Mechanisms of ageing and senescence

This programme covers research on lifespan in a new model organism, identification of genetic and epigenetic determinants of healthy human ageing as well as aspects of cellular senescence. Within the latter topic, the destabilization of the genome likely contributes to a significant portion of different senescence aspects and is therefore a major focus of our work. E.g., several FLI laboratories concentrate on replication, DNA repair and chromosome segregation. Errors in these processes cause premature ageing and are the ultimate reason for the development of age-associated diseases. Concerning determinants of human ageing, our enormous expertise in genome analysis is being used to identify longevity-associated markers as well as age-dependent DNA methylation of the human genome.