Research/Areas of Interest
The role of metabolism in aging at the cellular level
Education
- PhD, University of California, Irvine
Biography
Dr. Christopher Wiley, PhD, is a Scientist II in the Metabolism & Basic Biology of Aging directive at the HNRCA. His research focuses on the role of metabolism and nutrition in cellular senescence. Senescence is a form of cellular aging in which a cell adopts a permanent proliferative arrest, coupled to the secretion of a mélange of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, proteases, and oxylipins. Models that allow selective elimination of senescent cells, or “senolysis”, show that senescent cells drive multiple degenerative pathologies.
Dr. Wiley discovered a distinct form of senescence driven by mitochondrial dysfunction, known as mitochondrial dysfunction-associated senescence (MiDAS). He also discovered that senescent cells promote clotting and coagulation and identified altered lipid metabolism as a major property of senescent cells. Dr. Wiley recently identified a specific lipid, dihomo-15d-PGJ2, as the first known biomarker of senolysis.