Peter Adams

Sanford Burnham Prebys

“How do we prevent debilitating late-life chronic disease?”

Dr. Peter D. Adams is Director of the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys and serves on the Executive Committee of the San Diego Nathan Shock Center. His research focuses on epigenetic-based strategies to promote healthy aging and suppress disease. He coined “chromostasis” to describe chromatin mechanisms that support aging health, discovered cytoplasmic chromatin fragments (CCFs) in senescent cells, and co- developed the first mouse DNA methylation clock. Adams has received multiple awards, including the Tenovus Medal (2016), Glenn Awards (2017, 2018), and election to the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research (2023). He was co-Editor-in-Chief of Aging Cell(2012–2022) and is a founding Editor of Aging Biology.

Sara Mas Assens

Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR)

Sara Mas Assens is a sociologist and anthropologist. She leads the strategy for impact and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). With expertise in participatory research, qualitative methods, and co-creation, she works to incorporate patient and citizen perspectives into health research. At VHIR, she also promotes open and citizen science and fosters a culture of impact that emphasizes gender perspective and the inclusion of vulnerable groups, including LGTBIQ+ communities and migrant populations. She contributed to the ethical framework of the Barcelona Ageing & Longevity Lab (BALL) and collaborates on PAIR, an intergenerational program for Parkinson’s care. Sara is a member of the ECSA Health Cluster, coordinates the Citizen Science Group of REGIC, and is active in the WISE network, which promotes intersectional approaches in health research.

Daniela Craveiro

ISEG Lisbon School of Economics and Management

Bio coming soon.

Ron DePinho

MD  Anderson Cancer Center

“Are the mechanisms underlying the aging process directly linked to those driving age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease?” 

Ronald A. DePinho, M.D. is the past president and distinguished university professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He studied biology at Fordham University, received his M.D. degree with distinction from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and performed his residency and postdoctoral training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. His research career began at Einstein as the Feinberg Senior Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research and an ACS Research Professor. He then joined the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School where he was the founding Director of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science. During his 6-year tenure as MD Anderson’s president, Dr. DePinho conceived and launched the Cancer Moon Shots Program, recruited many world-class faculty including its first Nobel, and expanded its global network to reach one-third of the human population. His research program has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of cancer, aging, and degenerative disorders, and these discoveries have led to clinical advances. He is a leader in the evelopment and use of genetically engineered mouse models for various human cancers including colorectal cancer, pancreas, prostate, GBM, MDS, myeloma, and melanoma. His laboratory defined the role of telomeres and telomerase in cancer, aging, and Alzheimer’s Disease. For his contributions to science and healthcare, Dr. DePinho has received the AACR Clowes Memorial Award, the Albert Szent Gyorgyi Prize, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Portugal’s Order of Saint James of the Sword, among other awards and honors. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Science, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association of the Advancement of Science, and the American Association of Cancer Research.

Maria Ermolaeva

Leibniz Institute on Aging

Bio coming soon.

Claudio Franceschi

University of Bologna and Lobachevsky State University

Bio coming soon.

Vera Gorbunova

University of Rochester

Bio coming soon.

Heinrich Jasper

Genentech

Bio coming soon.

Brian Kennedy

Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System

Dr. Brian Kennedy is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Physiology and also serves as the Programme Chair of the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme and Director of the Bia-Echo Asia Centre for Reproductive Longevity and Equality, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore. In addition, he is also the Director of the Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University Health System. Collectively, NUS ageing research seeks to demonstrate that longevity interventions can be successfully employed in humans to extend healthspan, the disease-free and highly functional period of life.
From 2010 to 2016, Dr. Kennedy was the President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, USA and he maintained a professorship there through 2020. Dr. Kennedy is also actively involved with a number of Biotechnology companies and also served as a Co-Editor-In-Chief at Aging Cell from 2011-2021. Finally, Dr. Kennedy has a track record of interaction in China, where he was a Visiting Professor at the Aging Research Institute at Guangdong Medical College from 2009 to 2014.
Affiliation(s)
(1) Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS
(2) Director, Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University Health System (NUHS)
(3) Programme Chair, Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS

Elsa Logarinho

i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto

“Is aging the mere result of molecular damage accrual or a continuum of developmental programs encoded in the genome? Or both?”

E. Logarinho holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences by the University of Porto (UP). Since 2017, she leads the Ageing and Aneuploidy group at i3S Associate Laboratory. Cellular and animal models of ageing and aneuploidy, such as the Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria and Down syndromes respectively, share common features including genomic instability. Novel molecular targets whose modulation restores genome stability and delays senescence have been identified (Nat Commun 2018, Embo Rep 2020, Nat Aging 2022). The originality of her work has caught international recognition as attested by the Maximon Longevity Prize 2022, >3.5M€ competitive funding, the strong collaborative network, the delivery of invited talks in prestigious conferences, the evaluation of international grants as expert and journal peer review. Besides her core scientific activities, E. Logarinho was vice-coordinator of the Cancer Program and member of the Restrictive Scientific Council at i3S during 2019-2022, and she has been continuously involved in MSc/PhD lectures and examinations and in outreach activities. She co-authored a total of 45 publications with an h-index of 27 (Google Scholar). She is also a Research Consultant at the Insparya Hair Company. Career breaks and unconventional path: 3 maternity leaves (2004, 2011, 2012) and academia (2002-2009).

