Bakar Aging Research Institute

Been working on a really strange retron bacterial immune system, here's the preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Type VI retrons are unlike any other. Phage infection triggers reverse transcription of a DNA fragment that activates translation of a toxin to kill the infected cell.

Nancy Allen and Tien Peng's study reveals that age-dependent NF-kB activation in tissue fibroblasts contributes to #inflammaging by remodeling immune architecture and promoting exhausted T cell populations. bit.ly/4qlIR4k

Kate Cavanaugh and Orion Weiner's research out now on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social identifies a mechanical defect in embryos from aged mothers that impairs implantation. These findings could enhance embryo selection in Assisted #Reproductive Technologies. bit.ly/47tY7V8

Targeting iron-associated protein Ftl1 in the brain of old mice improves age-related cognitive impairment - Nature Aging The authors identify ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1), an iron-associated protein, as a pro-aging neuronal factor that increases with age and promotes cognitive decline. Targeting FTL1 in the brain impro...

In our October issue: Ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1), an iron-associated protein, is a pro-aging neuronal factor that increases with age and promotes cognitive decline. Targeting FTL1 in the brain improved cognition in old mice @VilledaLab @ucsfaging.bsky.social @UCSF www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Delirium in hospitalized COVID-19 patients is associated with dynamic changes in peripheral immune gene expression - PubMed Delirium is a neurologic syndrome characterized by inattention and cognitive impairment frequently encountered in medically ill older adults. As a hallmark of age-related brain vulnerability, delirium...

Sara LaHue, @geriscidoc.bsky.social, and others published in @geroscience.bsky.social an interdisciplinary effort to identify longitudinal transcriptomic changes in adults with #delirium hospitalized with #COVID-19. bit.ly/4o8wMO7

It's wonderful to see the number of outstanding applicants increase each year for our graduate student fellowships in collaboration with the UCSF Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging. Congrats to this year's recipients! #GeroSky #SciSky

A recent manuscript published in @jclinical-invest.bsky.social led by Preeti Yadav from Mallar Bhattacharya's lab in collaboration with other BARI colleagues identifies an #immune-mesenchymal circuit that fuels fibrotic metabolism in #lung_fibrosis. bit.ly/4gmuiZM

Check out the recent publication by Ken Nakamura's Lab in @elife.bsky.social!

A new study, led by Kushal (Berkeley), Nicole&Victoria (UCSF) in full collaboration with @karthikshekhar.bsky.social, "Molecular and spatial analysis of ganglion cells on retinal flatmounts identifies perivascular neurons resilient to glaucoma" sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #retina #MERFISH

Targeting iron-associated protein Ftl1 in the brain of old mice improves age-related cognitive impairment - Nature Aging The authors identify ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1), an iron-associated protein, as a pro-aging neuronal factor that increases with age and promotes cognitive decline. Targeting FTL1 in the brain impro...

A recent manuscript published in @nataging.nature.com by Laura Remesal Gomez and the Villeda Lab identifies ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1) as a pro-aging neuronal factor that impairs #cognition, and as a potential target for cognitive #rejuvenation. Link to manuscript here: bit.ly/4lG46dp #GeroSky

Tumor cell-adipocyte gap junctions activate lipolysis and contribute to breast tumorigenesis - Nature Communications Breast cancer cells interact with neighbouring adipocytes, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. Here, the authors show that triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells transfer cAMP through gap...

How do tumor cells co-opt neighboring #adipocytes to promote #tumorigenesis? @andreigoga.bsky.social and colleagues identify a direct tumor cell-adipocyte interaction that activates lipolysis in triple negative breast cancer models. #SciSky #GeroSky bit.ly/4mRZYYN @natureportfolio.nature.com

Alanine Catabolism as a Targetable Vulnerability for MYC-Driven Liver Cancer Liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death world-wide in part due to the shortage of effective therapies, and MYC overexpression defines an aggressive and especially difficult to treat su...

Our latest on cancer metabolism by star student Tonatiuh Montoya @ctbatucsf.bsky.social @ucsfcancer.bsky.social

Liver cancers driven by the MYC oncogene are reliant on alanine metabolism. Alanine is the second most abundant amino acid and can partially substitute for glucose and glutamine. 🧪

G-protein-coupled receptor ADGRG1 drives a protective microglial state in Alzheimer's disease through MYC activation Microglial ADGRG1 drives a protective state in Alzheimer’s disease by activating the transcription factor MYC, which upregulates genes associated with homeostasis, phagocytosis, and lysosomal function...

Interesting work from Xianhua Piao, MD, PhD on the interplay between G-protein-coupled receptor, ADGRG1, and MYC activation to promote a protective microglial state in a 5xFAD mouse model. Manuscript here: bit.ly/3HhtmbP

Neutrophil TLR2 signaling promotes lipid accumulation and vascular plaque growth Neutrophils are short-lived cells that are produced by the billions every day to circulate throughout the body and surveil all tissues. They are a key component of the innate immune system that play e...

Anudari Letian and the Goldberg Lab investigated how #neutrophils acquire #lipids from their environment and how this influences their functionality. Neutrophil-deficient mice showed protection against #atherosclerosis. Check on the article on bioRxiv here: bit.ly/3H9E3x5

We are thrilled to announce the awardees of our postdoctoral fellowships! Please join us in congratulating Ting Gong, @marioruizperez.bsky.social, Claire Huguenard, PhD, Hayden Holmlund, and Michaelangelo Gonzatti. 🎉

📣 We are thrilled to announce @denadubal.bsky.social is joining our Executive Committee! Dr. Dubal's research investigates the molecular mechanisms of #aging, #resilience, and #neurodegenerative_disease. #SciSky #GeroSky

PCSK9 drives sterol-dependent metastatic organ choice in pancreatic cancer - Nature PCSK9 regulates low density lipoprotein-cholesterol import and determines organ preference of metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, with PCSK9-low cells metastasizing to the liver and PCSK9-hig...

