University of rochester — working at the intersection of aging, DNA repair, and cancer.
Dr. Vera Gorbunova is the Doris Johns Cherry Professor, in the Department of Biology, and Co-director, Rochester Aging Research Center, at University of Rochester.
Her research is focused on understanding the mechanisms of longevity and genome stability and on the studies of exceptionally long-lived mammals.
Dr. Gorbunova earned her B.Sc. degrees at Saint Petersburg State University, Russia, and her Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.
Dr. Gorbunova was instrumental in pioneering the comparative biology approach to studying aging and identifying rules that control the evolution of tumor suppressor mechanisms depending on the species lifespan and body mass.
Dr. Gorbunova also investigates the role of Sirtuin proteins in maintaining genome stability.
More recently the focus of her research has been on the longest-lived rodent species, the naked mole rat and the blind mole rat. Dr. Gorbunova identified high molecular weight hyaluronan as the key mediator of cancer-resistance in the naked mole rat.
Dr. Gorbunova’s work has received awards from the Ellison Medical Foundation, the Glenn Foundation, American Federation for Aging Research, and from the National Institutes of Health.