Luísa Loura

Pordata, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon

Bio coming soon.

João Pedro de Magalhães

Genomics of Ageing and Rejuvenation Lab, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham

“To me the key question is still why we age. What are the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive the aging process?”

Professor João Pedro de Magalhães, Genomics of Ageing and Rejuvenation Lab, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham

Prof de Magalhaes graduated in Microbiology in 1999 from the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia in his hometown of Porto, Portugal, and then obtained a PhD in 2004 from the University of Namur in Belgium. Following a postdoc with genomics pioneer Prof George Church at Harvard Medical School, in 2008 Prof de Magalhaes joined the University of Liverpool and, in 2022, he was recruited to the University of Birmingham where he leads the Genomics of Ageing and Rejuvenation Lab (https://rejuvenomicslab.com/). His lab studies the ageing process and how we can manipulate it to fend off age-related diseases and improve human health. Prof de Magalhaes has authored over 100 publications and given over 200 invited talks, including three TEDx talks. He is also CSO of YouthBio Therapeutics, a US-based biotech company developing rejuvenation gene therapies. In addition, he has a long-term interest in technological trends and their future impact on society.

Maria Mittelbrunn

Molecular Biology Center, Consejo Superior Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)

“A key challenge is identifying molecular triggers that can slow down the onset of ageing”

I received the degree of Doctor in Biomedicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the School of Medicine at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in 2006 (Suma Cum Laude), and performed postdoctoral work at Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC). Since 2017, I have been the Group Leader of the Immunometabolism & Inflammation Laboratory at the Molecular Biology Center (Madrid as a Research Scientist of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC).

Among my original contributions as PI are the demonstration that the deterioration of immune system function with aging not only compromises the response to infection, cancer, vaccination, or predisposes to autoimmunity but also increases the risk for cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive decline, thereby placing the immune system as a controller of healthy aging. I have contributed to decoding the molecular mechanisms by which aged T cells contribute to inflammaging and age-related diseases. Additionally, I have proposed new therapeutic targets to delay age-related multimorbidity and to reverse aortic aneurysms, thus preventing sudden death due to aortic dissections.

I have obtained funding from the major European and Spanish funding organizations. I have been awarded with Doctoral thesis Extraordinary Prize (2006), LÓREAL UNESCO for Women in Science (2015), BANCO SABADELL AWARD for Biomedical Research (2022), and Royal Spanish Academia of Science among others.

Since 2024, I am a Visiting Professor at the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology and has been elected as a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences.

Pedro Pita Barros

Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

“How can medical innovation and social care work together for improvement in quality of life for an aging population?”; “How can we build health systems that are flexible enough to allow for different preferences on quality of life at old ages?”; “How can biomedical science contribute, together with social care, to reduce the burden of cognitive decline at older ages?”

Pedro Pita Barros is the BPI | Fundação “la Caixa” Professor of Health Economics at Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He holds a PhD in Economics and his research career in health economics has a focus on healthcare systems, competition and economic regulation. His research has been widely disseminated in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to advancements in health economics and policy analysis.

In addition to his academic contributions, Pedro Barros has held roles in policy advisory and governance. He served as a member of the European Commission’s Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health (2012–2022), of the Portuguese National Council of Ethics for the Life Sciences (2015–2021), and as a member of National Health Council (2017–2021).  His work often bridges academia and policy, addressing complex challenges in healthcare financing, regulation, and sustainability.

Björn Schumacher

Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Diseases (IGSAD) at the CECAD Research Centre of the University of Cologne

“How can we target the causal mechanisms of aging to extend healthy lifespan?”

Since 2013, Björn Schumacher is full professor and director of the Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Diseases (IGSAD) at the CECAD Research Centre of the University of Cologne. He received his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Munich, and conducted his postdoctoral research at the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam. Schumacher is President of the German Society for DNA Repair (DGDR), and speaker of the DFG Research Unit on “Physiological causes and consequences of genome instability”. He was awarded with the Eva Luise Köhler Research Prize, the Innovation Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the DFG Reinhart Koselleck and European Research Council (ERC) grants, coordinated the Marie Curie initial training network on chronic DNA damage in aging and served on several editorial boards. His research interest focuses on the molecular mechanisms through which DNA damage causes cancer and aging-associated diseases and aims to develop strategies to prevent aging-associated diseases.

