Dr. Cuervo is co-director of the Einstein Institute for Aging Research, and a member of the Einstein Liver Research Center and Cancer Center. In October 2001 she started her laboratory at Einstein, where she studies the role of protein-degradation in aging and age-related disorders, with emphasis in neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders.

Dr. Cuervo is considered a leader in the field of protein degradation in relation to biology of aging and has been invited to present her work in numerous national and international institutions, including name lectures as the Robert R. Konh Memorial Lecture, the NIH Director’s, the Roy Walford, the Feodor Lynen, the Margaret Pittman, the IUBMB Award, the David H. Murdoxk, the Gerry Aurbach, the SEBBM L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science, the C. Ronald Kahn Distinguished Lecture and the Harvey Society Lecture. She has organized and chaired international conferences on protein degradation and on aging, belongs to the editorial board of scientific journals in this topic, and is currently co-editor-in-chief of Aging Cell.

Dr. Cuervo has served in NIH advisory panels, special emphasis panels, and study sections, the NIA Scientific Council and the NIH Council of Councils and  has been recently elected member of the NIA Board of Scientific Counselors and member of the of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Deputy Director.. She has received numerous awards for the pioneerign work of her team such as  the 2005 P. Benson Award in Cell Biology, the 2005/8 Keith Porter Fellow in Cell Biology, the 2006 Nathan Shock Memorial Lecture Award, the 2008 Vincent Cristofalo Rising Start in Aging Award, the 2010 Bennett J. Cohen Award in Aging Biology, the 2012 Marshall S. Horwitz, MD Faculty Prize for Research Excellence and the 2015 Saul Korey Prize in Translational Medicine Science. She has also received twice the LaDonne Schulman Teaching Award. In 2015 she was elected International Academic of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Valencia Community and in 2017, she was elected member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales. She was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018 and member of the National Academy of Science in 2019.

Bo Peng is a professor at Fudan University. Prof. Peng’s research is centered on microglia in the central nervous system, with a particular focus on elucidating the mechanisms of their aging, death, and regeneration. Based on these insights, he has pioneered a novel therapeutic strategy involving microglia replacement for the treatment of neurological disorders, and in 2020, his team achieved the world’s first efficient microglia replacement. Furthermore, his group conducted the world’s first clinical trial of microglia replacement therapy in 2024, demonstrating its effectiveness and paving a new path for treating neurological diseases. His key research findings have been published as last author in high-impact journals including Science, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Aging, Neuron, Cell Reports, Nature Communications, and eLife.

Evandro Fei Fang is a molecular gerontologist and is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Oslo and the Akershus University Hospital, Norway. He has an extensive track record of mechanistic studies on human aging and mitophagy, and his main research interests currently center on exploring the basic molecular mechanisms of human ageing and age-related diseases, with a final goal to develop interventional strategies to improve people's lifespan and healthspan. He is currently pursuing the development of novel anti-ageing compounds using artificial intelligence combined with a cross-species wet-lab validation. Dr. Fang is also co-founder of the Norwegian Centre on Healthy Ageing (NO-Age) and the Norwegian anti-Alzheimer's disease (NO-AD) networks.

Sungbae Lee received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, in 1998 and 2000, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in physics from Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, in 2007. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Physics and Photon Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea. His main research interests include electron transports in novel materials and their applications.

Diana Jurk, Ph.D., investigates the mechanisms leading to aging and age-related diseases and has made important contributions to the fields of liver disease and neurodegeneration.

In the field of liver disease, Dr. Jurk demonstrated that inflammation is a key driver of cellular senescence in hepatocytes, contributing to impaired regenerative capacity, fibrosis and cancer. Additionally, Dr. Jurk was the first to demonstrate that clearance of senescent cells in aged, obese or diabetic mice can alleviate hepatic steatosis, suggesting that elimination of senescent cells can be a novel therapeutic strategy against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

In the field of neurodegeneration, Dr. Jurk was the first to identify that during aging, post-mitotic neurons acquire a senescent-like phenotype, a phenomenon driven by telomere dysfunction. As part of her independent research program, Dr. Jurk investigated further the role of cellular senescence in the brain in the context of obesity. Her team was the first to demonstrate that senescent cells inhibit neurogenesis, contributing to obesity-induced anxiety-like behavior. This led to the novel concept that senolytic drugs are a potential new therapeutic avenue for treating neuropsychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression.