Intriguing work by @rushika-perera.bsky.social identifies #PCSK9 as a driver of metastatic growth in #pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Published in @nature.com. #SciSky go.nature.com/4ksf5Y1

Cellular profiling identifies an early profibrotic alveolar type 2 cell signature in lung fibrosis Rationale Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, age-associated, lung disease characterized by short telomeres in alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells, epithelial remodeling, and fibrosis. Obje...

A collaboration between Mallar Bhattacharya and Paul Wolters shows that in a mouse model of IPF, early AT2 cell transdifferentiation and senescence is driven by enhanced p53 activity in response to #DNA damage. Out now on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: bit.ly/4dJG6DN #GeroSky #SciSky

Massively parallel jumping assay decodes Alu retrotransposition activity - Nature Communications Here, the authors develop a high-throughput assay to measure the jumping potential of thousands of transposons in parallel.

@nadavahituv.bsky.social and colleagues use a massively parallel jumping assay to assess the ability of retrotransposons to jump and identify nucleotide changes that have the potential to reactivate them in their latest manuscript published in @natcomms.nature.com. go.nature.com/4k7pqIK

Frailty in lung transplant recipients is associated with anemia and telomere dysfunction but independent of epigenetic age Frailty is a syndrome of vulnerability to stressors linked to worse outcomes pre- and post-lung transplantation. However, the biological basis of this…

Frailty in lung transplant patients is linked to anemia and telomere dysfunction. A study by John Greenland found that epigenetic aging correlated with chronological age, and not with frailty, highlighting the importance of telomere dysfunction and anemia in this patient population. bit.ly/4mvBgyi

Our morning concluded with a few more trainee talks and another keynote speaker, Dr. Beth Stevens. #microglial #CNS #inflammation #aging

Keynote speaker Dr. Vera Gorbunova kicked off the symposium followed by two of our trainees Mariko Foecke and Christoforos Meliadis. #ovary #bone #aging

Today is a special day! It's our second BARI symposium at the de Young Museum in the beautiful Golden Gate Park.

Aging activates escape of the silent X chromosome in the female mouse hippocampus Aging activates the silent X chromosome, increasing escape expression, and potentially cognitive resilience, in the female mouse.

Could a reawakening of the silenced X chromosome in females help slow aging-induced cognitive decline? Check out the work by @denadubal.bsky.social along with colleagues Kaitlin Casaletto, Bérénice Benayoun, and Vijay Ramani in Science Advances: bit.ly/3FlN3hj #GeroSky #SciSky

HypoxyStat, a small-molecule form of hypoxia therapy that increases oxygen-hemoglobin affinity A small molecule that increases oxygen-hemoglobin affinity was shown to prevent and reverse pathology in a mouse model of mitochondrial disease, thereby enabling a practical form of hypoxia therapy.

Research from Isha Jain and colleagues published in @cellpress.bsky.social shows that HypoxyStat can prevent or reverse mitochondrial disease in a preclinical mouse model. The study suggests potential transformations in therapeutic strategy for treating other mitochondrial disorders. bit.ly/4kh0csc

The maternal X chromosome affects cognition and brain ageing in female mice - Nature The maternal X chromosome in female mice impairs cognition through the silencing of certain genes and accelerates ageing of the hippocampus.

👏 Don't miss Samira Abdulai-Saiku's manuscript published in @nature.com! Great work coming from @denadubal.bsky.social's lab, furthering our understanding of the relationship between the X chromosome and brain aging. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Epidermal Penetration Increases with Age and May Contribute to Systemic Inflammation The skin is a major contributor to the age-associated rise in systemic inflammation, known as

Check out T. Richard Parenteau's work in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology published in December! This study links the age-related increase in epidermis permeability with #inflammaging. Read the article here: bit.ly/4gVs8jg

Building the Infrastructure for Longevity Medicine: ARPA-H's PROSPR Program (Dr. Andrew Brack, Program Manager) Quickly and easily listen to Translating Aging for free!

What if we had therapies to extend healthspan and prevent the onset of age-related diseases? PROSPR Program Manager, Andrew Brack, talked with Translating Aging about building a new therapeutic industry focused on maintaining health during aging.
player.captivate.fm/episode/1f42...

An updated reference genome sequence and annotation reveals gene losses and gains underlying naked mole-rat biology The naked mole-rat (NMR; Heterocephalus glaber ) is a eusocial subterranean rodent with a highly unusual set of physiological traits that has attracted great interest amongst the scientific community....

Compelling data coming from a multi-institution collaboration that included our executive committee member Diana Laird! Looking forward to unlocking more naked mole rat secrets.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Molecular and genetic insights into human ovarian aging from single-nuclei multi-omics analyses - Nature Aging The molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying ovarian aging are incompletely understood. Here the authors provide single-nuclei RNA and ATAC-seq of human ovarian tissue from four young and four rep...

Interesting work by Yousin Suh, Marco Conti, and colleagues published in @natureportfolio.bsky.social @natureaging.bsky.social. Multi-omic analyses revealed #mTOR signaling as a prominent #ovary-specific #aging pathway.
www.nature.com/articles/s43...