Biological Sciences
Laura Niedernhofer, PhD, MD (she/her/hers)
Director, Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism
Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism and Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Laura Niedernhofer, PhD, MD (she/her/hers)
Director, Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism
Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism and Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Rong Fan, PhD
Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Andreas Bueckle, PhD (he/him/his)
Research Lead
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana, United States
Senescence is a cell fate triggered by stress, activating signaling cascades that stably arrest the cell cycle, thereby preventing mutagenesis and cancer. Senescent cells are critical for wound healing and other physiological processes, during which they secrete a host of factors that remodel tissue and attract immune cells, which are responsible for removing the senescent cells. However, with age and immune dysfunction, senescent cells accumulate and are established to play a causal role in aging and most age-related diseases, largely through their secretome that drives chronic sterile inflammation. Senescent cells have proven tractable as drug targets, potentially affording novel geroscience approaches to treat a variety of age-related diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. To optimize this opportunity much more must be learned about senescent cells. This is a challenge as there are no specific biomarkers to detect or isolate senescent cells. Furthermore, senescent cells are anticipated to be highly heterogeneous based on cell lineage, the cause of senescence, their secretome, and tissue context. This challenge sparked the creation of the SenNet Consortium, an NIH Common Fund effort involving hundreds of scientists across the globe charged with creating a 4D atlas of senescent cells in 18 healthy human tissues across human lifespan, using mice and perturbations to inform the mapping. The speakers in this session will define the goals of SenNet, the scientific opportunities and challenges, the novel technologies applied, and the anticipated deliverables including large public datasets and innovative search and visualization tools.
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Laura J. Niedernhofer, PhD, MD (she/her/hers) – University of Minnesota
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Andreas D. Bueckle, PhD (he/him/his) – Indiana University