Mission

Life depends on the ability to adapt. We aim to uncover the fundamental principles of adaptive biology that govern how cells sense change, adapt, and transform to maintain resilience across aging and disease.  Our research explores how adaptive programs generate plasticity and resilience, why they fail during aging, and how they can be reprogrammed to restore healthy function.

Using the brain as a model for complex biological adaptation, we integrate genetics, immunology, metabolism, spatial biology, and systems approaches to understand how immune and neural cells coordinate responses across the lifespan. We aim to define the molecular and cellular mechanisms that determine whether adaptation promotes resilience or drives dysfunction and degeneration.

Nature has evolved remarkable strategies to survive extreme biological challenges, including hibernation, exceptional longevity, and resistance to infection and radiation. We aim to uncover the fundamental principles behind these adaptations and translate them into transformative approaches that enhance human resilience, healthspan, and disease resistance.

Our long-term goal is to translate the principles of adaptive biology and translate them into therapies that preserve brain health, extend healthspan, and prevent neurodegenerative disease.

Core Values

Scientific Philosophy

1. Adaptation Shapes Life

We view adaptation as a fundamental property of life. Aging, health, and disease emerge from how cells and organisms respond to genetic, environmental, and physiological challenges. Understanding, and ultimately reprogramming, these adaptive processes is central to our research.

2. Mechanism Before Metrics

We believe measurements matter only when they reveal biology. We prioritize mechanistically interpretable biomarkers that uncover causal pathways, inform therapeutic strategies, and deepen our understanding of aging and disease.

3. From Correlation to Causality

We move beyond association to identify the mechanisms that drive biological function. By integrating genetics, perturbation experiments, longitudinal studies, and quantitative biology, we aim to define the causal principles governing resilience, aging, and disease.

4. Nature Is Our Greatest Teacher

Evolution has produced extraordinary solutions to biological challenges. By studying natural models of adaptation, including exceptional longevity, hibernation, regeneration, and resistance to environmental stress, we aim to uncover biological principles that inspire the next generation of medicine.

5. Resilience Is Biology's Greatest Innovation

Rather than focusing solely on disease, we investigate the adaptive programs that preserve function, maintain homeostasis, and enable recovery under stress. We believe these natural mechanisms of resilience provide powerful opportunities for prevention and therapy.

6. Plasticity Enables Possibility

Plasticity is the capacity of biological systems to reorganize, adapt, and acquire new functional states. We investigate how cellular and tissue plasticity shapes development, aging, disease, and adaptation to extreme environments, and how these processes can be harnessed to promote repair, regeneration, and healthy aging.

Research Vision

1. Integration Across Biological Scales

Biological systems cannot be understood at a single level. We integrate genetics, molecular biology, metabolism, spatial organization, physiology, and systems biology to connect mechanisms across molecules, cells, tissues, organisms, and populations.

2. From Discovery to Design

Understanding biology is only the beginning. We aim to transform fundamental discoveries into engineered biological solutions, innovative therapeutics, and next-generation technologies that enhance resilience, healthy aging, and human health.

3. Learning from Nature's Exceptional Biology

Exceptional individuals and organisms, from cognitively resilient centenarians to species with extraordinary longevity and stress resistance, offer unique windows into biological resilience. By uncovering the adaptive mechanisms that preserve health under extreme conditions, we aim to translate nature's solutions into strategies that promote healthy aging, disease resistance, and regenerative medicine.

Our Culture

1. Rigor, Integrity, and Reproducibility

We are committed to rigorous experimental design, quantitative analysis, transparent reporting, and reproducible science. Trustworthy discoveries are the foundation of lasting scientific impact..

2. Mentorship and Scientific Independence

We foster an inclusive and collaborative environment where curiosity, integrity, critical thinking, and intellectual independence thrive. We believe diverse perspectives and supportive mentorship empower the next generation of scientific leaders.

3. Bold Ideas, Grounded in Evidence

We embrace ambitious, high-risk questions while holding ourselves to the highest standards of scientific rigor. Innovation is most impactful when driven by creativity, tested through careful experimentation, and supported by quantitative evidence.