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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · 10d

It was a pleasure hosting the 2025 Groningen-Jena Aging Meeting in Jena! 🎉 We aimed for a truly multidisciplinary aging conference with lively discussions & great interactions - and it worked!
Huge thanks to our amazing helpers, speakers & participants for making it a success!

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Aug 17

This suggests that DREAM inhibitors are first-in-class potential sleep mimetics. To learn more, check out our updated preprint. Kudos to Isabela Santos Valentim, the first author, and all the collaborators who invested time and huge effort in this study!!

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Aug 17

Good news - we can reverse the effects of sleep disruption with genetic and pharmacological DREAM inhibitors, fully restoring the health of permanently sleep-disrupted animals (at least in the C. elegans system).

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Aug 17

Conversely, during sleep, DREAM levels are lowered, leading to chromatin opening and allowing repair to take place. With sleep deprivation, DREAM stays unregulated and chromatin remains closed, causing repair to erode over time and leading to cellular dysfunction.

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Aug 17

During wakefulness, DREAM levels increase, leading to chromatin condensation. This protects genomic DNA from wakefulness-associated damage but, on the other hand, suppresses repair activities that require gene expression.

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Aug 17

Combining multi-omics, genetic, and functional assays across systems, we found that the chromatin remodeling complex DREAM (an abbreviation unrelated to sleep) is a central regulator of closed and open chromatin states during wakefulness and sleep, respectively.

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Aug 17

Can the benefits of sleep 😴 be achieved without sleeping? Our latest research says YES. Using nematodes, human cells, and mouse brain, we found that the effects of sleep and wakefulness arise from large chromatin changes that can be modulated by drugs.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Inactivation of the DREAM complex mimics the molecular benefits of sleep

Circadian clock disruption and lack of sleep impair organismal health, but remedies remain elusive. Here, we used multi-omics, molecular and functional assays in C. elegans , human retinal cells and m...

www.biorxiv.org

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 28

Can the immune system be activated by imaginary germs? Study finds that visual proximity with an object perceived as infections is sufficient for triggering an immune response.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Neural anticipation of virtual infection triggers an immune response - Nature Neuroscience

Serino et al. show that seeing an infectious avatar approach the body in virtual reality triggers an immune response, indicating that the brain prepares the body to fight infections even for perceived...

www.nature.com

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 27

Don’t miss the chance to register for this exciting conference! I will be presenting our latest findings on the unexpected side effects of circadian genome protection (aka sleep mimetics study).

Fusion Conferences @fusionconf.bsky.social · Jul 9

🧬 #CIDHD25 will bring together experts exploring how cells maintain genome stability & how these insights are driving new therapies.

4 days of exciting talks, plus lots of opportunity for networking!

🗓️ Poster & Reg Deadline: 14 Aug
🔗 bit.ly/44mBPU2

#FusionCellBio #FusionDNA

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 27

Our ability to describe aging keeps improving - which is, of course, tremendously important. Yet one key task remains: actually finding ways to reverse aging or, at the very least, slow it down safely and reliably.
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Comprehensive human proteome profiles across a 50-year lifespan reveal aging trajectories and signatures

A 50-year multi-tissue proteomic atlas reveals transcriptome-proteome decoupling, proteostasis decline with amyloid accumulation, and asynchronous aging clocks, identifying circulating senoproteins co...

www.cell.com

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 20

Only a few days remain until the final (extended) abstract submission deadline on July 25th! The conference is reaching capacity, and only limited spots are left. Short talk selections will be made after the deadline—don’t miss your opportunity to be part of this exciting meeting!

Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · May 22

Interested in healthy aging - from fundamental mechanisms to advanced interventions? Join us September 24-26 for the Groningen-Jena Aging Meeting, featuring talks by leading experts and 20+ short talk slots selected from abstracts. Early bird registration ends on 30.06.25

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 14

Unpopular opinion: Before we attempt to create immortal humans, we should first figure out how to colonize other planets - because Earth can't accommodate everyone forever with its limited resources. Until then, let’s focus on delivering healthy longevity.

Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 14

A strong start toward healthy aging: study shows that early-life exercise is sufficient to extend healthspan, even after prolonged detraining (in mice).

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Early-life exercise extends healthspan but not lifespan in mice - Nature Communications

Exercise exerts health benefits, yet the long-term effects of early-life regular exercise on later-life health and lifespan remain poorly understood. Here, the authors show early-life exercise in mice...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Maria Ermolaeva

Joris Deelen @jorisdeelen.bsky.social · May 29

I am very proud to present you the first paper from the main research line of my group at the @mpiage.bsky.social in collaboration with my current group @molepi.bsky.social @bds-lumc.bsky.social at the LUMC, which is now published in @geroscience.bsky.social!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Functional characterisation of rare variants in genes encoding the MAPK/ERK signalling pathway identified in long-lived Leiden Longevity Study participants - GeroScience

Human longevity, which is coupled to compression of age-related disease, is a heritable trait. However, only few common genetic variants have been linked to longevity, suggesting that rare, family-spe...

link.springer.com

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 13

We are currently working to secure funding for a human clinical study. Fingers crossed!

