Efstathios Gonos

Efstathios Gonos graduated from the University of Athens, Greece, obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow, U.K. and a Docent at the University of Orebro, Sweden. He worked at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in London, U.K. and is now Director of Research at the National Hellenic Research Foundation/IBMCB. His research focuses on the genetic and environmental factors that are linked to human aging and longevity. He has published more than 120 research articles and holds patents that have resulted in the development of novel anti-aging products. He has organized, among others, the 2nd Euro-Conference on “Biological Aging'”, the 12th International Association of Biomedical Gerontology Congress and the IUBMB Focused Meeting on “Molecular Aspects of Aging and Longevity”. He has been a “Senior expert'” of E.U. in “Human development and the aging process'”, member of the Executive Committee of International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), Editor-in-Chief of “Mechanisms of Ageing & Development” and Editorial Board member of “Experimental Gerontology”, “Free Radicals Research”, “IUBMB Life”, “Redox Biology”, “Aging Cell” (-2007), “Biogerontology” (-2009) and “Molecular Aspects of Medicine” (-2016). He studies cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging mostly using cellular models.

He leads the “Molecular and Cellular Aging” team at National Hellenic Research Foundation, focused on the genetic and environmental factors that are linked to human aging and longevity. By using functional genomics and systems biology approaches several genes have been cloned which associate with cellular senescence and longevity. Detailed studies on one of the isolated genes have revealed that ApoJ/Clusterin is directly implicated in cell survival signals by inhibiting apoptosis. In parallel the general biochemical mechanisms that relate to aging are also studied, for example, the telomeres shortening and the function of the proteasome. Emphasis is given to the molecular understanding of the impaired function of the proteasome during aging as well as to the development of “proteasome activated” primary human cells that, importantly, exhibit a considerable delay of senescence. Based on these data, transgenic models have been established and natural compounds have been identified that display proteasome activation properties. These natural products have been used in novel, patent protected, anti-aging products. The team also possesses a collection of samples (biobanks) of donors of different ages, including healthy centenarians and long-lived siblings. These samples are employed to study the effects of various environmental factors to the aging process as well as to identify gene variants that are linked to longevity. Current studies focus on the combine use of personalized diagnostic protocols with treatment employing novel anti-aging products.
Country: Greece
sgonos@eie.gr