Premature onset of chronic Aging-related diseases by long COVID: determination of aging shift and targeting senescent cells as a promising Therapy

We are coordinating a Horizon Europe project proposal aimed at understanding how Long COVID accelerates biological aging processes and contributes to the premature onset of chronic age-related diseases. The project will define the “aging shift” induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection and evaluate senescent cells as therapeutic targets to prevent long-term pathological consequences.

This ambitious, large-scale initiative is structured around five integrated objectives, including comprehensive analysis of blood samples from Long COVID patients, the use of murine models recapitulating both Long COVID and premature aging phenotypes, and the development and preclinical assessment of innovative therapeutic strategies. These models will provide a human-relevant platform for translational testing.

The project is supported by a multidisciplinary network of clinicians, researchers and patient representatives to ensure strong clinical relevance, patient engagement and rapid translation into practice.

As coordinator, we are currently seeking:

1. Research infrastructures or institutes with certified BSL-3 facilities for large-scale in vivo SARS-CoV-2 mouse studies.

2. European Health Technology Assessment (HTA) organizations to support clinical, economic and regulatory translation.

3. Companies or laboratories with strong expertise in large-scale metabolomics and advanced data integration.

4. European biobanks providing access to well-characterized Long COVID patient cohorts, including blood and associated clinical metadata.

The consortium aims to build a highly interdisciplinary team addressing a major unmet medical need at the interface of aging, infection and chronic disease. We welcome partners interested in collaborative, high-impact research with strong translational and societal relevance within the Horizon Europe Cluster Health framework.