Yanjiao Zhou
University of Connecticut, CT·Microbiology & Immunology
Two processes are tied to aging and many age-related diseases. One is cellular senescence, in which damaged cells stop dividing but linger and release inflammatory signals.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Physiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
cellular senescence
gut microbiome
microbiota
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Test whether senescent cells reshape the gut microbiome and its metabolites by transplanting or genetically clearing senescent cells in older male and female mice, using the p21-Cre mouse model.
- Test whether the SASP, the inflammatory signals released by senescent cells, drives microbiome changes, by inactivating the inflammation regulator NF-κB in p21-high senescent cells.
- Determine whether gut bacteria from high-fat-diet mice promote senescent-cell buildup, using fecal microbiota transplantation into mice.
- Test whether microbiota from intermittent-fasting mice, or colonization with Akkermansia alone, can suppress senescent cells and improve metabolic function.
More about the research
The other is a shift in the gut microbiome, the community of bacteria living in the intestine. Each affects health, but how they influence each other, especially in age-related metabolic problems such as those caused by unhealthy diets, is largely unknown.
Why it matters
Aging and age-related metabolic disease are a growing public health burden. By clarifying how senescent cells and gut bacteria influence each other under unhealthy diets, the work could lay groundwork for interventions that target senescent cells, the microbiome or both, such as dietary approaches or beneficial bacteria like Akkermansia, to improve health in later life.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jenna Bartley
University of Connecticut, CT·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether clearing senescent cells with senolytic drugs before vaccination improves cell-mediated and antibody responses to recombinant flu nucleoprotein and adjuvanted inactivated flu vaccines in aged mice.
Linnea Freeman
Furman University, SC·Neuroscience
Test whether disrupting the gut microbiome in adulthood increases hedonic feeding more in female than male rats, using a behavioral economics task with a high-fat, palatable reward.
Stephen C Jameson
University of Minnesota, MN·Microbiology & Immunology
Build mouse model systems to define the development, maintenance and antigen specificity of Helios+ CD8+ T cells, a memory-phenotype population proposed to restrain excessive and self-directed immune responses.
The school
University of Connecticut: 31 labs on PI Pages, $434M a year on research, 360 research doctorates a year.
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