Internationally recognized scientist Judith (Judy) Campisi passed away at her home at the age of 75 on Friday 19 January 2024. Judy was a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and a former senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Judy earned her PhD from Stony Brook University, in New York, and conducted research in Arthur Pardee’s laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, in Boston. She then began her academic career as an assistant professor at Boston University Medical School before transitioning, in 1991, to join Mina Bissell’s department at the LBNL as a senior scientist. She moved her laboratory to the Buck Institute in 2009.

Judy continued to make key discoveries that impacted both the cancer field and the ageing field. She proposed that senescence evolved to provide protection against cancer and promote wound healing; however, as an organism aged, this same process could contribute to ageing. In 2001, Judy’s group published an article showing that senescent fibroblasts promoted epithelial cell growth and tumorigenesis in mouse models6. This paved the way for her major discovery of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), showing for the first time that senescent cells secrete pro-inflammatory factors that promote cancer cell proliferation and invasion7. Then, through multiple collaborations, we showed that inhibition of mTOR, which slows ageing and growth in certain cancers, also inhibited the SASP8, further bridging ageing and cancer. There are now more than 2,000 publications describing the importance of the SASP, including some prominent publications on its role in cancer, from more recent members of Judy’s laboratory.

Enjoying our latest content?
Log in or create an account to continue

  • Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
  • Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
Access through your institution

or

Sign in or create an account
Continue with Google
Continue with ORCiD