Winter 2026
A Note from Aging Institute Director, Dr. Toren Finkel
Welcome to another edition of the Aging Institute newsletter. I’m proud to say that we recently passed our eight-year anniversary. It’s hard to think of us as old, especially in our particular line of work. Nonetheless, we, as an institute, have grown to 13 principal investigators and nearly 100 students, postdocs and staff. Within our labs, we continue to try and better understand how and why we age. Those studies can involve anything from studying the simple roundworm C. elegans, to overseeing complex human clinical studies. One thing that unites us is a desire to understand why we age, so that we can improve overall healthspan.
In the stories that follow, we will highlight some of the innovative work our institute colleagues are doing. Some of this work is very fundamental, such as how lysosomes repair themselves, while other work involves fascinating processes, such as how globs of protein condensates form within a cell. Ultimately, our investigators have shown that these fundamental processes appear to be tightly linked to aging and age-related diseases.
Like any living thing, as our institute grows and becomes more established, we also undergo changes. I hope you enjoy reading about the promotions of several of our faculty members and the transition to emeritus status for others. We are also regretfully saying goodbye to some of our long-standing colleagues who have found new and exciting opportunities abroad.
We’re eight years into this important work, with hopefully many more to come.
Toren Finkel, MD, PhD
Director, Aging Institute
University of Pittsburgh/UPMC
Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
G. Nicholas Beckwith III and Dorothy B. Beckwith Chair of Translational Medicine
Aging Institute Research Day 2025
Written by Dr. Toren Finkel, Director of the Aging Institute The Annual Aging Research Day took place on November 5, 2025. We had a fantastic turnout with approximately 60 posters on display. The afternoon kicked off with an introduction from Dean Anantha Shekhar,...
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Andrey Parkhitko
Andrey Parkhitko, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Aging Institute and in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Parkhitko was born in Kostroma, Russia and grew up in Sergiev Posad, a small town near...
Trainee Spotlight: Dr. Lauren Bailey
Lauren Bailey, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Stacey Rizzo, deputy director for pre-clinical research and associate professor at the Aging Institute and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She joined the Rizzo lab in 2023 as part of...
Recent Appointments at the Aging Institute
Dr. Anne Newman Honored as Distinguished Professor Emerita
Professor Anne Newman, MD, MPH, former Clinical Director for the Aging Institute, was recently honored at a ceremony to recognize her conversion to emeritus status. Throughout her career, Dr. Newman has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of human...
Drs. Shiori & Yusuke Sekine Accepted New Positions at Kyoto University
Shiori Sekine, PhD, who has served as an assistant professor at the Aging Institute since 2019, recently accepted a position as a professor at Kyoto University in Japan and will open her new laboratory there in April 2026. Her husband, Yusuke Sekine, PhD, who has been...
The Aging Institute congratulates Drs. Matthew Steinhauser & Aditi Gurkar on their recent promotions!
Dr. Steinhauser is Deputy Director for the Aging Institute and was promoted to Professor of Medicine with Tenure. His lab is interested in molecular mechanisms of aging-related cardiometabolic diseases. Dr. Gurkar was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine with Tenure. Her lab aims to identify fundamental mechanisms of aging that can potentially lead to novel strategies to delay the rate of ‘biological’ aging.
Grants & Awards at the Aging Institute
Decoding Time and Proteostasis: Dr. Bokai Zhu Received MIRA Grant from NIGMS
Bokai Zhu, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the Aging Institute and University of Pittsburgh, recently received a prestigious Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA, R35) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). This multi-year...
Shihui Liu, MD, PhD, Received R01 Grant from National Cancer Institute to Develop New Cancer Therapies
Shihui Liu, MD, PhD, associate professor at the Aging Institute and the University of Pittsburgh, and his co-investigators, Jie Liu, PhD, research associate professor at the Aging Institute, and Toren Finkel, MD, PhD, director of the Aging Institute, were awarded a...
Recent Press & Publications from the Aging Institute
Jay Tan, PhD, Discovered “LYVAC,” Master Regulator of Lysosomal Vacuolation
For decades, scientists have observed a curious phenomenon in stressed and diseased cells: the formation of large, fluid-filled bubbles known as vacuoles. While commonly seen in conditions ranging from neurodegenerative diseases to chemotherapy, the fundamental...
Dr. Bokai Zhu Identified a New Frontier for Treating Neurodegenerative Diseases: Nuclear Speckle Rejuvenation
A discovery from the laboratory of Bokai Zhu, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the Aging Institute and the University of Pittsburgh, points to a surprising new therapeutic target for neurodegenerative diseases: nuclear speckles. Nuclear speckles are dynamic...
Gang Li, PhD, Published Article in Aging Cell on Role of Iron in Atherosclerosis-Associated Cellular Senescence
In a recent study published in Aging Cell, Gang Li, PhD, assistant professor at the Aging Institute and in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and his colleagues discovered a novel mechanism showing that iron can induce...
Happenings at the Aging Institute
Ankit Sharma, PhD, successfully defended his dissertation in Summer 2025
Dr. Ankit Sharma, a former trainee in the lab of Dr. Matthew Steinhauser at the Aging Institute, successfully defended his dissertation, “Defining the role of IGF2 in regulating adipocyte progenitor proliferation and differentiation,” in the summer of 2025. Dr. Sharma is a trainee in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program, and we wish him luck as he continues his studies!
Aging Institute Hosted Hillman Academy High School Student in Summer 2025
Learn more about the student and her summer research project.
Aging Institute Research Seminar Series: Brent R. Stockwell, PhD, “Metabolism & Ferroptosis: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications”
Aging Institute Research Seminar Series: November 2025 Brent R. Stockwell, PhD, "Metabolism & Ferroptosis: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications" By Gang Li, PhD, assistant professor at the Aging Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine...
