Clara Correia-Melo

I am a Junior Group Leader, and my research background spans human pathology and molecular biology of aging in mammalian systems to metabolomics and systems biology approaches in microbes, with focus on the interplay between metabolism and aging. In my previous work, I have contributed to our understanding on how cellular senescence, a fundamental biological process, is causal to age-related tissue dysfunction and diseases - I showed that mitochondria are determinant for the development of pro-aging features of cellular senescence, particularly the pro-inflammatory phenotype. I have also shown that the shared chemical space, whereby metabolites synthesized in one cell are taken up by other cells, rewires the collective intracellular metabolism and impacts survival and response to toxic compounds, including antimicrobial drugs. My current lab integrates high-throughput (HTP) robotics and metabolomics & proteomics, to systematically explore the role of the chemical crosstalk as a modulator of cellular and tissue function, as well as a factor that impacts disease initiation, progression and therapy response. Specifically, the group focused on 3 major research areas: 1) chemical microenvironment driving disease initiation and progression; 2) therapy-induced chemical microenvironment leading to disease persistence and 3) host-microbiome chemical crosstalk. Discoveries at all three levels have the potential to translate into interventions that support better health through innovative metabolism-targeting or metabolism-aided therapies. Keywords: biochemical crosstalk; metabolomics; proteomics; systems biology; mammals and microbes; health, ageing & disease; novel drug targets.