Dr. Saul Villeda obtained his B.S. degree from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in Physiological Sciences in 2004, where he initially trained as a developmental biologist. He received his Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience from Stanford University in 2011, where he trained as a neural stem cell biologist. During his time at Stanford University he investigated how systemic changes in aging blood contribute to age-related impairments in neural stem cell function and cognitive processes. Dr. Villeda went on to start his independent career at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as a Sandler Faculty, now an Assistant Professor, in the Department of Anatomy and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research. Dr. Villeda has made the exciting discovery that the aging process in the brain can be reversed by altering levels of pro-youthful and pro-aging factors in blood. This revolutionary work challenges traditional views that the aged brain lacks the inherent ability necessary to combat the effects of aging, which results in permanent functional impairments. Dr. Villeda’s research is best known for the use of innovative heterochronic parabiosis and blood plasma administration approaches to investigate the influence that exposure to young blood has in promoting molecular and cellular changes underlying cognitive rejuvenation. Dr. Villeda’s discovery of a blood-based approach to brain rejuvenation has high transformative potential with wide ranging implications for contracting age-related cognitive decline and associated dementia-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Wrann studied veterinary medicine at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University. She received her Ph.D. with Summa cum laude in Immunology from the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in 2008. She concluded her postdoctoral in the laboratory of Dr. Bruce Spiegelman at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. In April 2016 she joined the faculty of the CVRC to start her own laboratory. 

Dr. Wrann is an Assistant Professor in Medicine at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Wrann is also an affiliate of the Henry and Allison McCance Center for Brain Health and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. She is the recipient a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the NINDS and the Hassenfeld Cardiovascular Research Scholar Award. Her research focuses on the beneficial effects of exercise and metabolism on the brain, and specifically secreted factors in exercise as potential drug targets.

Marc received his B.S. in Pharmacy from Barcelona University, Catalonia in 2010. He studied how mitochondria is responsible for controlling whole body energy balance and metabolism in the canonical site for energy balance control (hypothalamus) with Marc Claret, PhD and earned his Ph.D. in Biomedicine at the Barcelona University, Catalonia in 2015. He then became a KAVLI postdoctoral fellow and a Pathway to Independence fellow in Prof. Jeffrey M.Friedman laboratory at The Rockefeller University. There he conducted whole mount activity maps in energy states to decipher the role of two novel subsets of neurons in the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus of the brainstem in energy balance control.

Inhee Mook-Jung is a South Korean Neuroscientist. She works on Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. Professor Mook drew attention in 2006 for discovery that ERK1/2 proteins were involved in the regulation of beta amyloid, a substance that causes dementia. She also identified the mechanism and physiological function of beta amyloid. In particular, she identified the relationship between RAGE, a transport protein that delivers beta-amyloid into the brain, and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, and based on this, she developed a system that can screen RAGE modulators.

She is leading the Alzlab (a research group on Alzheimer at Seoul National University College of Medicine) and since August 2020 she works as the Director of the Korea Dementia Research Center.

Michal Schwartz is an Israeli neuroimmunologist who carried out pioneering research on the relationship between the brain and the immune system. Her groundbreaking research on Alzheimer disease helped to overturn the long-standing notion that immunity should be suppressed in chronic neurodegenerative disease.

Schwartz earned a doctorate in immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan, where she studied nerve regeneration, Schwartz returned to the Weizmann Institute, becoming a senior scientist in the department of neurobiology and later, a full professor. In 2016 she held the Maurice and Ilse Katz Professorial Chair in Neuroimmunology.

Schwartz was recognized with numerous honours throughout her career, including the ARVO (Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.) Friedenwald Award (2002) and the Blumberg Outstanding Medical Research Scientist Prize (2015). In 2014 she was elected president of the International Society of Neuroimmunology and was made an honorary member of the World Immunopathology Organization.

Dr. Lee is the co-director of the Center for Cognition and Sociality, established in July 2012. He earned his B.A. in Chemistry from The University of Chicago before getting his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2001, and later worked in Department of Pharmacology at Emory University as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2004 he joined KIST as a senior research scientist and later served as the Director of Center for Neuroscience. In 2009, he founded the WCI Center for Functional Connectomics as a part of World Class Institute Program. In 2015 he became the recipient of Creative Research Investigator Award to establish the Center for Glia-Neuron Interaction at KIST to serve as the Director of the Center before taking up his position in IBS.

