Mechanisms of Aging

As life expectancy increases, the demographic structure of our society is changing: the increased age of our population is making age-associated diseases more abundant than ever before. In fact, the aging process is a major risk factor for many chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases, dementia, type 2 diabetes and a weakening immune system. Therefore, in the foreseeable future, “healthy aging" is one of the greatest societal challenges facing humanity. Scientifically and clinically validated strategies to improve healthspan - the disease-free period of life - are urgently needed.

The BioHealth research area "Mechanisms of Aging" investigates the mechanisms of cellular aging and the aging of whole organisms up to humans with the focus on healthy aging. Model organisms such as yeast, flies, and mice play an important role in this area, making it possible, among other things, to study health- and lifespan-promoting interventions. These include various health-promoting forms of fasting and caloric restriction as well as their pharmacological mimetics. The latter are substances that can mimic certain effects of fasting or caloric restriction, such as the natural polyamine spermidine. Mechanistically, autophagy, a cellular recycling process, plays a central role in translating the beneficial effects of fasting, caloric restriction and their mimetics and can protect cells from age-related damage. In addition, our BioHealth scientists cooperate with medical universities to test their findings and novel interventions obtained from model organisms for transferability to humans.

Currently, we are conducting research on the following topics:

• Function and regulation of autophagy in aging and age-associated disease.
• Metabolic changes and metabolic flexibility during aging.
• Spermidine as a fasting mimetic to promote life- and healthspan of organisms.
• Polyamines and their metabolism in regulation of cell-protective autophagy.
• Function and mechanisms of fasting and time-restricted eating in promoting healthy lifespan.
• Influence of known caloric restriction mimetics to improve sleep.
• Polyphenols as natural pharmacologically active agents against age-associated diseases.