Marco Demaria

Dr. Marco Demaria is Professor of Cellular Ageing and Senescence at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), where he serves as Director of the Institute for Mechanisms of Health, Ageing and Disease (MoHAD) and leads the Laboratory of Cellular Senescence and Age-Related Pathologies at the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA). He obtained his PhD in Molecular Medicine at the University of Torino, Italy, under the supervision of Prof. Valeria Poli, investigating the role of chronic inflammation and cellular metabolism in tumor progression.

In 2010, he joined the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in California, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Judith Campisi. There, he developed innovative tools and models to study senescent cells in vivo and contributed to defining their roles in tissue repair, cancer, and aging. He also initiated translational work on therapeutic strategies to target senescent cells in order to extend healthspan.

Since 2015, Dr. Demaria has been a faculty member at UMCG and ERIBA, where his laboratory focuses on identifying molecular mechanisms and biomarkers of cellular senescence, as well as characterizing the detrimental effects of senescent cells during aging and following cancer therapies. A central aim of his research is to leverage these insights for the development of rejuvenating interventions.

Beyond academia, he co-founded Cleara Biotech in 2018, a biotechnology company developing drugs that selectively target senescent cells. Dr. Demaria currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Aging-US and he is the President of the International Cell Senescence Association (ICSA).

• Kohli J, Fitsiou E, Ge C, Wang B, Brandenburg SM, Diercks GFH, Faller WJ, Demaria M. (2022) Targeting anti-apoptotic pathways eliminates senescent melanocytes and leads to nevi regression. Nature Communcations.
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• Wang B, Varela-Eirin M, Brandenburg SM, Hernandez-Segura A, van Vliet T, Jongbloed EM, Wilting SM, Ohtani N, Jager A, Demaria M. (2022) Pharmacological CDK4/6 inhibition reveals a p53-dependent senescent state with restricted toxicities. EMBO Journal.
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• Nehme J, Yang D, Altulea A, Varela-Eirin M, Wang L, Hu S, Wu Y, Togo J, Niu C, Speakman JR, Demaria M. (2021) High protein and fat contents exacerbate hepatic senescence and SASP in mice. FEBS Journal.
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• Talma N, Gerrits E, Wang B, Eggen BJL, Demaria M.(2021) Identification of distinct and age-dependent p16High microglia subtypes. Aging Cell.
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• Kohli J, Wang B, Brandenburg SM et al. (2021) Algorithmic assessment of cellular senescence in experimental and clinical specimens. Nature Protocols.  
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• Vliet T, Wang B, Varela-Eirin M, Borghesan M, Brandenburg S, Evangelou K, Franzin R, Seelen M, Gorgoulis V, Demaria M.(2021) Physiological hypoxia restrains the Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype (SASP) via AMPK-mediated mTOR suppression. Molecular Cell.  
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• Gorgoulis V, Adams PD, Alimonti A, Bennett DC, Bischof O, Bishop C, Campisi J, Collado M, Evangelou K, Ferbeyre G, Gil J, Hara E, Krizhanovsky V, Jurk D, Maier AB, Narita M, Niedernhofer N, Passos JF, Robbins PD, Schmitt C, Sedivy J, Vougas K, von Zglinicki T, Zhou D, Serrano M, Demaria M.(2019) Cellular senescence: defining a path forward. Cell.  
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• Hernandez-Segura A, de Jong TV, Melov S, Guryev V, Campisi J, Demaria M (2017) Unmasking Transcriptional Heterogeneity in Senescent Cells. Current Biology.
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• Demaria M, O'Leary MN, Chang J, Shao L, Liu S, Alimirah F, Koenig K, Le C Mitin N, Deal AM, Alston S, Academia EC, Kilmarx S, Valdovinos A, Wang B, de Bruin A, Kennedy BK, Melov S, Zhou D, Sharpless NE, Muss H, Campisi J. (2017) Cellular Senescence Promotes Adverse Effects of Chemotherapy and Cancer Relapse. Cancer Discovery.    
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• Demaria M, Ohtani N, Youssef SA, Rodier F, Toussaint W, Mitchell JR, Laberge RM, Vijg J, Van Steeg H, Dollé M, Hoeijmakers J, deBruin A, Hara E, Campisi J. (2014) An essential role for senescent cells in optimal wound healing through secretion of PDGF-AA. Developmental Cell.
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