Max Planck Fellow Tarakhovsky
The Tarakhovsky group is based at the Rockefeller University in New York and studies the epigenetic control of immunity. Alexander Tarakhovsky is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing as a Max Planck Fellow. This programme promotes collaboration between outstanding university professors and researchers of the Max Planck Society.
Tarakhovsky is part of the Centre for Epigenetic Mechanisms of Cellular Longevity. The centre is a collaboration between the research groups of Anne Schaefer and Zak Frentz at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and Alexander Tarakhovsky. It aims to promote a systems approach to understanding cell and tissue longevity, focusing on general principles of energy allocation and associated structural and functional gene changes.
The centre’s research focuses on:
- Investigating the role of transient dormancy in complex tissues' longevity and fitness
- Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of neuron and glia adaptation to energy supply as well as to long-lasting environmental perturbations, including peripheral inflammation or altered metabolism
- Developing new approaches for quantification of the single-cell energy consumption in the brain and other tissues
- Understanding of the mechanisms that determine cell topological patterning and movement in the brain with a focus on microglia
- The role of endogenous and neuron or glia-resident chronic viruses in brain ageing
- Creating an "immortal" brain in vitro using high-density neuronal arrays and optimizing energy homeostasis
- Investigating mechanisms of extreme longevity in naturally long-lived multicellular organisms.