Summer School 2026 [September 24 & 25]: Aging & Senescence: From Evolution to Disease

Join leading experts and emerging scientists in aging research at this two-day international conference. The event brings together the latest findings in molecular biology, immunology, evolutionary genetics, and social sciences to explore the complex biology of aging and senescence. From cell to society.

The Summer School 2026 is organised by Alive in collaboration with European partners, including the AURORA university alliance.

Mandatory registration here

Provisional program:

Day 1: Senescence Mechanisms, Damage Responses, and Intervention

08:30 – 09:00
Registration and coffee

09:00 – 09:45
KEYNOTE — Valery Krizhanovsky — Cellular senescence in pathophysiology: From damage responses to tissue remodeling

Session 1 — Core mechanisms of senescence

09:45 – 10:10
Pidder Jansen-Dürr & Maria Cavinato — Opening remarks: Senescence at the crossroads of aging, disease, and translation

10:10 – 10:30
David Bernard — Senescence, aging, and cancer: Shared mechanisms, divergent outcomes

10:30 – 10:55
Ricardo Martinez — Cellular senescence across tissues: Heterogeneity, timing, and opportunity

11:00 – 11:30
Coffee Break

11:30 – 11:55
Andrea Ablasser — cGAS–STING signaling as a bridge between senescence and inflammation

11:55– 12:20
Miria Ricchetti — Genome instability, Cockayne syndrome, and the biology of premature aging

12:20 – 12:45
Alexandra Dürr — DNA damage responses in inherited premature aging disorders

12:45 – 14:00
Lunch

Session 2 — Rejuvenation and therapeutic targeting

14:00 – 14:25
Jean-Marc Lemaitre — Rejuvenation without erasure: Resetting age while preserving cellular identity

14:25 – 14:50
Marco Malavolta — Treating senescence: Senomorphics, senolytics, and clinical promise

14:50 – 15:15
Cleo Bishop — Regulatory circuits that govern senescence entry and maintenance

15:15 – 15:40
Michael Rera — Organismal aging as a systemic process: Lessons from whole-body models

15:40 – 16:10
Coffee break

Session 3 — Translation to intervention

16:10 – 16:35
Neotis Start-up (Michael Saitakis & Cathal Meehan) — Immunotherapies targeting pathologic senescent cells for chronic age-related disease

16:35 – 17:15
Panel discussion — Can we target senescence safely and precisely?

17:15 – 18:30
Poster session / networking reception

Day 2 — Systems Aging, Evolution, Technology, and Society

09:00 – 09:45
KEYNOTE — Guido Kroemer — Aging as a plastic biological process: Mechanisms and therapeutic levers

Session 4 — Immune, metabolic, and tissue aging

09:45 – 10:10
Pasquale Maffia — Immune dysregulation in cardiovascular disease across the aging trajectory

10:10 – 10:35
Kirsty Spalding — Metabolism, cell turnover, and the aging human body

10:35 – 11:00
Lida Katsimpardi — Systemic regulators of brain aging and neurodegeneration

11:00 – 11:30
Coffee break

Session 5 — Cardiovascular aging, clocks, and computation

11:30 – 11:55
Reinier Boon — Non-coding RNA networks in cardiovascular aging

11:55 – 12:20
Chiara Herzog — Biological clocks as readouts of aging heterogeneity

12:20 – 12:45
Declan O’Regan — AI for the aging heart: Imaging, prediction, and precision medicine

12:45 – 13:10
Jean-François Deleuze — Population genetics of aging: From variant discovery to risk trajectories

13:10 – 14:20
Lunch

Session 6 — Evolutionary frameworks for aging

14:20 – 14:45
Jean-François Lemaitre — Evolutionary biology of aging: Why lifespans differ across species

14:45 – 15:10
Eric Bapteste — From tree to network: Rethinking evolution for the biology of aging

15:10 – 15:35
Thomas Pradeu — Aging, immunity, and biological individuality

15:35 – 16:00
Coffee break

Session 7 — Aging in society and future perspectives

16:00 – 16:25
Blanca Deusdad — Social robotics for aging societies: Care, autonomy, and ethics

16:25 – 17:00
Closing roundtable — What should the next decade of aging and senescence research look like?

17:00 – 17:10
Closing remarks — Oliver Bischof, Eric Gilson & Isabelle Ader

Mandatory registration here