Carlos López-Otín

At a glance

• Carlos López-Otín is a Spanish biochemist and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Oviedo.
• He is first author of The Hallmarks of Aging (Cell, 2013), one of the most cited papers in ageing research. It describes nine biological hallmarks of ageing; a 2023 update expanded this to twelve.
• His lab specialises in proteases, enzymes that cut proteins, and developed mouse models of progeria, a disease of accelerated ageing.
• He also contributed to the genomic analysis of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia within the International Cancer Genome Consortium.
• In 2019 several of his papers were retracted over image problems. He has also written popular-science books, including with Guido Kroemer.
• For longevity, his work is influential because the hallmarks framework gave the field a common language for studying ageing.
• Takeaway: ageing has many causes at once; be wary of products claiming to fix ‘everything’ with a single intervention.