What inspired you to pursue aging research?
I was originally interested in mitochondria and metabolism and happened to join a gerontology laboratory for my PhD research. From then on I have been fascinated by mechanisms of aging. There are still so many fascinating unanswered questions in this area that keep me engaged. The immune system changes significantly as we age, and so we’re currently focused on understanding the consequences of this in older ages.
In your view, what does AFAR mean to the field, and what does it mean, for you, to receive an AFAR grant now?
AFAR has long been a champion for aging research. Among the field, AFAR is well known and highly respected. I appreciate that AFAR isn’t a competing research group but is integrated with the other aging research communities and funding bodies like the Glenn Foundation and NIA. The basic science aging research community is a pretty tight-knit group. I’ve never had funding from AFAR before but I am extremely honored to have my research chosen for this award. It really feels like validation from peers in the field.
What is exciting about your research’s potential impact?
I think there are 2 main areas that could have a potential impact in the near term. First, patients are already being treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors that impact T cell function. These are life-saving for cancer patients but put these patients are also at increased risk for other diseases like atherosclerosis. We don’t fully understand how immune checkpoint inhibitors affect age-associated T cells or the potential impact on co-morbidities in these patients. The other area is related. There are many T cell targeting therapies on the market. These have potential to be repurposed to target age-associated T cells once we better understand the functions of age-associated T cells.
How would you describe your research to a non-scientist?
The immune system changes significantly as we age, but so far most of the basic science research on mechanisms of disease rely on young animals. There may be disease mechanisms due to immune changes with age that we haven’t identified yet. We are trying to uncover how the aged immune system contributes to worse health outcomes in old age so that we can eventually develop immune-modifying therapies to promote healthy aging.
