Bakar Aging Research Institute

Kelsey H. Collins, PhD, Wins NEXT Award for Translational Research on Relationship between Fat and Osteoarthritis Development and Pain /PRNewswire/ -- The 2026 New Emerging eXperts in Translational Science (NEXT) Award was granted to Kelsey H. Collins, PhD, for her research on the role of fat...

BARI is celebrating today! Kelsey Collins just won the 2026 NEXT Award for her research on the surprising role of fat in osteoarthritis and joint pain.
Turning personal inspiration into real mechanistic discoveries – this is why we do what we do. Congratulations, Kelsey! bit.ly/4sCUdBd

Non-visual light modulates behavioral memory and gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans Visible light engages a non-visual, bZIP-dependent transcriptional pathway in peripheral tissues that communicates with the nervous system to shape behavioral plasticity and memory, enabling optogenet...

BARI’s Dengke Ma shows non-visual light tweaks genes & improves adaptability in worms in a bacteria-dependent, wavelength-sensitive pathway. Enhances olfactory memory & potential for aging sensory research. Check it out: elifesciences.org/articles/108...

Red blood cells serve as a primary glucose sink to improve glucose tolerance at altitude High-altitude conditions improve glucose tolerance and reduce diabetes risk, but the physiological mechanism is not well understood. Using mouse model…

Isha Jain at BARI just published this in Cell Metabolism: Living high up makes blood sugar drop because red blood cells soak up glucose in low oxygen. Hypoxia can even treat diabetes in mice! #metabolism www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Therapeutic targeting of neuroimmune mechanisms in neurodegeneration - Nature Reviews Drug Discovery Neuroimmune interactions shape neurodegenerative disease progression. This Review examines how microglia integrate signals from central and peripheral immune cells, outlines emerging therapeutic targe...

BARI’s Andrew Yang breaks down how immune cells in the brain fuel neurodegeneration and what we can target to stop it. From microglial states to complement and inflammasomes, this review maps therapies that could help aging brains stay sharp longer. go.nature.com/4096fGg
#aging #neuroscience

Liver exerkine reverses aging- and Alzheimer’s-related memory loss via vasculature Liver exercise factor GPLD1 rejuvenates blood-brain barrier integrity and reverses cognitive impairments in aging and Alzheimer’s disease models by targeting GPI-anchored proteins on brain endothelial...

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

New out in Cell! Bari’s Saul Villeda shows how a liver factor from exercise (GPLD1) rejuvenates brain barriers, clears AD gunk, and boosts memory in old mice. By hitting specific vessel proteins, it mimics workout perks. Promising for fighting dementia! #aging #neuroscience

Modulation of the 14-3-3σ/C-RAF "Auto"inhibited Complex by Molecular Glues - PubMed Molecular glues, compounds that bind cooperatively at protein-protein interfaces (PPIs), are revolutionizing chemical biology and drug discovery, allowing the modulation of traditional "undruggable" targets. Here, we focus on a native regulatory PPI between the scaffolding protein 14-3-3 and C-RAF, …

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41617210/

BARI’s Michelle Arkin explores how tiny glues can calm overactive proteins in the pathways that control cell growth, key for cancer and growth disorders. As we age, these signals can mess up, so this might lead to ways to protect our brains and bodies from decline. #aging #cancer

Lysosomal protease-mediated APP degradation is pH-dependent, mutation-sensitive, and facilitates tau proteolysis The accumulation and aggregation of amyloid beta (Aβ)—a peptide fragment derived from the proteolytic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP)—is a central pathological feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and a current target for ...

BARI’s Aimee Kao explores APP’s lysosomal breakdown: pH-sensitive, mutation-boosted (faster with Arctic/Dutch variants), and sAPP amps up tau proteolysis by CTSG. Links APP & tau in neurodegeneration. Big implications for AD research. #geroscience pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Neurologic Complications of Pregnancy and Menopause | Continuum ABSTRACTOBJECTIVEThis article reviews neurologic complications associated with pregnancy and menopause, the influence of pregnancy and menopause on preexisting neurologic disorders, and the management...

