Professor M. Carolina Florian

M. Carolina Florian, Ph.D. is Research Professor at ICREA and Group Leader at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and at the Program for Clinical Translation of Regenerative Medicine in Catalonia (P-CMR[C]).

Her research interests in the past years strongly challenged the concept that aging is an irreversible process. Since 2016, she has investigated the role of epigenetics and the stem cell microenvironment in driving the aging of somatic stem cells.

In 2023, she became an ICREA Research Professor. The Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies offers permanent, tenured positions to the most talented and extraordinary scientists and academics to come and work in Catalonia. Read M Carolina Florian new ICREA Research Professor.

Her lab focuses on understanding cellular and molecular mechanisms of somatic stem cell aging, supporting the development of new therapeutic strategies to preserve the regenerative capacity of stem cells over time, and to limit or prevent the development of age-related disorders and extend lifespan.

Carolina earned her Ph.D. in 2008 from the Università degli Studi di Milano where she trained in Neuroendocrinology, investigating the mechanisms of neuroblastoma migration and invasion. She earned her Master’s Degree of Science in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from the Università degli Studi di Milano in 2004 and her Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Biotechnology from Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca in 2002.

Between 2009 and 2015, she moved to the University of Ulm in Germany for her Postdoctoral training on Hematopoiesis and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology. During her postdoc, she also trained as Visiting Scientist at the Experimental Hematology Department of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, USA between 2011 and 2012.

Read Concise Review: Polarity in Stem Cells, Disease, and Aging, The ageing haematopoietic stem cell compartment, and Cdc42 Activity Regulates Hematopoietic Stem Cell Aging and Rejuvenation.

In 2016, Carolina was awarded an Emmy Noether grant (DFG) to lead her independent research group on Epigenetics of Stem Cell Aging at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Ulm (Germany).

In 2018, she was appointed as the Group Leader of the Program for the Clinical Translation of Regenerative Medicine in Catalonia (P-CMRC). In 2020, she was also appointed as the Group Leader for the Program of Regenerative Medicine at IDIBELL in Barcelona.

At IDIBELL, she is leading the Stem Cell Aging Program and at P-CMRC, she runs the Florian Lab. Somatic stem cells can regenerate tissues over time. This capacity declines with age, disrupting tissue maintenance. Carolina is trying to understand how stem cells age and identify the intervention strategies to lead to new therapeutic approaches for maintaining our health as we age. Watch Interview Dr. M. Carolina Florian and Is it possible to extend lifespan? The role of stem cells.

Her lab uses mouse models to explore stem cell function and regeneration biology and identify mechanisms of age-related stem cell dysfunction. Their focus is on epigenetic alterations that can be pharmacologically targeted and on the interactions between stem cells and their niche.

Read Transplanting rejuvenated blood stem cells extends lifespan of aged immunocompromised mice, Living a longer life: unique lessons from the naked mole-rat blood system, and Inflammatory exposure drives long-lived impairment of hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal activity and accelerated aging.

Carolina is currently working on several projects including ReSinAge: Regeneration of Sinusoidal niches to preserve hematopoiesis after chemotherapy on Ageing and Deep Learning to Dissect the Interaction between Leukemic Cells and the Ageing Niche.

Watch Factors influencing the ageing of hematopoietic stem cells, Significance of cell polarity in the ageing of hematopoietic stem cells, and Maria Carolina Florian presents at ARDD 2021.

Read An aged bone marrow niche restrains rejuvenated hematopoietic stem cells, Rejuvenating aged stem cells: therapeutic strategies to extend health and lifespan, and Stem cell rejuvenation increases health and lifespan.

Read Cis inhibition of NOTCH1 through JAGGED1 sustains embryonic hematopoietic stem cell fate. Read her book Stem Cell Aging: Mechanisms, Consequences, Rejuvenation.

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