Areas of Specialty:

• Evolution

• Microbiome

• Immunity

Dario Valenzano, PhD

Dario Riccardo Valenzano is Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute in Jena, Germany, and Professor of Biology at Friedrich Schiller University. He pioneered the use of the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) as a vertebrate model for aging, establishing foundational genetic, ecological, and microbiome research platforms. His team uncovered key mechanisms linking gut microbiota to vertebrate lifespan, and demonstrated that microbiome transfer from young to middle-aged individuals extends lifespan and mitigates functional decline. He also elucidated the evolutionary roots of immune aging and the role of genetic drift in aging-related traits. Dr. Valenzano has received the EMBO Young Investigator Award and the Nathan Shock New Investigator Award, and has chaired the Gordon Research Conference and Keystone Symposium on the Biology of Aging. He brings an evolutionary, ecological, and systems-level perspective to the biology of aging.