawa, C.K. Germline epigenetic inheritance: Challenges and opportunities for linking human paternal experience with offspring biology and health. 2020. Evolutionary Anthropology. 1–21.

A full and up-to-date publications list can be found at: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=syQoKggAAAAJ&hl=en(link is external and opens in a new window)