Darren J. Baker, Ph.D., M.S.

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Mayo Clinic


Dr. Darren Baker received his B.S. from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a major in Biology and minor in Chemistry in 2001, graduating summa cum laude from the College of Biological Sciences Honors program. He completed his master’s degree from Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 2005 with a focus on Tumor Biology. He received his Ph.D. from Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands in Biomedical Sciences in 2008. After graduating, he was recruited to be a post-doctoral fellow in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging from 2008-2011. In 2010, he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Mayo Clinic. In 2016, he became an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Mayo Clinic. Additionally, he has functioned as the Associate Director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for Senescence Research at Mayo Clinic since 2013.

Science Magazine has selected works from Darren’s research as one of the top 10 breakthroughs in science in both 2011 and 2016. His research has contributed to 52 patents which have been licensed to Unity Biotechnology, a publicly traded company developing senolytic medicines that Mayo cofounded based on Darren’s 2011 Nature paper.

His laboratory is currently funded by the NIH, the Paul F. Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, and the Keck Foundation. He has been funded previously by the Ellison Medical Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Disease research center, the Mayo Clinic Children’s Research Center, and the Mayo Clinic benefactor funded career development award.

Funded Research

These projects were made possible from Cure Alzheimer's Fund support.

Project Description Researchers Funding
Senescent Cells and Alzheimer’s Disease 2018, 2020

$345,000

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Graves, S. I., & Baker, D. J. Implicating endothelial cell senescence to dysfunction in the ageing and diseased brain, Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, March 11, 2020, Read More

Prieto, L. I., Graves, S. I., & Baker, D. J. Insights from In Vivo Studies of Cellular Senescence, Cells, April 13, 2020, Read More

Ng, P. Y., McNeely, T. L., & Baker, D. J. Untangling senescent and damage-associated microglia in the aging and diseased brain, FEBS Journal, December 14, 2021, Read More

Di Micco, R., Krizhanovsky, V., Baker, D., & d'Adda di Fagagna, F. Cellular senescence in ageing: from mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, August 6, 2021, Read More

Yu, X., Lobo, J. D., Sundermann, E., Baker, D. J., Tracy, R. P., Kuchel, G. A., Stephenson, K. E., Letendre, S. L., Brew, B., Cysique, L. A., Dale, S. K., Wallen, C., Kunisaki, K. M., Guaraldi, G., Milic, J., Winston, A., Moore, D. J., Margolick, J. B., & Erlandson, K. M. Current Challenges and Solutions for Clinical Management and Care of People with HIV: Findings from the 12th Annual International HIV and Aging Workshop, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, November 23, 2022, Read More