Tony Wyss-Coray is the D.H. Chen Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences and the Director of the Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Stanford University. His lab studies brain aging and neurodegeneration with a focus on age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. The Wyss-Coray research team discovered that circulatory blood factors can modulate brain structure and function and factors from young organisms can rejuvenate old brains. Current studies focus on the molecular basis of the systemic communication with the brain by employing a combination of genetic, cell biology, and –omics approaches in mice, and humans. Wyss-Coray has presented his ideas at Global TED, the Tencent WE Summit, the World Economic Forum, and he was voted Time Magazine’s “The Health Care 50” most influential people transforming health care in 2018. He co-founded Alkahest Inc. and several other companies targeting Alzheimer’s and neurodegeneration; he is a AAAS Fellow and has been the recipient of an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, a Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, and a NOMIS Foundation Award.

Gill Livingston is a clinical academic, working with people with suspected or confirmed dementia and their families. Her work is interdisciplinary and considers mechanisms through epidemiological and biopsychosocial enquiry, using them to co-design evidence-based interventions and test them.  She leads the Lancet Standing Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, 2017 2020 and  2024 These produced new research and meta-analyses of life-course risk and an overview of current knowledge on interventions. The findings have substantial implications in preventing and delaying a significant proportion of dementia. They have resulted in changes in, for example, WHO, UK and US policy which aim to reduce dementia risk. She also researches interventions to improve the lives of people with dementia and their families and staff caring for them and particularly consider underserved and minority communities. START for family carers has long-lasting effects on depression and anxiety symptoms, increases quality of life, is cost-effective and might save money. It has been culturally adapted in the UK and translated and adapted in Japan, Spain, India and Portugal and is currently being translyted and adpated in Brazil for role out here.  The  results from DREAMS START led by Penny Rappaport and Dr. Livingston, aiming to improve sleep in family carers, are just about to be published. 

Ed Lein is a Senior Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and an Affiliate Professor in the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP) at the University of Washington. He received a B.S. in biochemistry from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from UC Berkeley, and performed postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Ed joined the Allen Institute in 2004 and has provided scientific leadership for the creation of large-scale anatomical, cellular and gene expression atlases of the adult and developing mammalian brain as catalytic community resources, including the inaugural Allen Mouse Brain Atlas and a range of developmental and adult human and non-human primate brain atlases. Particular current research interests involve the use of single cell genomics as a core phenotype to understand brain cellular organization, mammalian conservation and human specificity, define cellular vulnerability in disease, and identify regulatory elements that allow cell type-specific targeting and manipulation.

He leads the Human Cell Types Department, which aims to create comprehensive cell atlases of the human and non-human primate brain, understand what is disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease, and create tools for precision genetic targeting of brain cell types as transformative tools for basic neuroscience and gene therapy. He is also a member of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN), a member of the Organizing Committee of the Human Cell Atlas (HCA), and a CIFAR fellow.

Ed’s areas of expertise include developmental neurobiology, structural and cellular neuroanatomy, transcriptomics and epigenomics, comparative neurobiology, and Alzheimer’s disease. His research program work encompasses brain cell atlasing, comparative neurobiology, Alzheimer’s disease, and gene therapy.

Dr. Yu is the Deputy Head of Department of Neurology in Huashan Hospital and the Vice Director of the Institute of Neurology, WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Neurosciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. He also directs the Memory Disorders Subspecialty, National Center for Neurological Disorders in China, Huashan Hospital. Currently, he is focusing on basic and clinical research for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, and the PI of several national grants on dementia, including Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Major Projects and National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published more than 100 research papers in Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Aging, Lancet Neurology, Science Advances, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Nature communications, Nature Mental Health, et al. that have been cited more than 20000 times by peer scientists in the field. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Brain Disorders, Associate Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Translational Medicine, Senior Editor of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Dr. Won-Suk Chung is an associate professor at Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST in South Korea. Dr. Chung earned his B.S degree at Seoul National University in South Korea and received his Ph.D. in developmental genetics in 2009 at University of California, San Francisco. After completing his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Ben Barres at Stanford University. In his lab at KAIST, he has been discovered that astrocytes, the most abundant cell type in the central nervous system, actively contribute to the activity-dependent synapse elimination that refines neural circuits during developmental as well as adult stages. He is also continuously working on molecular mechanisms and physiological impacts of glial-mediated phagocytosis in the healthy and diseased brains.