About

According to the WHO, the global percentage of people aged of more than 60 years will double from 11 to 22% between 2000 and 2050. Nowadays most of the elderly die of non-transmissible diseases like cardiopathies, cancer and diabetis more than infectious diseases and this even in poor countries.

Thus ageing is a key topic of the 21rst century and the Institut Pasteur wants to play a major role in research concerning this issue. A transdisciplinary working group has been constituted to study the basic mechanisms of ageing. The better comprehension of these mechanisms is a critical step to allow in fine healthy ageing.

The working group covers complementary areas of investigation :

  • DNA mutations and Repair
  • Cellular senescence
  • Stem cells
  • Physiology of ageing

For more general public information on our group, you can have access to The Journal de la Recherche or download the newsletter (in french).

Teams

Stem cells

Stem cells are essential for tissue repair. The number of stem cells decreases with ageing of the organism. Stem cells can also become senescent and loose their capacity to repair tissue. Recent discoveries allow transforming “classical” differenciated cells in stem cells. See below the description of one or more project on this subject.

Senescence

Researchers also study ageing at the cellular level called cellular senescence. How does their genetic expression varies with ageing. Notably there is an accumulation of senescent cells with ageing and recent studies have shown that the elimination of senescent cells has beneficial outcomes in animal models. See below the description of one or more project on this subject.

Physiology of ageing

Researchers have identified circulating factors that are present in the blood of young animals and absent in older ones. Furthermore Miria Richetti study the mecanisms linked to precocious ageing. See below the description of one or more project on this subject.

Featured Publications

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