Joan Barau

Our team focuses on the study of transposable elements – mobile repeated sequences that make up more than half of the human genome. Initially thought to be mostly inactive, these sequences have increasingly been found to be active during normal and pathological development. The activity of certain families of transposable elements mark the totipotent and naïve pluripotent embryo, and are important markers and targets of genome regulation with relevance for regenerative medicine and rejuvenation therapies. On the other hand, the activity of some families of transposable elements can be found in physiological ageing, where they generate pro-inflammatory stimuli, and in ageing-related diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's, where they can contribute to genome instability and misregulation. We leverage the study of transposable elements in in vitro models of ageing and in mice to understand how our genome changes its regulation during ageing, and to uncover novel potential therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing the deleterious effects of ageing.