João Pedro de Magalhães (@jpsenescence) / X

João Pedro de Magalhães

6,098 posts

João Pedro de Magalhães

@jpsenescence

Scientist planning to live forever (so far so good!), professor decoding the genome @unibirmingham, geek, entrepreneur, speaker, writer, keen footballer.

Birmingham & Oxford

Joined January 2012

Pinned
João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Jul 1, 2025
🚨New paper on theories of ageing I discuss the major mechanistic theories of ageing in light of recent findings as well as the fundamental nature of the ageing process. Theoretical work is more important than ever in biology, including in ageing. nature.com/articles/s4155…
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Aug 5, 2025
"It is highly unethical to stop aging" - reviewer commenting on one of my grant applications. The grant focused on cellular rejuvenation, no mention to curing aging, but it shows we still have a long way to go to convince even fellow scientists that curing aging is desirable.
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Oct 28, 2022
10 things I wish I knew when I started my PhD. I hope this advice is helpful for current PhD students, a thread 🧵 #phdchat @PhDVoice @PhD_Genie @dissertology @phdhardtalk @MasterAcademia_ @CouragePhD @ThePhDPlace
João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Jul 7, 2022
Replying to @elonmusk and @Mehdiyac
We have an aging population, not underpopulation. Higher birth rates will postpone the problem of aging while creating/exacerbating other problems. What we need is to tackle the aging process and develop therapies. Aging is the biggest danger of civilization.
João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Jun 20, 2024
My new paper @ScienceMagazine on the beneficial functions of senescent cells is bound to be controversial. Senescent cells have long been associated with aging and diseases, yet new evidence suggests they play important physiological roles. 1/4
science.org
Cellular senescence in normal physiology
Long associated with aging, senescent cells can promote health and have physiological roles
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Mar 28, 2023
A thread on ageing as a software design flaw 🧵 The hypothesis is that most (but not all) ageing changes are not a result of a build-up of molecular damage but are rather a product of regulated processes. Figures from the paper: genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Sep 11, 2020
Wow! Telomere length in tissues from 952 individuals. Key findings: 1) Telomere length is correlated across tissues; 2) Telomeres shorten with age in most but not all tissues. 3) Individuals of African ancestry have longer telomeres than Europeans. science.sciencemag.org/content/369/65…
João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Aug 24, 2025
If aging is a software problem, as @davidasinclair and I advocate, it will be much easier to reverse than if aging is the result of passive damage accumulation. Despite its challenges, reprogramming cells for youthfulness, is the most prosiming approach to anti-aging therapy.
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Jan 22, 2025
Wow, $500 billion for AI. That's more than the Apollo program! Why not $500B to solve aging? Because progress in aging has been very slow - e.g. CR is still the most we can extend longevity. We need a Sputnik (or ChatGPT) moment in aging science. What would it take?
OpenAI
@OpenAI
Jan 21, 2025
Announcing The Stargate Project The Stargate Project is a new company which intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. This infrastructure will secure
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Mar 25, 2023
"The scientific community should rethink how manuscripts are reviewed. Referees should be instructed to assess the work in front of them, not what they think should be the next phase of the project." - H Ploegh @Nature #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter
End the wasteful tyranny of reviewer experiments
From nature.com
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Apr 13, 2022
I’m happy to announce that I’m moving to the University of Birmingham. Our lab is relocating to the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing - looking forward to working with all @InflamAge_UoB ! We'll be advertising PhD & postdoc/bioinformatician posts soon, watch this space.
João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Jul 16, 2023
A reminder that we cannot reverse ageing. Cells can possibly be rejuvenated. But a cancer cell is an immortal cell, so much more research is needed to develop safe therapies. Biomarkers of age can be improved, eg with lifestyle, but being healthier does not mean age reversal.
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João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Jun 27, 2021
Wow, intranasal telomerase gene therapy extends lifespan in mice by >40% Telomerase also ameliorated age-related telomere shortening and mitochondrial deterioration. Very small sample size (n = 8), however, in the longevity study.
biorxiv.org
New intranasal and injectable gene therapy for healthy life extension
As the global elderly population grows, it is socioeconomically and medically critical to have diverse and effective means of mitigating the impact of aging on human health. Previous studies showed...
João Pedro de Magalhães
@jpsenescence
Aug 16, 2025
What are the scientific prospects for curing human aging? A little over 10 years ago, I published a perspective on this. I argued we are still very far from curing aging because, for starters, we still lack a good mechanistic understanding of why we age. We also lack robust
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