ABOUT

Ageing is a biological process characterized by the progressive deterioration of physiological functions known to be the main risk factor for chronic diseases and declining health. Given the exponential increase of the elderly population and its substantial burden on the health care system, research in ageing biology has become a priority. There has been an emerging connection between ageing and aneuploidy, an aberrant number of chromosomes, even though the molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Since 2015, the Ageing & Aneuploidy group has been dedicated to high-profile research on mechanisms of genomic instability contributing to ageing and age-related diseases. Presently, the group applies interdisciplinary approaches to address how regulated instruction of cell cycle fitness and genomic stability decelerates senescence in cellular and mouse models of physiological and accelerated ageing (Hutchison-Gilford Progeria Syndrome and Down syndrome).

RESEARCH

Two major contributions arose from the group’s expertise in combining high-resolution live-cell imaging with advanced molecular/cellular biology techniques to characterize phenotypes of unique cellular models, human trisomic amniocytes [Elife 2015, Sci Rep 2016] and elderly dermal fibroblasts [Nat Commun 2018, Embo Rep 2020]. These studies unveiled chromosomal instability (CIN) as a hallmark in both aneuploid and aged cells. Moreover, we disclosed genetic and pharmacological modulations of ageing-associated CIN as able to delay the senescence pro-inflammatory response. These findings paved the way to our current and future research goals, aiming to deepen the understanding of ageing mechanisms and to test new schemes of healthspan extension in animal models [Nat Aging 2022]. The lab uses omics approaches and functional assays to measure cellular and tissue ageing [BioRxiv 2023].