Louise Hecker
Louise's research background/training is largely rooted in regenerative biology, with expertise in development, regeneration, tissue engineering, and injury-repair. Her current work is broadly focused in two areas:
- Understanding the mechanisms of how normal physiologic repair responses “go awry” in aging and how this contributes to the pathogenesis of age-dependent lung diseases.
- Pioneering translational medicine approaches, including the development of improved animal models for pre-clinical testing and novel therapeutic strategies that target age-associated pathological mechanisms to ultimately promote repair.
With the growing elderly population, there has been a rise in the incidence/prevalence of age-related lung diseases. Louise believes that unlocking the secrets of how the repair process becomes less efficient in aging will lead to novel treatments that could delay the onset of and/or reverse age-associated disease. Her ongoing studies with her colleagues suggest that that psilocybin may act as a geroprotective agent, which could have broad and meaningful impacts on aging and longevity. Their data demonstrates that psilocybin treatment decelerates cellular senescence in human cells – this is the first experimental evidence to demonstrate the impact of psilocybin on aging. Exciting studies are currently underway which will for the first time evaluate the impact of psilocybin treatment on longevity in animals.
Award Highlights
- Innovator of the Year Award, Arizona Governor’s Celebration of Innovation
- Inventor of the Year, Tech Launch Arizona
- Business Pitch competition winner at Science2Startup, an invitation-only symposium that connects world-class discoveries from leading research institutions with top biotech investors