Prof Jorge Erusalimsky, PhD, FRSB

Born in Argentina, Jorge graduated in 1983 with a PhD in Biochemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Following postdoctoral work with Nobel Laureate Cesar Milstein at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, he held his first independent academic research position at King's College Medical School in London, where he pioneered work on megakaryocyte biology. In 1996 he joined University College London (UCL) as a Senior Lecturer in Medicine and was promoted to Reader in 2003. At UCL he initiated research on the cell and molecular biology of ageing. In 2006 Jorge was appointed to the Chair of Biomedical Sciences at Cardiff Metropolitan University. In Cardiff Jorge continues to develop research at the interphase between biology and medicine, with a focus on ageing and vascular diseases.

Jorge is a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and serves on the Editorial Boards of Gerontology and Mechanisms of Aging and Disease. He has held many research grants from charities, industry and the public sector, and is currently a partner of the European Commission-funded FRAILOMIC consortium which is dedicated to discovering biomarkers of frailty.

Jorge teaches 3rd year undergraduate students for the BSc degree in Biomedical Sciences 

APS6022 - Research Project

APS6021 - Translational Research 

Jorge leads the Cellular Senescence and Pathophysiology Group. His research is recognised for demonstrating the occurrence of vascular cell senescence in artery walls and for discovering the origin of senescence-associated β-galactosidase, a commonly used biomarker of cellular senescence. Jorge was also one of the first in the UK to use blood stem-cells to produce megakaryocytes in a test tube.

At Cardiff Met Jorge has also been involved in many research-related enabling and managerial activities, including;

• Acting as the Cardiff School of Health Sciences Associate Dean of Research and as Chair of the Cardiff School of Health Sciences Ethics Committee (2014-2015)
• Serving as a member of Cardiff Metropolitan University Intellectual Property Panel (2009-present)
• Designing and launching the new Cardiff School of Health Sciences Biomedical Research Laboratories (2007-2009) 

Jorge has published over 75 peer reviewed articles. View a full list of publications.

A selection of key publications from the last ten years is shown below:

• Butcher L., Ahluwalia M., Örd T., Johnston J., Morris R.H., Kiss-Toth E., Örd T. and Erusalimsky J.D. (2017) Evidence for a role of TRIB3 in the regulation of megakaryocytopoiesis. Sci. Rep.  7, 6684 (doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-07096-w)
  

• Steptoe A., Hamer M., Lin J., Blackburn E. and Erusalimsky J.D. (2017) The longitudinal relationship between cortisol responses to mental stress and leukocyte telomere attrition. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.102, 962-969.
  

• Erusalimsky J.D., Grillari J., Grune T., Jansen-Duerr P. Lippi G., Sinclair A.J., Tegner J., Vina J., Durrance-Bagale A., Minambres R., Viegas M., Rodriguez-Manas L. (2015) In search of 'omics'-based biomarkers to predict the risk of frailty and its consequences in older individuals: The FRAILOMIC initiative Gerontology 62, 182-190
  
• Ahluwalia M., Butcher L., Donovan H., Killick-Cole C., Jones P. M. and Erusalimsky J. D. (2015) The gene expression signature of anagrelide provides and insight into its mechanism of action and uncovers new regulators of megakaryopoiesis J. Thromb. Haemost  13, 1103-1112
  
• Villalobos L.A., Uryga A., Romacho T., Leivas A., Sánchez-Ferrer C.F., Erusalimsky J.D. and Peiró C. (2014) Visfatin/Nampt induces telomere damage and senescence in human endothelial cells Int. J. Cardiol. 175, 573-575.
  
• Zalli A., Carvalho L., Lin  J., Hamer M., Erusalimsky J.D., Blackburn E.H. and Steptoe A. (2014) Shorter telomeres with high telomerase activity are associated with raised allostatic load and impoverished psychosocial resources Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111, 4519-4524.
  
• Cardus A., Uryga A., Walters G. and Erusalimsky J.D. (2013) SIRT6 protects human endothelial cells from DNA damage, telomere dysfunction and senescence. Cardiovasc. Res. 97, 571-579.
  
• Brydon L., Lin  J., Butcher L., Hamer M., Erusalimsky J.D., Blackburn E.H. and Steptoe A. (2012) Hostility and cellular aging in men from the Whitehall II cohort. Biol. Psychiatry 71, 767-773.
  
• Steptoe A., Hamer M., Butcher L., Lin J., Brydon L., Kivimaki M., Marmot M., Blackburn E. and Erusalimsky J.D. (2011) Educational attainment but not current socioeconomic status is associated with leukocyte telomere length. Brain Behav. Immun. 25, 1292-1298.
  
• Ahluwalia M., Donovan H., Singh N., Butcher L. and Erusalimsky J.D. (2010) Anagrelide represses GATA-1 and FOG-1 expression without interfering with thrombopoietin receptor signal transduction. J. Thromb. Haemost. 8, 2252-2261.
  
• Debacq-Chainiaux F., Erusalimsky J.D., Campisi J. and Toussaint O. (2009) Methods to detect senescence-associated beta-galactosidase (SA-bGAL) activity, a biomarker of senescent cells in culture and in vivo. Nature Protoc. 4, 1798-1806.
  
• Erusalimsky J.D. (2009) Vascular endothelial senescence: From mechanisms to pathophysiology. J. Appl. Physiol. 106, 326-332.

Visiting and Honorary Professorships

Honorary Professor, University College London, London, UK (2006-2015)
Visiting Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain (2011-2013)
Visiting Professor, Department of Immunology IDEHU, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (2012)

Learned Societies and Professional Organizations

Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
Member of the British Society for Cardiovascular Research
Member of the British Society for Research on Ageing
Founding Member of the Association of Argentine Professionals in the UK (APARU), joint coordinator for the areas of Science and Technology between 2003 and 2006

Expert Reviewing Panels and Advisory Committees

Austrian Science Fund (2003-07), BBSRC (UK), British Cardiac Society, British Heart Foundation, European Society of Cardiology, Inserm (France), International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Medical Research Council (UK), Wellcome Trust (UK), Netherlands Cardiovascular Research Initiative (CVON)
Advisory Committee for International Programmes of Scientific and Technological Cooperation, Argentine Ministry for Science, Technology and Productive Innovation (2011-2013)​
Ramon y Cajal Fellowship Committee, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (2016)

Editorial Board of Scientific Journals

Gerontology
NPG Aging and Mechanisms of Disease

European Commission FP7-funded partnerships

The FRAILOMIC Initiative (2012-2017)
WhyWeAge (2009-2011)