The Biogerontology Research Foundation (BGRF), a UK-based charity founded to support ageing research and address the challenges of a rapidly ageing population, announces the appointment of Franco Cortese as a new Affiliated Researcher of the BGRF.

Cortese’s most recent work in the field of biomedical gerontology involves a paper co-authored with Dr. Giovanni Santostasi of Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, defining and describing a novel intervention for ageing and age-related pathology titled Whole-Body Induced Cell Turnover (WICT), in which they outlined the underlying techniques and technologies by which WICT can be mediated, described the mechanisms by which it could serve to negate or prevent several categories of age-related cellular and intracellular damage and phenotypic deviation, explicated the unique therapeutic components and utilities that distinguish it as a distinct type of cell-based intervention for use in biomedical gerontology, and addressed potential complications associated with the therapy (Cortese FAB, Santostasi G. Whole-Body Induced Cell Turnover: A Proposed Intervention for Age-Related Damage and Associated Pathology. Rejuvenation Res. 2016 Aug;19(4):322-36). Cortese’s work at the BGRF will involve expanding upon and refining the methodological underpinnings of the proposed intervention detailed in that paper, as well as the development of other novel biomedical and biotechnological interventions for ageing and age-related pathology.