Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Diego
Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowships in Aging Research - 2022
What inspired you to pursue aging research?
While scientific progress has allowed us to improve outcomes for many deadly diseases, we lack an understanding of how underlying mechanisms of aging broadly contribute to tissue dysfunction and diverse diseases that ultimately impact healthspan and lifespan. The multifaceted impact of aging sparked my innate curiosity and inspires my deep commitment to improving human health. I am dedicated to discovering fundamental mechanisms of aging and developing interventions that extend human healthspan and promote healthy aging.
In your view, what does AFAR mean to the field, and what does it mean for you to receive an AFAR grant now?
AFAR is a blessing to the field of aging. It offers unique resources and opportunities to pursue collaborative research and provides a path to translate research from the laboratory to patients. I am deeply honored to receive an AFAR fellowship as a postdoctoral researcher. This grant will enhance my research experience and provide essential professional development opportunities to help launch my independent research career.
What is exciting about your research’s potential impact?
Aging of the blood system has widespread effects on human health as it is not only associated with specific blood disorders, but many other immune, inflammatory, and malignant diseases associated with aging. While most blood cells are short-lived, stem cells need to persist throughout our entire life to regenerate all our blood and immune cells. Therefore, stem cells are both uniquely susceptible to age-related changes, and their rejuvenation can also have the greatest impact. By uncovering how stem cells age, I am poised to identify ways to prevent stem cell defects and exhaustion that can have broad impact on human health.
How would you describe your research to a non-scientist?
Blood-forming stem cells are rare cells in the bone marrow that regenerate all our blood and immune cells throughout life. Unfortunately, the function of these stem cells becomes impaired in older individuals, thereby predisposing them to anemia, clotting disorders, immune defects and cancer. In order to stay fit, stem cells need to produce protein slowly, but I found that some of the genes that control this process become dysregulated during aging. My research will examine how changes in protein production stress and impair aging stem cells. Through this work, I hope to discover new ways to keep stem cells fit and healthy to help prevent age-associated disease and extend human health.
