CECAD: Research Areas

The Research Areas at CECAD

CECAD aims to reveal the mechanisms that underlie the aging process and its associated diseases. Aging affects a large variety of physiological processes ranging from molecular and cellular signaling mechanisms to systemic adaptations of the aging organism.

The overarching long-term scientific mission of CECAD is to develop effective, evidence-based prevention strategies for major aging-associated diseases, with the aim to extend the healthy lifespan and to mantain quality of life during aging.

Based on breakthrough discoveries of CECAD scientists in the previous funding periods, CECAD has expanded its scope in its third funding period beyond the analysis of cell-autonomous stress signaling pathways to the investigation of the role of inter-organ communication and the integration of internal signals and external environmental cues in the aging process. CECAD scientists are exploring the key mechanisms of aging in three defined research areas.

Supporting these three research areas, CECAD has successfully established three research platforms.

Technology and technology development, comprising the CECAD facilities that implement state-of-the-art methodologies
Translational research
Education and Career Development, Diversity, Gender Equality and Family Programs, and Public Outreach and Visibility

New Research Areas in CECAD 4.0

CECAD 4.0 focuses on aging as a process shaped by molecular systems, stress responses, and the environment. The three Research Areas work closely together to understand the mechanisms that determine resilience, healthspan, and disease vulnerability.

Research Area 1: Molecular, cellular, and inter-tissue networks in organismal aging
RA1 investigates how cells maintain protein and organelle quality throughout life. By uncovering how cellular balance breaks down with age, RA1 identifies molecular targets to preserve function and delay decline.
Research Area 2: Beneficial and maladaptive stress signaling in aging and aging-associated diseases
RA2 studies how cells and tissues respond to stress. The aim is to understand when stress responses support repair and adaptation, and when they drive inflammation and degeneration.
Research Area 3: Environmental factors, sexual dimorphism, and transgeneration in organismal aging trajectories
RA3 explores how diet, microbiome, sex-specific biology, and parental factors shape individual aging trajectories. This research identifies modifiable factors that influence health across the lifespan and across generations.

Current Research Areas (CECAD 3.0)

Research Area 1

Cell autonomous control of homeostatic mechanisms and cellular stress responses in aging and age-associated diseases

Aging is characterized by the decline of physiological integrity, which culminates in functional defects and increased risk for age-associated diseases. Cell autonomous deficits include disturbances in cellular proteostasis, organellar homeostasis, and genome integrity, which in turn can elicit multiple adaptive signaling pathways and cellular stress responses.

Research Area 2

Stress response mechanisms of tissue-related and interorgan communication in aging and age-associated diseases
During the aging process, different stress response pathways, such as the unfolded protein response (UPR), the mitochondrial stress response (MSR), and the DDR – as studied in RA-1 – are tightly coordinated. Through this coordination they ensure physiological integrity especially when metabolic changes challenge the overall system.

Research Area 3

Environment/organism interactions in aging and age-associated diseases

The organism constantly has to integrate information about the internal state with external environmental cues to adapt behavioral and autonomic responses to ensure the correct, optimal physiological homeostasis. The integrated coordination of internal signals with external environmental cues determines lifespan and the onset of age-associated diseases.