BARI’s Sara LaHue breaks down neurologic issues tied to pregnancy and menopause in her latest review in Continuum. From preeclampsia-related stroke to menopause’s effects on cognition and MS, a great overview of key windows in women’s brain aging. Check it out: continuum.aan.com/doi/10.1212/...

Beyond blood pressure: Angiotensin II drives early brain injury The mechanisms linking hypertension to cognitive decline remain unclear. Schaeffer et al. show that angiotensin II damages endothelium, oligodendrocyte precursors, and interneurons via AT1 signaling, ...

Worth checking out: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

BARI’s Andrew Yang unpacks how hypertension quietly injures the brain via AngII long before pressure rises. Early hits to endothelial cells, oligodendrocyte precursors, and inhibitor neurons, all independent of blood pressure. Strong implications for better dementia prevention strategies.

Exploring the Association between Epigenetic Age and Intensive Care Unit Delirium: A Pilot Feasibility Study Abstract. Epigenetic clocks (EC) measuring epigenetic age (EA) and epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) are biomarkers of biological aging, but their associat

John Newman at BARI looks at ICU delirium and epigenetic clocks: Feasible from serum, with Elastic Net acceleration linked to lower severity scores (day 8 and at discharge). A noteworthy finding on biological aging in acute illness. academic.oup.com/biomedgeront...

CRISPR screens in iPSC-derived neurons reveal principles of tau proteostasis CRISPR screens in iPSC-derived neurons reveal that the E3 ubiquitin ligase CRL5SOCS4 ubiquitinates tau, that CUL5 expression is correlated with resilience in human Alzheimer’s disease, and that electr...

BARI spotlight: Dr. Martin Kampmann leads Cell study using CRISPR in iPSC neurons to decode tau handling, spotting ways to block toxic buildup in age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s. Read the article here: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Ageing promotes microglial accumulation of slow-degrading synaptic proteins - PubMed Neurodegenerative diseases affect 1 in 12 people globally and remain incurable. Central to their pathogenesis is a loss of neuronal protein maintenance and the accumulation of protein aggregates with ageing^1,2. Here we engineered bioorthogonal tools³ that enabled us to tag the …

This Nature study shows how aging slows protein cleanup in the brain, leading microglia to fill up with old synaptic proteins. Andrew Yang (BARI) contributed key methods to reveal it. Interesting for neurodegeneration research: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41565824/ #neuroscience #brainaging

Fibroblast Modulation of Stem Cell Lineage Infidelity and Metaplasia in Tissue Fibrosis - PubMed Epithelial stem cells are segregated on the basis of region-specific identities during homeostasis. However, tissue perturbations can induce remarkable plasticity in stem cells to adopt lineage identities outside their anatomical compartments. This phenomenon has been termed lineage infidelity or me …

Big congrats to BARI’s Tien Peng on his latest review! Diving into how fibroblasts steer stem cell plasticity & metaplasia in fibrosis, super relevant for lung aging & disease. Read it here: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40839781/

Genetic and Carcinogenic Risks of Radiotherapy for Nonmalignant Diseases Radiotherapy is a valuable treatment option for a variety of nonmalignant diseases. As the indications for low-dose radiotherapy to benign conditions …

Key review by BARI member Jean Nakamura: Low-does radiotherapy for nonmalignant issues has low carcinogenic risk, particularly in older populations where these ailments hit hardest. Age, dose, & genetics matter too, read more here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The lysosome and proteostatic stress at the intersection of pediatric neurological disorders and adult neurodegenerative diseases In the last two decades, many gene mutations have been identified that when homozygous, lead to childhood neurological disorders, but when heterozygou…

Insightful review by BARI member Aimee Kao & team connects development and aging through lysosomal dysfunction and neuronal vulnerability. They highlight how proteostatic stress in high-stress life stages can lead to lysosomal clearance disorders. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #Neuroscience

PCM1 coordinates centrosome asymmetry with polarized endosome dynamics to regulate daughter cell fate - Nature Communications Pcm1 bridges centrosome asymmetry and polarized endosome trafficking to regulate radial glia progenitor fate decisions, balancing self-renewal and differentiation in zebrafish and human cortical organ...

