Longevity scientist wins Korenchevsky Prize

The British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA) has awarded doctoral graduate Dr Loren Kell the Korenchevsky Prize for her research into the role of DNA damage in ageing immune systems.

The prize is one of the most prestigious awarded by the BSRA. As the recipient, Kell will present her research at the annual American Aging Association conference in Utah in 2026.

Her attendance at the conference and travel will be fully funded by the BSRA.

During her doctorate Kell discovered that a drug called rapamycin, which is known to boost immune function and slow ageing, protected immune cells from DNA damage.

“I’m really grateful for my work to be recognised by this generous award,” she said and added: “I’m excited to be going to the US next year to connect with fellow gerontologists who are doing some fantastic research.”

To test the effect of rapamycin, Kell exposed human immune cells to a DNA-damaging agent both with and without the drug. The cells that were also exposed to rapamycin, she found, had fewer DNA lesions and triple the survival rate compared to cells that were only exposed to the damaging agent.

Kell also collaborated with researchers at the University of Nottingham to test the effects of rapamycin in older people. The drug decreased a marker of DNA damage-induced “cell senescence” — a physiological process correlated with the deterioration of the immune system with age, although the relationship is not well understood.

These findings, Kell commented, suggest that protecting immune cells from DNA damage with drugs such as rapamycin may be key to maintaining immune health into later life.

She added that they are also consistent with the evidence that many other interventions known to boost immunity in older people may work, at least in part, by mitigating DNA damage and restoring DNA repair processes.

Kell was the first-ever recipient of the Mellon Longevity Graduate Scholarship at Oriel College. She received her doctorate in December 2024 and is now continuing her research as a postdoctoral scientist at the Botnar Institute, University of Oxford.

She is also a member of Oxford’s Space Innovation Lab led by Associate Professor Ghada Alsaleh, which is sending samples of human tissue in the form of “organoids” to space to study the effect of the space environment on ageing.

Specifically, Kell is searching for new compounds that help protect against DNA damage in aged immune cells. She said that her research may have applications in other contexts where pathology results from injury to the DNA sequence.

Additionally, she is looking at sex differences in human immune ageing, exploring the role of the menopause and the consequences of dysregulated X-chromosome inactivation.