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STEM CELLS AND CANCER https://www.irbbarcelona.org/en/research/stem-cells-and-cancer Research project / Research Group description The group of Dr. Salvador Aznar Benitah investigates how adult stem cells spatio-temporally coordinate their cell autonomous behavior, with the signals they receive from their local and systemic enviroments, to maintain homeostasis. One intriguing finding made in the stem cell field is the fact that the fate of the division of several types of adult SCs cannot be predicted (i.e. it´s stochastic). Yet, notwithstanding this stochastic behaviour, we have shown that the timing of SC function is tightly regulated by circadian rhythms (Janich et al., Nature 2011; Janich et al, Cell Stem Cell 2013; Janich et al, Curr Opin Cell Biol 2014; Toufighi et al, Plos Comp Biol 2015). Importantly, we showed that enforced circadian arrhythmia in adult SCs causes their dramatic accelerated ageing, and a high predisposition to develop cancer (Janich et al., Nature 2011). The project that the PhD student would be involved in specifically aims at understanding this interesting interplay between the circadian clock and adult SC ageing. It has been hypothesized that we become arrhythmic during ageing, and that this is in fact one of the molecular causes of the functional decline of SCs with time. However, we do not know if and how aged SCs show perturbations in their circadian rhythms, and whether these perturbations are cause or consequence of the ageing process. We have recently generated new mouse models to study how disruption of circadian rhythms affects SC ageing in specific tissues. These novel mouse models will be used for studying how tissues interact with each other (i.e. systemic communication), whether circadian perturbation in one tissue affects the clock of other distant tissues, and if and how this systemically affects the life- and health span. Based on these results, several strategies will be tested to improve lifespan and prevent premature ageing, such as specific dietary interventions or drug applications.