The Korstanje Lab

Our research focus

Aging is the greatest risk factor for cancer and for most other chronic diseases, yet people age and develop disease very differently. Our lab studies why. We use natural genetic variation in mice to identify the genes and pathways that influence how individuals age and which age-related diseases they develop.

Genetics of aging. We map genetic factors that influence the decline of function and the accumulation of damage with age, then study how these genes act in different tissues and organs. Our goal is to understand why variants in the same gene lead to different aging outcomes.

Aging and cancer. We study how age and genetic background together determine cancer susceptibility, including which tumors arise, when, and why. Using spontaneous tumors from aged, genetically diverse mice, we aim to build models that reflect the diversity of human cancer more faithfully than conventional approaches.

Once causal genes are identified, we build precision disease models to study them in depth and to test strategies that could slow aging-related decline and reduce cancer risk. Our expertise in quantitative histopathology and digital pathology helps us measure complex tissue phenotypes rigorously and reproducibly.