Check out BARI member Su Guo’s @naturecomms paper where they uncover PCM1’s role in regulating daughter cell fate via centrosome-endosome interplay. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroscience

Past, present and future perspectives on the science of aging - Nature Aging As Nature Aging celebrates its fifth anniversary, the journal asks some of the researchers who contributed to the journal early on to reflect on the past and the future of aging and age-related diseas...

Fascinating perspectives on aging science in Nature Aging! BARI’s Dena Dubal offers insights on real-world translation, plus input from two of our advisory board members Vera Gorbunova & George Kuchel. Inspiring read: www.nature.com/articles/s43... #Aging #Science

Residual allelic activity likely underlies the low rates of disease expression for predicted loss-of-function variants in population-scale biobanks Loss-of-function variants in genes linked to haploinsufficient Mendelian diseases have unexpectedly low rates of phenotypic expression in population-scale biobanks. Using statistical modeling and mach...

Makes genetic risk harder to predict in healthy carriers. www.cell.com/ajhg/abstrac... #Genetics #Science

Neil Risch and his BARI team have a paper out in AJHG: Predicted loss-of-function variants linked to serious diseases often don’t show up as expected in big biobanks. Why? Residual activity from the variant allele keeps some function going (leaky penetrance).

Tissue Repair Slows in Old Age. These Proteins Speed It Back Up UCSF scientists engineered old fibroblast cells to turn their genes on and off in the same way as young fibroblasts. The old fibroblasts were rejuvenated: they multiplied (green) and produced more of ...

UCSF has a cool article on BARI member Hao Li’s work. They found gene-regulating proteins that drop with age, slowing repair. Boosting them made old fibroblasts act young again and increasing EZH2 in mice rejuvenated livers. Read more here: www.ucsf.edu/news/2026/01...

Osteocyte-Intrinsic MMP13 exacerbates injury-induced temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis Cartilage in the knee and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) rely on subchondral bone for joint homeostasis, whereby osteoarthritis (OA) causes degeneration. In the knee, suppression of osteocytic perilacu...

Congrats to BARI’s Tamara Alliston on her latest paper in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage! They show loss of MMP13 in bone cells is protective against cartilage damage in injured jaw joints (TMJ), similar to effects seen in knees: www.oarsijournal.com/article/S106...

What a whirlwind at #JPM2026! Grateful for the inspiring chats, new ideas, and connections that make this field so exciting. From BARI in SF: thanks for coming, safe travels home, and let’s keep pushing geroscience forward together! #agingresearch

Aging mice are precious (and expensive!) – so why not get max data from each? BARI member Hanna Martens & team share a JoVE protocol for multi-organ collection. Over 15 organs from a single mouse. Smart & ethical: app.jove.com/t/69128/mult... #agingscience

Take a look: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

What if lowering triglycerides could help you survive low oxygen and age better? New EMBO Reports from BARI member Dengke Ma & team explores this conserved mechanism: from arctic ground squirrel brain cells to C. elegans, reducing lipid biosynthesis protects mitochondria and extends life.

Senolytic-sensitive p16Ink4a+ fibroblasts in the tumor stroma rewire lung cancer metabolism and plasticity The tumor stroma contains heterogenous cell types with senescent phenotypes. Lee et al. characterize a cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) subtype characterized by p16INK4a expression and myofibroblast...

Great contribution to the field: bit.ly/3L7ATfr #CancerResearch #Aging

Well done to Tien Peng and team – exciting new paper out in Cell Stem Cell! The study shows how certain senescent fibroblasts drive metabolic reprogramming in lung adenocarcinoma and demonstrates that targeting them with an HSP90 inhibitor shrinks tumors.