Anthony J. Covarrubias, Ph.D.

Covarrubias is a macrophage biologist with expertise in immuno-metabolism, and how inflammation and metabolism are integrated to regulate metabolic health and disease states including aging. His research identified the nutrient-sensing Akt-mTORC1 pathway as a critical regulator of macrophage polarization and showed that activation of the Akt target ACLY catalyzes the increase in macrophage cytosolic/nuclear pools of acetyl-CoA. These findings suggest how nutrient and metabolic status can fine-tune macrophage function via nutrient-sensing pathways to impact gene expression and inflammatory functions during obesity and lean conditions. 

Covarrubias’ recent work is focused on how diet and aging-related inflammation impacts the aging process. In a recent manuscript, he showed that the decline of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+, during aging is driven by the activation of tissue resident macrophages via senescent cells. As senescent cells progressively accumulate in aging tissues, these results highlight a new causal link between visceral tissue senescence, NAD+ and immuno-metabolic dysregulation during aging.