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Dates
September 22, 2025 | 8:00 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. ET
September 23, 2025 | 8:00 a.m. – 4:40 p.m. ET
Purpose and Background
Aging is associated with immune dysregulation and most older individuals develop chronic, sterile, low-grade inflammation — called inflammaging. Inflammaging is characterized by high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which contributes to the pathogenesis of age-associated diseases. On September 22-23, 2025, the NIA in partnership with the trans-NIH Chronic Inflammation Working Group (CIWG) hosted an in-person workshop on Inflammaging: Mechanisms, Markers, and Intervention Strategies. This workshop focused on recent advances (molecular/cellular/immunological and technological) in our knowledge of inflammaging and its impact on the development and progression of age-associated chronic diseases.
The past few years have seen major advances in our knowledge of inflammation and aging, and improved methods to define immunological states. Notably, advances in single cell technologies have the potential to permit interrogation of epigenetic, molecular, and metabolic pathways responsible for phenotypic variation of immune cells during aging, including rare tissue resident populations, such as macrophages that play a pivotal role in regulating inflammation. The workshop highlighted recent advances, clarified mechanisms involved in accelerated development of inflammaging, chronic disease, and potential intervention strategies to prevent or slow down inflammaging and age-associated diseases. In addition, the workshop promoted collaboration between investigators.
Meeting materials
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Agenda
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time.
Monday, September 22
7:30 a.m. Registration
8:00 a.m. Welcome and Introduction of Dr. Hodes and Keynote Speaker, Mulualem Tilahun, D.V.M., Ph.D., NIA
8:05 a.m. Opening Remarks, Richard Hodes, M.D., NIA
8:15 a.m. Keynote Presentation, Inflammaging Checkpoints, Vishwa Deep Dixit, D.V.M., Ph.D., Yale School of Medicine
8:45 a.m. Session I | Molecular Mechanisms of Inflammaging
Moderator: Christina Liu, Ph.D., NIMH
8:45 a.m. The innate immunity in senescent cells during tissue aging, Rugang Zhang, Ph.D., MD Anderson Cancer Center
9:05 a.m. Reduced mitochondrial calcium uptake in macrophages is a major driver of inflammaging, Bimal Desai, Ph.D., University of Virginia
9:25 a.m. Lipids as drivers of neutrophil inflammation in age-related disease, Emily Goldberg, Ph.D., UCSF
9:45 a.m. Nutrient-sensing GHS-R in macrophage reprogramming and inflammaging, Yuxiang Sun, M.D., Ph.D., Texas A&M University
10:05 a.m. Panel Discussion
10:45 a.m. Break
11:05 a.m. Session II | Hallmarks of Inflammaging
Moderator: Mulualem Tilahun, D.V.M., Ph.D., NIA
11:05 a.m. B cell - T cell intercellular communication contributes to T cell immunosenescence, Daniel Winer, M.D., Buck Institute for Research on Aging
11:25 a.m. Dysregulation of tissue-resident macrophages: possible contribution to inflammaging, Gaylia Jean Harry, Ph.D., NIEHS
11:45 a.m. Targeting macrophage self-renewal to dampen age-associated chronic diseases after respiratory viral infection, Jie Sun, Ph.D., University of Virginia
12:05 p.m. T cell aging and organelle failure drive autoimmune tissue inflammation, Cornelia Weyand, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic
12:25 p.m. Panel Discussion
1:05 p.m. Lunch Break
2:10 p.m. Session III | Measures of Inflammaging
Moderator: Merriline Vedamony, Ph.D., NIAID
2:10 p.m. Immunosenescence and MS: inflammaging for prognosis and therapeutic consideration, Yang Mao-Draayer, M.D., Ph.D., Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
2:30 p.m. Comprehensive profiling of an aging immune system reveals clonal GZMK+CD8+ T cells as a conserved hallmark of inflammaging, Maxim Artyomov, Ph.D., Washington University of St. Louis
2:50 p.m. T helper cells in development of chronic inflammation and multimorbidity, Jingzhong Ding, Ph.D., Wake Forest University
3:10 p.m. Deconstructing aging with senolytic CAR-T cells, Corina Amor Vegas, M.D., Ph.D., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
3:30 p.m. Panel Discussion
4:10 p.m. Wrap Up, Christina Liu, Ph.D., NIMH
4:15 p.m. Day 1 Adjourn
Tuesday, September 23
7:30 a.m. Registration
8:00 a.m. Opening, Day 1 Recap, and Keynote Speaker Introduction, Pushpa Tandon, Ph.D., NCI
8:10 a.m. Keynote Presentation, The role and the mechanisms of stromal lymph node aging in defective T cell homeostasis and primary immune responses, Janko Nikolich, M.D., Ph.D., University of Arizona
8:40 a.m. Session IV | Technologies for Detecting and Monitoring Inflammation
Moderator: Divi Rao, Ph.D., NCI
8:40 a.m. CD45-PET is a robust, non-invasive tool for imaging inflammation, Mohammad Rashidian, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
9:00 a.m. Biological agents and the aging brain: glial inflammation and neurotoxic signaling, Amanda Latham, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic
9:20 a.m. The role of aging- and infection-induced inflammation in shaping human immune responses, Duygu Ucar, Ph.D., The Jackson Laboratory
9:40 a.m. A novel strategy to model age-related cancer for elucidation of the role of Th17 inflammaging in cancer progression, Qiuyang (Lisa) Zhang, Ph.D., Tulane University
10:00 a.m. Panel Discussion
10:50 a.m. Break
11:10 a.m. Session V | Role of Inflammaging in Age-Related Diseases
Moderator: Mercy Prabhudas, Ph.D., M.B.A., NIAID
11:10 a.m. Inflammation and aging-associated diseases, Danica Chen, Ph.D., UC Berkeley
11:30 a.m. Glycomic modulation of inflammaging and immune functions during HIV infection, Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Ph.D., Northwestern University
11:50 a.m. Delineating the impact of inflammaging on B-ALL development and the efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, Curtis Henry, Ph.D., University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
12:10 p.m. Impact of aging and inflammaging on mucosal immune protection, Marta Rodriguez-Garcia, M.D., Ph.D., Wayne State University
12:30 p.m. Panel Discussion
1:10 p.m. Lunch Break
2:10 p.m. Session VI | Interventions
Moderator: Johanna Dwyer, Ph.D., NIH OD-ODS
2:10 p.m. Senolytic drugs attenuate inflammation and ameliorate physiologic function in old age, Lisa Lesniewski, Ph.D., University of Utah
2:30 p.m. Targeting the gut to reduce excessive inflammation after burn injury in aged mice, Elizabeth Kovacs, Ph.D., University of Colorado
2:50 p.m. Reversal of immune ageing in inflammatory macrophages, Christina Camell, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
3:10 p.m. Cellular senescence and inflammaging in the bone: pathways, genetics, anti-aging strategies, and intervention, Payal Ganguly, Ph.D., University of Leeds (UK)
3:30 p.m. Panel Discussion
4:30 p.m. Closing Remarks
4:40 p.m. End of Workshop
Contact Information
Please contact Dr. Mulualem Tilahun , Dr. Christina Liu , or Dr. Pushpa Tandon for questions you may have about the workshop.