Impact
Darren Baker studies how senescent cells, which stop dividing but secrete factors that affect surrounding tissue, contribute to ageing, cancer and neurodegeneration. His team developed the INK-ATTAC transgenic mouse, in which p16-expressing senescent cells can be selectively and inducibly eliminated. Using this model in a progeroid mouse, he and colleagues reported in Nature (2011) that clearing p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders such as cataract formation, providing direct genetic evidence that senescent cells drive age-related pathology. His group then extended the work to naturally aged mice, showing that accumulation of these cells drives pathology in many organs and shortens healthy life while leaving the tumour-suppressive senescence programme intact. This line of research underpins the rationale for senolytics, drugs that remove senescent cells without genetic engineering and are now in early-stage human trials. A current focus is the contribution of p16-expressing cells to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. He holds professorships in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and in Pediatrics at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and his honours include a Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging (2012), an Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar award (2011) and Mayo's Fundamental Mechanisms of Aging Award (2025-2026).
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Research output
137 works · 27,616 citations · h-index 54 OpenAlex ↗
Selected publications
- Clearance of p16Ink4a-positive senescent cells delays ageing-associated disorders ↗ 2011 · 3,748 citations
- Naturally occurring p16Ink4a-positive cells shorten healthy lifespan ↗ 2016 · 2,881 citations
- Cellular senescence in aging and age-related disease: from mechanisms to therapy ↗ 2015 · 2,415 citations
- Cellular senescence in ageing: from mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities ↗ 2020 · 2,316 citations
- Local clearance of senescent cells attenuates the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis and creates a pro-regenerative environment ↗ 2017 · 1,550 citations
Research funding
21 NIH awards · USD 7M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- Effects of senescence to AlzheimerâÂÂs disease pathology National Institute on Aging · 2024 · USD 398K
- Effects of senescence to AlzheimerâÂÂs disease pathology National Institute on Aging · 2023 · USD 398K
- Effects of senescence to AlzheimerâÂÂs disease pathology National Institute on Aging · 2022 · USD 398K
- The contribution of p16-expressing cells to tauopathy National Institute on Aging · 2021 · USD 398K
- Effects of senescence to AlzheimerâÂÂs disease pathology National Institute on Aging · 2021 · USD 398K