Researcher

Judith Campisi

Profile

Judith Campisi was an American cell biologist at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who was one of the foremost authorities on cellular senescence and its role in aging and cancer. Her research demonstrated that senescent cells—cells that have permanently stopped dividing—do not simply lie dormant but actively secrete a complex mixture of cytokines, chemokines, matrix metalloproteinases, and growth factors known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The SASP can promote inflammation, tissue dysfunction, and tumor progression, making senescent cell accumulation a key driver of aging-related diseases including cancer, atherosclerosis, and neurodegeneration. Campisi's elucidation of the SASP provided the scientific rationale for the burgeoning senolytic and senomorphic drug field—compounds that selectively eliminate or reprogram senescent cells to treat age-related diseases. Multiple companies including Unity Biotechnology and Oisín Biotechnologies were founded or inspired by her research. Pharmaceutical companies developing senolytics, anti-aging therapeutics, and cancer immunotherapy approaches rely on the mechanistic framework her laboratory established for understanding cellular senescence in the tissue microenvironment.

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