Areas of Specialty:
Role of aging in cancer
Role of epigenetic stability in healthy aging and longevity
Cell senescence
Peter Adams, PhD
Dr. Peter D. Adams is Director of the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program of the NCI- designated Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, and is on the Executive leadership committee of the San Diego Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. Adams’ goal is to develop epigenetic-based interventions that promote healthy aging and suppression of disease. Adams coined the term “chromostasis” to describe the presumptive mechanisms that confer chromatin and phenotypic stability to achieve healthy aging; discovered “cytoplasmic chromatin fragments (CCF)” produced by senescent cells as pro-inflammatory signals; and with Trey Ideker reported the DNA methylation clock in the mouse, from his studies of aging mouse liver. In 2016 Adams was awarded the Tenovus Scotland Medal, in 2017 a Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, and in 2018 a Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology Award. From 2012-2022, Adams was co-Editor-in-Chief of the leading aging journal, Aging Cell, and is a founding Editor of the journal Aging Biology.