The Research Areas at CECAD

Unraveling the mechanisms of human aging and its associated diseases is a challenging and complex interdisciplinary research project. Many signaling pathways alter during a person’s lifetime and may become the trigger for disease. In its investigation of various aspects of cell aging, CECAD has defined three Research Areas that are exploring the key mechanisms of aging

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.  

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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. 

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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. 

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RA-1 Head Principal Investigators

Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Trifunovic CECAD

Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Trifunovic

Principal Investigator
Head of Research Area 1

+49 221 478 842 91

aleksandra.trifunovic[at]uk-koeln.de

CECAD Research Center

Universität zu Köln
Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 26

50931 Köln

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Prof. Dr. David Vilchez CECAD

Prof. Dr. David Vilchez

Principal Investigator
Head of Research Area 1

 

+49 221 478 84172

dvilchez[at]uni-koeln.de

CECAD Forschungszentrum
Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 26

50931 Köln

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RA-2 Head Principal Investigators

Prof. Dr. Christian Frezza CECAD

Prof. Dr. Christian Frezza

Principal Investigator
Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Metabolomics in Aging
Head of Research Area 2

+49 221 478 84308

christian.frezza[at]uni-koeln.de

Metabolomics in aging

Room: 4.068

CECAD Research Center
Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 26

50931 Köln

Dr. Anne Schaefer CECAD

Dr. Anne Schaefer

Principal Investigator
Director of MPI for Biology of Ageing
Head of Research Area 2

+49 221 37970 702

anne.schaefer[at]age.mpg.de

Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing
Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 9b

50931 Köln

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RA-3 Head Principal Investigators

Prof. Dr. Filipe Gomes Cabreiro CECAD

Prof. Dr. Filipe Gomes Cabreiro

Principal Investigator
Head of Research Area 3

+49 221 478 84390

f.cabreiro[at]uni-koeln.de

Microbiota in aging

CECAD Research Center
Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 26

50931 Köln

Prof. Dr. Tatiana Korotkova CECAD

Prof. Dr. Tatiana Korotkova

Principal Investigator
Institute Director
Head of Research Area 3

+49 221 4786950

tatiana.korotkova[at]uk-koeln.de

Robert-Koch-Str. 39

50931 Köln