Development, Regeneration and Ageing (DevRegAge)

Photo of a woman
Maria Eriksson Photo: Anders Lindholm

The emerging field in biomedicine is related to ageing and cellular senescence that may play an important role in tissue repair and regeneration. Ageing at the molecular and cellular levels is characterized by the occurrence and accumulation of damages in DNA, RNA, proteins, and other macromolecules. Increased molecular heterogeneity is the fundamental basis for the cellular and physiological changes that happen during ageing.

Collage, with a schematic illustration to the left and a portrait photo of a young man with progeria to the right
Left: Schematic drawing of the HGPS mutation correction by an adenine base editor (ABE). Upon DNA binding of the CRISPR-Cas9 machinery, the adenine deaminase enzyme corrects the targeted point mutation. Drawing was created with Biorender. Right: 21 year old patient with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. Photo provided by The Progeria Research Foundation. Informed consent was obtained by The Progeria Research Foundation. Photo: Private

The field pioneer at Karolinska Institutet is Prof. Maria Eriksson that together with her research team tries to understand the genetic mechanisms that contribute to the age-related decline of tissues and the development of age-associated diseases. They use modern genomic technologies to identify genetic variations, and conditional in vivo models to dissect the functional significance of the variants discovered. For more details follow their recent paper on Brief expression of gene editing tools helped with progeria in mice

Maria Eriksson's Research Group in BioNut

Genetic Mechanisms of Ageing
Leah Hernandez-Munoz
12-10-2023