Impact
João Passos studies cellular senescence in ageing and age-related disease, with a focus on telomeres and mitochondria. His work showed that senescence depends on persistent DNA-damage signalling from irreparably damaged telomeres, and that telomeres can sense stress and become damaged during ageing in many tissues. He identified a key role for mitochondria in inducing senescence: dysfunctional mitochondria produce excess reactive oxygen species that accelerate telomere damage, and mitochondria also regulate the pro-inflammatory senescence-associated secretory phenotype, including through release of mitochondrial DNA and RNA that engages innate immune pathways. His laboratory has developed super-resolution and live-cell reporter methods to visualise telomere damage, and has studied senescence in ageing lung, heart, liver and skin. His current aim is to develop therapies targeting mitochondrial dysfunction and senescent cells to extend healthspan. At Mayo Clinic he is Professor of Physiology, directs the Cell and Molecular Aging Laboratory and is Associate Director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging; he also contributes to the NIH SenNet Consortium mapping senescent cells across tissues.
Metrics
- h-index 75 · google scholar as of 2026-09-23 source ↗
Research output
206 works · 32,720 citations · h-index 70 OpenAlex ↗
Selected publications
- Cellular Senescence: Defining a Path Forward ↗ 2019 · 3,339 citations
- Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition) 1 ↗ 2021 · 2,742 citations
- Cellular senescence mediates fibrotic pulmonary disease ↗ 2017 · 1,652 citations
- Senolytics decrease senescent cells in humans: Preliminary report from a clinical trial of Dasatinib plus Quercetin in individuals with diabetic kidney disease ↗ 2019 · 1,379 citations
- Cellular senescence drives age-dependent hepatic steatosis ↗ 2017 · 1,082 citations
Research funding
18 NIH awards · USD 8M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- Development of machine learning software to quantitatively map telomere induced senescence in tissue sections during aging National Cancer Institute · 2024 · USD 722K
- Development of machine learning software to quantitatively map telomere induced senescence in tissue sections during aging National Cancer Institute · 2023 · USD 722K
- Investigating the role of cytosolic mitochondrial double-stranded RNA in cellular senescence and aging National Institute on Aging · 2025 · USD 572K
- Core D - Senescence Molecular Phenotyping Core (SMPC) National Institute on Aging · 2024 · USD 568K
- Core D - Senescence Molecular Phenotyping Core (SMPC) National Institute on Aging · 2026 · USD 562K