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jul 11

Proud of Prerana Chaudhari for winning the Best Talk Award for presenting this study at the annual meeting of the German Association for Aging Research (DGfA) in Ulm. Grateful for the recognition of our science by the community and hoping to share additional news on this project soon.

Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Feb 8

I'm often asked if I would take an anti-aging drug 💊 discovered in my lab. As of today, the answer is yes! I'm starting a new compound we identified last year, based on insights from the gut microbiome of human centenarians + many tests and screens in worms and human cells (1/2)

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jun 28

First, Google DeepMind put structural biologists out of work, and now it's coming for the jobs of bioinformaticians doing genome analysis: a preprint reveals AlphaGenome, the little brother of AlphaFold.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

AlphaGenome: advancing regulatory variant effect prediction with a unified DNA sequence model

Deep learning models that predict functional genomic measurements from DNA sequence are powerful tools for deciphering the genetic regulatory code. Existing methods trade off between input sequence le...

www.biorxiv.org

Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jun 25

This makes so much sense: we had the same conclusion in my postdoc paper where we found that germline DNA damage promotes somatic stress tolerance. We could exactly link it to delayed reproduction due to need of germline DNA repair.

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Reposted by Maria Ermolaeva

Alexei Maklakov @alexeimaklakov.bsky.social · Jun 25

Why does eating less extend lifespan? 🧬

Mutation accumulation underpins evolution of lifespan extension by dietary restriction

We often think about saving energy or recycling waste - but we show how evolution acting on mutation load can generate longer life on low food 🧵

🔗 tinyurl.com/jn5ryhxv

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jun 22

One week left until the abstract submission deadline. Excellent line-up of speakers discussing diverse topics on aging and longevity and 20+ slots for short talks selected from the abstracts. Don't miss your chance to join us in Jena in September!

Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · May 22

Interested in healthy aging - from fundamental mechanisms to advanced interventions? Join us September 24-26 for the Groningen-Jena Aging Meeting, featuring talks by leading experts and 20+ short talk slots selected from abstracts. Early bird registration ends on 30.06.25

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jun 16

High dietary fructose directly affects neonatal brain development and contributes to anxiety behaviours in later life by suppressing microglial phagocytosis. Fructose is a natural sugar from fruit and honey but also used as a sweetener in processed foods. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Early life high fructose impairs microglial phagocytosis and neurodevelopment - Nature

Exposure of mice to high fructose during gestation or early postnatal life causes decreased microglial phagocytosis during brain development and leads to anxiety-like behaviour in adolescence.

www.nature.com

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jun 9

A new study in three species shows taurine levels don’t decrease with age. Instead, individual differences explain most of the variation in taurine concentrations. Looks like another popular “anti-aging” supplement is losing its magic.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Is taurine an aging biomarker?

Low circulating taurine concentrations have been proposed as a driver of the aging process. We found that circulating taurine concentrations increased or remained unchanged with age in three geographi...

www.science.org

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Reposted by Maria Ermolaeva

Coleen Murphy @ctmurphy1.bsky.social · Jun 4

A few days late, but I’m happy to post our recent publication on body-to-brain signaling regulation of memory in Nature Aging:

Nature Aging @nataging.nature.com · Jun 2

Online now!✨RESEARCH: Zhou, Novak et al show that the hypodermis regulates memory in C. elegans via insulin/IGF-1 and Notch signaling; activating this pathway rescues CREB-dependent memory in aged worms @ctmurphy1.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s43... rdcu.be/eo3Pd

Body-to-brain insulin and Notch signaling regulates memory through neuronal CREB activity - Nature Aging

Zhou, Novak and colleagues identify that the Caenorhabditis elegans hypodermis, a peripheral liver-like metabolic tissue, regulates memory via insulin/IGF-1 and Notch signaling, and show that activati...

www.nature.com

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · Jun 4

As someone doing intervention screens that take us almost anywhere in terms of a mechanism, I can say firsthand that publishing high-impact work outside "your" research field is mission impossible due to enormous peer review bias. Still, we forge ahead.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The pivot penalty in research - Nature

An analysis of millions of scientific papers and patents reveals a ‘pivot penalty’ when researchers shift direction, with the impact of studies decreasing rapidly the further they move from their prev...

www.nature.com

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Maria Ermolaeva @mariaermolaeva.bsky.social · May 22

Interested in healthy aging - from fundamental mechanisms to advanced interventions? Join us September 24-26 for the Groningen-Jena Aging Meeting, featuring talks by leading experts and 20+ short talk slots selected from abstracts. Early bird registration ends on 30.06.25

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