Call for papers - Aging microenvironment and disease

Guest Editors

Célia Aveleira, PhD, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Zachary R. Hettinger, PhD, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, USA
Julian U. G. Wagner, PhD, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 18 July 2025

BMC Biology is calling for submissions to our Collection on Aging microenvironment and disease. This Collection aims to help our understanding about the molecular mechanisms and cellular processes that affect the tissue microenvironment during aging and aging-related diseases, as well as the implications in the development of novel therapeutic interventions to restore the aging microenvironment.

We welcome studies using spatiotemporal multi-omics and advanced imaging approaches to explore the aging microenvironment, using animal models, human tissue, or organoids. We especially highlight submissions focused on the contribution of aging-related changes to diseases, including cancer, chronic inflammation, lung, hepatic and cardiac fibrosis, vascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and chronic kidney disease.

New Content Item This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Wellbeing.

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Meet the Guest Editors

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Célia Aveleira, PhD, Multidisciplinary Institute of Ageing, Centre for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology, University of Coimbra, Portugal

Célia Aveleira received her PhD degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2010. During her postdoctoral studies, she focused on the potential of neuroendocrine peptides as caloric restriction mimetics and therapeutics targets to delay the aging process of normal and premature aging diseases. In 2022 she joined MIA Portugal - Multidisciplinary Institute of Ageing, University of Coimbra, as an Assistant Investigator, where her research has been focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, exploring the crosstalk between endocytosis and organelle homeostasis as triggers of cellular senescence and neuronal decline.

Zachary R. Hettinger, PhD, Aging & Metabolism Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, USA

Dr Zachary Hettinger leads an interdisciplinary research group broadly interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms of fat and fibrotic tissue accumulation in aging skeletal muscle. His group approaches these questions from a systems-based and cellular lens. First, Dr Hettinger’s team uses a combination of animal and cell-based models to investigate how changes in sex hormones with aging contribute to muscle aging. Second, his lab studies how changes in intracellular liquid-liquid phase separation influences the functionality of muscle support cells. The ultimate goal of Dr Hettinger’s group is to identify novel targets that promote muscle function in older adults. Website

Julian U. G. Wagner, PhD, Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration, Goethe University Frankfurt & German Center for Cardiovascular Research & Cardiopulmonary Institute, Germany

Dr Julian Wagner is a research group leader at the Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, and the speaker of the CPI Academy, a division of the Excellence Cluster "Cardiopulmonary Institute." After completing his studies at the University of Giessen, Germany, he obtained his PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Prof Stefanie Dimmeler in Frankfurt, focusing on the endothelial niche in the aging heart. In 2020, he worked as a postdoc, initially investigating the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the cardiovascular system and later exploring neurovascular interactions in the aging heart which was previously published by the Science Magazine. During his postdoctoral tenure, he served as a short-term fellow in the laboratories of Prof Kari Alitalo (Helsinki, Finland) and Prof Richard T. Lee (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA). Currently, his research is involved in both cardiac innervation and the cardiac lymphatic system in the context of heart aging and disease.

About the Collection

BMC Biology is calling for submissions to our Collection on Aging microenvironment and disease. This Collection aims to help our understanding about the molecular mechanisms and cellular processes that affect the tissue microenvironment during aging and aging-related diseases, as well as the implications in the development of novel therapeutic interventions to restore the aging microenvironment.

We welcome studies using spatiotemporal multi-omics and advanced imaging approaches to explore the aging microenvironment, using animal models, human tissue, or organoids. We especially highlight submissions focused on the contribution of aging-related changes to diseases, including cancer, chronic inflammation, lung, hepatic and cardiac fibrosis, vascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and chronic kidney disease.

Potential topics for submission may include, but are not limited to:

Genome instability, epigenetic alterations, telomere attrition, disabled autophagy and loss of proteostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction in the aging microenvironment.
Cellular senescence and associated secretory phenotype, stem cell exhaustion, and changes in the stem cell niche, such as alterations in the extracellular matrix, chronic inflammation, fibrosis, vascular niche reprogramming and remodeling.
Intercellular communications and inter-organ cross-talk.
Metabolic alterations in different cell types and their influence on the aging microenvironment and age-related diseases.
Potential therapeutic targets of the aging microenvironment.

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being.

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Aging microenvironment and disease" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editor or Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.