Stress Tolerance and Homeostasis:
What doesn't kill us makes us stronger

Maria Ermolaeva’s Research Group "Stress Tolerance and Homeostasis" uses nematode C. elegans and mammalian cell and organoid cultures to identify changes of metabolism and stress responses, which occur during aging. The group studies connections between such changes and tissue degeneration during aging with special focus on neuronal aging and protein aggregation disorders and with the outlook of attenuating these detrimental processes. 

The Ermolaeva lab performs mutagenesis based forward genetic screens in nematodes and human cells to identify gene changes, which protect from aging-relevant cellular stresses such as mitochondrial stress and protein folding stress in the endoplasmic reticulum. This is done with the outlook of developing inhibitors to be used as stress-protective treatments ensuring cell survival and organ maintenance during aging.