Abstract

Aging is the primary risk factor for most neurodegenerative diseases, which currently lack affordable and effective treatments. It remains unclear whether the age-related accumulation of senescent cells drives these diseases or arises as a downstream consequence.

This symposium aims to present recent findings supporting the role of cellular senescence as a driver of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), tauopathies and Parkinson’s disease (PD). It will showcase the detection of senescence markers and processes in various brain cell types across different ND conditions and provide mechanistic insights into how senescence contributes to the onset and progression of brain lesions and associated neurodegenerative features. Addressing this challenging research topic, the symposium will feature cutting-edge tools and experimental approaches, including single nuclear transcriptomics, image mass cytometry, human induced pluripotent stem cells and transgenic models of accelerated senescence.