Impact
Saul Villeda is a Professor of Anatomy at UCSF School of Medicine, affiliated with the Bakar Aging Research Institute, whose laboratory studies how systemic factors in blood regulate brain aging. His group showed that heterochronic parabiosis, young blood plasma and exercise-induced blood factors can partially reverse age-related loss of plasticity in the aged brain, and that pro-aging factors in old blood can drive premature brain aging, suggesting that either restoring youthful factors or blocking pro-aging ones could promote rejuvenation. Recent work from the lab includes identification of a liver-derived exerkine that reverses aging- and Alzheimer's-related memory loss via the vasculature (Cell, 2026), targeting of the iron-associated protein Ftl1 in the brains of old mice to improve age-related cognitive impairment (Nature Aging, 2025), and evidence that aged circulating CD8+ T cells and their secreted factors drive cognitive decline (Immunity, 2026). For the longevity field, his work is a central strand of the blood-borne 'rejuvenation factor' research programme and its application to cognitive aging and dementia.
Metrics
- h-index 38 · google scholar as of 2026-09-23 source ↗
Research funding
36 NIH awards · USD 19M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- Role of O-GlcNAcylation in Regulating Neurodegeneration in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease National Institute on Aging · 2018 · USD 2M
- Leveraging mouse and human models to investigate neuroprotective effects of blood-derived exerkines in Alzheimer's disease National Institute on Aging · 2023 · USD 1M
- Cellular and Tissue Rejuvenation through Transcriptional Reprogramming National Institute on Aging · 2024 · USD 662K
- Pro-youthful role of Gpld1 on regenerative and cognitive function in the aged brain National Institute on Aging · 2026 · USD 636K
- Pro-youthful role of Gpld1 on regenerative and cognitive function in the aged brain National Institute on Aging · 2024 · USD 636K