CECAD’s vision is to use the knowledge gained to develop new therapies for the entire spectrum of aging-associated diseases, including cancer, diabetes, stroke, renal failure, and neurodegenerative disorders.

CECAD creates new synergies through a novel network of innovative minds and ideas. More than 400 international scientists from the University of Cologne, the Cologne University Hospital, the Max Planck Institutes for Metabolism Research and Biology of Ageing, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) are exploring the molecular basis of the aging process and age-associated diseases at the Cluster of Excellence.

Developing new therapies for treating aging-associated diseases requires basic scientific research. Only by identifying the molecular processes that trigger the pathogenesis of a disease can we possibly find research approaches that will give us a new understanding of age-associated disorders. 

In the past, neurologists have dealt with dementia, cardiologists with heart disease, and oncologists with tumors. CECAD’s interdisciplinary approach means that scientists are now looking for shared causes of age-associated disorders. Their goal is to find a central mechanism involved in the aging process that would allow scientists and medical professionals to intervene successfully.

CECAD links basic research and the application of new findings, pioneering new approaches for clinical research. Translational research closes the loop, linking disciplines and delivering therapies to patients more rapidly.