Andrei Seluanov

University of Rochester

Bio coming soon.

Sebastien Thuault

Nature Aging

“Confirming that the geroscience hypothesis – the idea that biological aging is the root cause of many age-related diseases – is true in humans would be transformative, but we still need to rigorously, comprehensively, and causally test this hypothesis, including across various populations”.

Sebastien Thuault is the Chief Editor of Nature Aging, a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes research, reviews and opinion articles on aging and age-related diseases covering the life, health and social sciences. Dr Thuault holds a PhD in neuroscience and has been working in scientific publishing and communication for over 10 years. He was formerly an editor at Nature Neuroscience and Nature Communications and launched Nature Aging in 2021.

Yang Yang

Cell

“In recent years, we’ve collected an increasing amount of omic data for aging in both human and other model species. How to integrate such information for us to understand aging and longevity on a systematic level; how to identify “biomarkers” for us to better define aging and longevity; how to take advantage of artificial intelligence technologies in the aging/longevity field.”

Yang Yang joined Cell team as a Scientific Editor in 2019. She earned her Ph.D. at Peking University. After that, she did her post-doctoral work at Michigan State University.

Nele Hug

Nature Communications

Bio coming soon.

Brian Kennedy

Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System

Dr. Brian Kennedy is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Physiology and also serves as the Programme Chair of the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme and Director of the Bia-Echo Asia Centre for Reproductive Longevity and Equality, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore. In addition, he is also the Director of the Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University Health System. Collectively, NUS ageing research seeks to demonstrate that longevity interventions can be successfully employed in humans to extend healthspan, the disease-free and highly functional period of life.
From 2010 to 2016, Dr. Kennedy was the President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, USA and he maintained a professorship there through 2020. Dr. Kennedy is also actively involved with a number of Biotechnology companies and also served as a Co-Editor-In-Chief at Aging Cell from 2011-2021. Finally, Dr. Kennedy has a track record of interaction in China, where he was a Visiting Professor at the Aging Research Institute at Guangdong Medical College from 2009 to 2014.
Affiliation(s)
(1) Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS
(2) Director, Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University Health System (NUHS)
(3) Programme Chair, Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS

Pedro Sousa-Victor

Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine

“Can we regenerate organs indefinitely to extend life?”

Pedro Sousa-Victor is a Group Leader at GIMM Lisbon, co-directing the Aging and Tissue Repair joint lab. He is interested in understanding how stem cells age and how we can use stem cell-based therapies to rejuvenate organs.  Pedro Sousa-Victor received his PhD in 2012 from Pompeu Fabra University, in Barcelona, Spain. His PhD work and postdoctoral training at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging have been dedicated to understanding the molecular mechanisms of stem cell aging and rejuvenation. Pedro Sousa-Victor is now expanding this work to integrate immune-stem cell communication as a central aspect of regenerative decline in aging. He has received multiple distinctions, including the 2019 Junior Leader award from la Caixa Foundation and an ERC consolidator grant.

Joana Neves

Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine

“Can we use our immune system to make our organs regenerate in aging?”

Joana Neves is a Group Leader at GIMM Lisbon, co-directing the Aging and Tissue Repair joint lab. She is interested in understanding how immune modulation can be harnessed to improve stem cell function and regenerative therapies in aging. Joana Neves received her PhD in 2009 from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. During her postdoctoral work, at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, she discovered the immune modulatory and anti-geronic properties of MANF and its use for retinal regenerative therapies. Joana Neves is now dedicated to the study of regenerative biology in aging, aiming to design interventions to improve regenerative therapies in older humans. She received several awards, including the 2019 Sartorius and Science Prize in Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy.

Miguel Godinho Ferreira 

Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging of Nice (IRCAN)

“Aging is still very poorly defined and, as empirical scientists, we must devise clear assays to measure the impact of time on organisms”

Miguel Godinho Ferreira is a leading expert in telomere biology, DNA damage responses, and senescence, with research spanning fission yeast and zebrafish. Since 2006, he has led independent research teams, first at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (Portugal) and later, in 2017, as Directeur de Recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France). Awarded the HHMI International Early Career Scientist Award in 2012, he pioneered the use of zebrafish as a vertebrate model for telomere biology, uncovering how telomere shortening drives aging and cancer. His research demonstrated that gut-specific telomerase expression mitigates systemic aging, benefiting distant organs. He also revealed that telomere shortening fosters a pro-inflammatory microenvironment that promotes cancer with age. Using transgenic zebrafish, he aims to suppress telomere dysfunction in order to enhance tissue regeneration and mitigate age-related diseases, particularly cancer.

Affiliation(s)
Directeur de Recherche au Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), France
Team Leader at Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging of Nice (IRCAN), Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS UMR7284, INSERM U1081, UNS. 28 avenue de Valombrose, 06107 NICE CEDEX 2, FRANCE.