Ali Herman, Ph.D.

Independent Research Scholar

Translational Senescence Unit

NIA

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251 Bayview Boulevard
Room 010C214
Baltimore, MD 21224

410-454-8397

ali.herman@nih.gov

Research Topics

The Translational Senescence Unit, led by Dr. Herman, investigates the genomic changes that govern cellular senescence during normal aging and in age-related pathologies. Using a combination of innovative high-throughput techniques, single-cell RNA sequencing, and novel animal models of age-related diseases, the Unit is interested in identifying:

  1. Heterogeneity among senescent cell niches;
  2. The key genes responsible for promoting senescence in age-related diseases, and;
  3. Whether we can exploit those genes to develop therapeutic interventions to reduce the burden of cellular senescence in vivo.

This Unit focuses on vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis as a model age-related pathology where senescent cells play a critical role. By studying vascular diseases, we aim to determine how modulating senescent cells can directly improve healthspan in one of the most prevalent age-related diseases, and to develop senescent cell-specific therapeutics.

Biography

Dr. Herman received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, followed by her master’s degree in Biology from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She then received her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Herman’s Ph.D. research focused on the mechanisms by which RNA-binding proteins regulated inflammation in vascular diseases. She continued her interest in RNA biology in Dr. Gorospe’s lab, as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, Maryland. There, Dr. Herman incorporated aging and senescence into studies of RNA biology to identify a novel senescence-regulatory miRNA while also developing models of vascular cell senescence and aging. Dr. Herman received the Postdoctoral Funding Award, the Women in Science Research Recognition Award, and the Fellow Award for Research Excellence during her postdoctoral fellowship. Lastly, in 2021, Dr. Herman was selected as the NIA’s first Independent Research Scholar. In this position, she has established and currently leads the Translation Senescence Unit in the Laboratory of Genetics and Genomics.

Selected Publications

  1. Herman AB, Anerillas C, Harris SC, Munk R, Martindale JL, Yang X, Mazan-Mamczarz K, Zhang Y, Heckenbach IJ, Scheibye-Knudsen M, De S, Sen P, Abdelmohsen K, Gorospe M. Reduction of lamin B receptor levels by miR-340-5p disrupts chromatin, promotes cell senescence and enhances senolysis. Nucleic Acids Res. 2021;49(13):7389-7405.
  2. Mahoney SA, Dey AK, Basisty N, Herman AB. Identification and functional analysis of senescent cells in the cardiovascular system using omics approaches. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2023;325(5):H1039-H1058.
  3. Herman AB, Tsitsipatis D, Gorospe M. Integrated lncRNA function upon genomic and epigenomic regulation. Mol Cell. 2022;82(12):2252-2266.
  4. Anerillas C, Herman AB, Rossi M, Munk R, Lehrmann E, Martindale JL, Cui CY, Abdelmohsen K, De S, Gorospe M. Early SRC activation skews cell fate from apoptosis to senescence. Sci Adv. 2022;8(14):eabm0756.
  5. Herman AB, Tsitsipatis D, Anerillas C, Mazan-Mamczarz K, Carr AE, Gregg JM, Wang M, Zhang J, Michel M, Henry-Smith CA, Harris SC, Munk R, Martindale JL, Piao Y, Fan J, Mattison JA, De S, Abdelmohsen K, Maul RW, Tanaka T, Moore AZ, DeMouth ME, Sidoli S, Ferrucci L, Liu Y, de Cabo R, Lakatta EG, Gorospe M. DPP4 inhibition impairs senohemostasis to improve plaque stability in atherosclerotic mice. J Clin Invest. 2023;133(12).

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on Thursday, August 8, 2024