Subarea 2: Regeneration and Homeostasis of Organs in Aging

The main goal of Subarea 2 is to identify cellular and molecular pathways used to ensure effective organ maintenance and repair, and to unravel the mechanisms of their deterioration during aging. While stem cells are important for organ homeostasis, this Subarea does not per se directly addresses stem cell aging but rather focusses on the following focus areas:

  • Drifts in developmental pathways limiting organ maintenance in aging,
  • Immune aging and inflammation, and
  • Systemic and micro-milieu regulators of organ maintenance, regeneration, and disease development.

Research focus of Subarea 2

Organ maintenance is regulated by local and systemic factors, which are subject to aging-associated changes. Research of Subarea 2 focuses on the following research areas: a) Genetic and epigenetic modulation of developmental pathways has been shown to contribute to progressive aging and disease. It is critical to delineate mechanisms and consequences of aging-associated drifts to better understand organ maintenance during aging. b) Immunoaging and chronic inflammation elicits negative effects through reduced immune surveillance and aberrant organ repair and maintenance; all of which contributes to the evolution of organ pathologies and diseases during organismal aging. c) Furthermore, aging-associated alterations in systemic and extracellular factors derived from metabolic changes, microbiota alterations, chronic inflammation, senescent, or damaged cells might impinge on disease development and tumor initiation.

Publications

(since 2016)

2023

  • Turquoise killifish: A natural model of age-dependent brain degeneration.
    de Bakker DEM, Valenzano DR
    Ageing Res Rev 2023, 90, 102019
  • Contribution of radixin and ezrin to the maintenance of hepatocytes' excretory function in health and disease.
    Dellbrügge F, Jesse LD, Medyukhina A, Liu N, Neugebauer S, Freißmuth M, Höppener S, Figge MT, Morrison H, Riecken LB, Press AT
    Heliyon 2023, 9(11), e21009
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Neuro-Immunometabolic Hypothesis of the Developmental Origins.
    Frasch MG, Yoon BJ, Helbing DL, Snir G, Antonelli MC, Bauer R
    Biology (Basel) 2023, 12(7)
  • Deletion of Cd44 Inhibits Metastasis Formation of Liver Cancer in Nf2 -Mutant Mice.
    Gerardo-Ramírez M, Giam V, Becker D, Groth M, Hartmann N, Morrison H, May-Simera HL, Radsak MP, Marquardt JU, Galle PR, Herrlich P, Straub BK, Hartmann M
    Cells 2023, 12(9), 1257
  • The Pgb1 locus controls glycogen aggregation in astrocytes of the aged hippocampus without impacting cognitive function
    Gómez-Pascual* A, Glikman* DM, Ng* HX, Tomkins JE, Lu L, Xu Y, Ashbrook DG, Kaczorowski C, Kempermann G, Killmar J, Ohlenschläger O, Aebersold R, Ingram DK, Williams EG, Williams** RW, Overall RW, Jucker M, de Bakker** DEM
    bioRxiv 2023, 10.1101/2023.11.22.567373 * equal contribution, ** co-corresponding authors
  • Proteomic analysis of peripheral nerve myelin during murine aging.
    Helbing DL, Kirkpatrick JM, Reuter M, Bischoff J, Stockdale A, Carlstedt A, Cirri E, Bauer R, Morrison H
    Front Cell Neurosci 2023, 17, 1214003
  • A dysfunctional miR-1-TRPS1-MYOG axis drives ERMS by suppressing terminal myogenic differentiation.
    Hüttner SS, Henze H, Elster D, Koch P, Anderer U, von Eyss B, von Maltzahn J
    Mol Ther 2023, 31(9), 2612-32
  • Taz protects hematopoietic stem cells from an aging-dependent decrease in PU.1 activity
    Kim KM
    Dissertation 2023, Jena, Germany
  • Sperm length evolution in relation to body mass is shaped by multiple trade-offs in tetrapods
    Koçillari* L, Cattelan*/* S, Rasotto MB, Seno F, Maritan A, Pilastro A
    bioRxiv 2023, 10.1101/2023.09.12.557314 * equal contribution, * corresponding author
  • Analysis of different strains of the turquoise killifish Nothobranchius furzeri identifies transcriptomic signatures associated with heritable lifespan differences
    Mazzetto M, Reichwald K, Kelmer Sacramento E, Koch P, Ori A, Groth M, Cellerino A
    bioRxiv 2023, 10.1101/2023.11.20.567823