Biosketch

Lida Katsimpardi earned her Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biochemistry and Master’s degree in Molecular Endocrinology from the University of Montpellier, France. Next, she pursued a doctorate in the Hellenic Pasteur Institute in Athens, Greece in affiliation with the University of Montpellier, whereby she completed her PhD in 2009. In 2022, she obtained her HDR diploma from Université Paris Cité.

Lida's first research experience started in marine biology at the IFREMER institute in Palavas-les-Flots, France, where she studied gonadal development in fish. Then she moved to the Genetics Department in the University of Mainz, Germany as an Erasmus student for one year, where she studied genes implicated in Drosophila brain development. As a Masters student she spent one year in the Institute of Human Genetics in Montpellier, France, studying the role of Engrailed in the development of the imaginal disk in Drosophila.

Her PhD research in the Hellenic Pasteur Institute in Athens, Greece focused on deciphering the role of Cend1 protein in adult neurogenesis. Right after the completion of her PhD she moved to Harvard University, Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology as a postdoctoral fellow where she focused her research in two fields. On one hand, she developed ways to differentiate embryonic stem cells into pain neurons. Additionally, she made the major discovery that young blood can rejuvenate the aged brain both at the cellular level (neurogenesis, vasculature) but also on the functional level (cognition, memory, cerebral blood flow). She also identified the protein GDF11 as one of the mediators of these effects.

In 2016, Lida returned to France and joined the Institut Pasteur as a research associate, where she further expanded her research on identifying the specific mode of action of GDF11. In November 2021, Lida joined the INEM as a CRCN researcher and leads a group of PhD students and postdocs in brain aging and rejuvenation within Mario Pende’s team.

Recebtly, Lida was awarded the ADPS Longevity prize (2021), the ADPS-Allianz prize (2023) and the Deniker foundation prize (2024) for her contributions in the Aging field.