Thursday 21 May 2026 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Puddicombe Way , Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge , CB2 0AW
About
A-type lamins in aging and cardiovascular disease: from mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), and CIBER en Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV), Madrid, Spain
Please take note of the change of location for this talk.
Abstract
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading health and socio-economic challenge worldwide, in part due to the progressive aging of the global population. Atherosclerosis and heart failure contribute substantially to CVD-related morbidity and mortality in older individuals. These pathological features, together with many aspects of the aging process, are dramatically accelerated in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a rare genetic disorder (prevalence ~1 in 18-20 million) caused by the expression of progerin, a mutant form of lamin A. The most severe manifestation of HGPS is widespread CVD, including aggressive atherosclerosis, which leads to premature death (average lifespan ~14.6 years), most commonly from myocardial infarction, heart failure or stroke. Progerin is also expressed at low levels in tissues from normally aged individuals, suggesting that mechanisms driving premature aging in HGPS may also contribute to physiological aging. Understanding how progerin promotes cardiovascular pathology may therefore provide important insights into the mechanisms of normal aging.
In this seminar, I will present our work on the role of A-type lamins in CVD in the context of both physiological and premature aging, highlighting the contribution of different vascular cell types and emerging molecular mechanisms that may open new therapeutic avenues.
A light lunch will be provided from 12.30pm
It would be great to see you in person, but if you need to attend remotely please contact Sarah Gibbings to receive a Teams link.