Haim Cohen, PhD

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A Partnership between ICRF and Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF)

About the Investigators:

Dr. Cohen obtained his BSc in Biology from Bar-Ilan University (BIU) and his PhD in Genetics from Hebrew University. He is currently the Head of the Sagol Center of Healthy Longevity and the German-Israel Minerva Center on Mechanisms of Aging. Additionally, he is a Professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences at BIU, where his lab specializes in the molecular mechanisms of aging.

Dr. Mostoslavsky received his MD from the University of Tucuman, Argentina, and his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently the Scientific Co-Director of the  Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and the Laurel Schwartz Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His laboratory is interested in understanding the role of chromatin dynamics in modulating cellular homeostasis, particularly the crosstalk between epigenetics and metabolism.

About the Research:

Cancer incidence increases exponentially with age, and aging is considered the highest risk factor in cancer. Many of the mechanisms that have been described as key drivers in cancers are also identified as playing important roles in aging, yet the precise way that these interconnect remains poorly understood. Our laboratories have previously identified a unique factor called SIRT6, that  modulates the compaction of DNA (chromatin) and found that this factor both protects against cancer and extends lifespan in mouse models. Since levels of this factor decrease with age, we  propose that identifying regulators of SIRT6 expression could allow us to manipulate cells to sustain expression of this factor during aging. In this proposal, we will combine in vitro, in vivo, and multiple genetic approaches to identify these regulators, and to understand how this factor modulates cancer, specifically in aged organisms. Altogether, results from this proposal should provide novel insights into the specific link between the increased incidence of cancer with age, whether this link is molecularly dictated by a SIRT6-dependent network, and whether targeting this network could potentially protect against tumorigenesis with age.