Marco Demaria

Marco Demaria has advanced the field of senescence-targeted cancer therapy by developing in vivo imaging tools for senescent cell detection and demonstrating that chemotherapy-induced senescent cells persist long after treatment and drive cancer relapse through SASP. His research established that therapy-induced senescent cancer cells exhibit distinct vulnerability profiles that can be exploited with specific senolytic combinations. He showed that senescent cell heterogeneity in tumors requires combination senolytic strategies targeting multiple anti-apoptotic pathways. His translational work has been instrumental in designing clinical trials combining standard chemotherapy with sequential senolytic treatment.