Dr Julio Aguado specialises in the mechanisms that drive human aging

Dr Julio Aguado is a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN). His focus is centered in the study of human aging and its interplay with DNA damage, telomeres, senescence, and neurodegeneration. His research interest is the use of human brain organoids as models for the study of brain aging, and to utilise spatial and single-cell transcriptomics to understand senescence heterogenity and biological clocks in the context of aging. 

Dr Julio Aguado obtained his PhD in 2018 from the European School of Molecular Medicine (University of Milan) as a Marie Curie fellow of the European Union where he investigated the role of non-coding RNAs generated upon induction of DNA damage. He has published several first-author papers on mechanisms of aging in peer-reviewed journals including Nature Communications, Aging Cell, Nature Protocols and Ageing Research Reviews. His research is supported by grants awarded to Julio Aguado as CIA, including a NHMRC Ideas Grant, a University of Queensland Early Career Researcher Grant, a Brisbane Children's Hospital Foundation grant and a Jérôme Lejeune Postdoctoral Fellowship (Paris, France).

Industry

Dr Julio Aguado is a inventor on the following patent application: “Therapeutics oligonucleotides” (PCT/EP2016/068162).

Key Publications

Aguado, J., Sola-Carvajal, A., Cancila, V., Revêchon, G., Fern Ong, P., Jones-Weinert, C.W., Wallén Arzt, E., Lattanzi, G., Dreesen, O., Tripodo, C., Rossiello, F., Eriksson, M., & d’Adda di Fagagna, F. Inhibition of DNA damage response at telomeres improves the detrimental phenotypes of Hutchinson–Gilford Progeria Syndrome. Nature Communications, 10, 4990 (2019).

#Aguado, J., d’Adda di Fagagna, F. & Wolvetang, E. Telomere transcription in Ageing. Ageing Research Reviews, Vol. 62, 101115 (2020). #corresponding author.

#Aguado, J., Chaggar, H., Gómez-Inclán, C., Shaker, M., Leeson, H., Mackay-Sim, A. & #Wolvetang, E. Inhibition of the cGAS-STING pathway ameliorates the premature senescence hallmarks of Ataxia-Telangiectasia brain organoids. Aging Cell, DOI: 10.1111/acel.13468 (2021). #co-corresponding author.

#Aguado, J., Gómez-Inclán, C., Leeson, H., Lavin, M., Shiloh, Y. & #Wolvetang, E. The hallmarks of aging in Ataxia-Telangiectasia. Ageing Research Reviews, 79 101653, 101653. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2022.101653 (2022). #co-corresponding author.​

*Nguyen, Q., *Aguado, J., Iannelli, F., Suzuki A, Rossiello, F., d’Adda di Fagagna, F. & Carninci, P. Target-Enrichment Sequencing for Detailed Characterization of Small RNAs.  Nature Protocols, 13, pages 768–786 (2018). *co-first authors.

Funding

During his PhD studies, Dr Julio Aguado Perez was the recipient of a 3-year Marie Curie fellowship from the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union.