Paolo Garagnani, PhD

Paolo Garagnani, PhD, received his master's degree in biology from the University of Bologna, Italy, in March 2003. In May 2007, he completed his thesis project in human genetics and received a PhD in biodiversity and evolution. Since July 2016, he has held an assistant professor position in the Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine at the University of Bologna. He has published 79 scientific articles.

As an expert in genomics and epigenomics -- large-scale study of genes -- Dr. Garagnani studies aging in health and disease. He identified the strongest markers -- objective measures -- of chronological age, i.e. age-related modifications of the human ELOVL2 and FHL2 genes. He also identified gene modifications that characterize Down syndrome and demonstrated that DNA modifications accumulate in people with this syndrome at a faster rate. He works with people 100 and older in his studies of the genetic basis of age-associated diseases, and is involved in large international consortia for the study of the genetic basis of age-associated diseases.