MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR AGEING PROGRAMME Dr. E.S. Gonos, Group Leader, Researcher B regular staff Dr.

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MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR AGEING PROGRAMMEDr.
E.S. Gonos, Group Leader, Researcher B (regular
staff)Dr. D. Simoes, Post-doctoral Scientist
(externally funded)Dr. I. Trougakos,
Post-doctoral Scientist (externally funded)Mrs
V. Kotsota, Research Officer (externally
funded)Mrs G. Agiostratidou, Ph.D. student
(externally funded)Mrs C. Petropoulou, Ph.D.
student (externally funded)Mr. I. Sgouros, Ph.D.
student (externally funded)Mrs E. Galani, Ph.D.
student (externally funded)Mrs N. Chondrogianni,
Ph.D. student (externally funded)Mr. V.
Georgiadis, Research Assistant
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MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR AGEING PROGRAMMETo
clone and study the function of genes that
regulate human ageingTo identify genetic and
environmental factors that contribute to longevity
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RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS/1Development of
conditionally immortalised cell lines that
undergo senescence Gonos et al., 1996, Mol. Cell
Biol. 16, 5127-5138 Construction of various
senescent specific cDNA libraries, cloning and
identification of 9 senescent specific
genes Gonos et al., 1998, Exp. Cell Res. 240,
66-74
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RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS/2The cloned genes are
markers of mammalian replicative senescence in
addition fibronectin gene is a skin fibroblast
ageing markerOxidative stress accelerates
replicative senescence Dumont et al., 2000, Free
Rad. Biol. Med. 28, 361-373Activated ras
oncogene represses the expression of the
senescent specific genes and induces a
senescent-like phenotypeConstruction and use of
several SV40 T Ag mutants to identify cellular
targets that mediate immortalisation Powell et
al., 1999, Oncogene 18, 7343-7350
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RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS/3The senescent specific
cloned gene encoding for Apo J is induced under a
variety of stress conditionsOver-expression of
human Apo J gene results in chemotherapeutic drug
resistance in an MDR-independent mannerApo J is
a novel cell survival factor that acts both
intracellularly and extracellularly
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RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS/4Development of cell
(skin fibroblasts PBMC), DNA and RNA banks of
healthy centenariansIdentification of molecular
and cellular markers of longevity Mondello et
al., 1999, Exp. Cell Res. 248, 234-242Cloning
of 17 candidate longevity genesAnalysis of
the proteolytic activities of centenarians
fibroblasts has shown that, as opposed to old
donors derived fibroblasts, centenarians have an
active proteasome Chondrogianni et al., 2000,
Exp. Gerontol. 35, in press
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ACHIEVEMENTS (statistical data)Research
articles 14Chapters in books
etc 3Conferences co-organiser 4Ph.D.
theses 5 (ongoing)Research
grants 7 European Union 2 (Biomed-2
Q.L.R.T.) G.S.R.T. 4 (IPER, PENED, EKVAN
GR-ITA) Industry 1 (Bristol-Myers
Rhone-Poulenc)Total incoming funds 154.202.000
GRDCollaborations various National Centres
of Ageing UK, ITA, DEN AUT Universities
Paris-7, Madrid, London (UCL) etc Domestic
Hospitals Geriatric Centres
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FUTURE PERSPECTIVESStudy of the function of
the Apo J gene as a survival factor in normal and
cancer cellsCharacterisation of the function of
the already cloned candidate longevity genes
Determination of the role of the Proteasome
during ageing and implications for anti-ageing
strategiesEstablishment of a Hellenic Ageing
Research NetworkEstablishment of a functional
European Ageing Research Network