Education

• Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School, Genetics and Massachusetts General Hospital, Molecular Biology, 2010
• PhD, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, 2004
• BS, Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 1999

Research

• Molecular, genetic and biochemical approaches to identifying evolutionarily conserved mechanisms that regulate cellular and organism survival and longevity

Overview

Sean P. Curran, PhD, is a Professor of Gerontology and Molecular and Computational Biology and the Vice Dean, Dean of Faculty and Dean of Research for the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. He is co-director of the USC-Buck Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. Curran developed the first-of-its-kind PhD in Geroscience program, which recruited its inaugural class in 2024.

Curran’s research group has invested in defining molecular, genetic, and environmental factors that impact multiple parameters of health (resistance to environmental and dietary stress, mobility, metabolism, reproductive-fitness, and mitochondrial function) throughout life. The long-term goal is to generate blueprints that allow an individual to maximize health over the course of their lifespan. Informed by genetics, Curran’s lab develops the capacity to predict which diets are ideal for a healthy life and which should be avoided.

Curran’s current research program is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIA and NIGMS) and has received past research funding by the Ellison Medical Foundation, the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), and the American Heart Association. Curran is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and is the 2025 Vice Chair (Chair in 2026) of the GSA Biological Sciences Section.

He has received numerous awards for his research, including the AFAR Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research Award, Paul F. Glenn Award, the Nathan Shock New Investigator Award (GSA), and the Ewald W. Busse Research Award. Curran’s mentoring has been recognized by the Mellon Foundation, and in 2019 he received the USC Provost’s Mentoring Award. He received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UCLA and post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital.