Dr. Berenice Benayoun

Biography

Bérénice Benayoun, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She holds secondary appointments in the Department of Molecular and Computational Biology and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and focuses her research on the intersection of biological sex, aging, and epigenomics. Dr. Benayoun received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from École Normale Supérieure de Paris and Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7 in Paris, France, where her doctoral research concentrated on transcription factor mutations leading to human syndromes associated with premature menopause. During her post-doctoral training, she identified key chromatin signatures that maintain cell identity and transcriptional integrity. Her lab is pioneering the use of the African turquoise killifish as a new model organism for aging research, investigating the epigenetic and transcriptomic remodeling that occurs with age and the biological sex interactions that influence these processes. Dr. Benayoun is recognized as a Pew Biomedical Scholar and received the Nathan Shock New Investigator Award, among other accolades. Her commitment to scientific inquiry is evidenced by her extensive background in molecular biology and genetics, alongside a burgeoning array of publications that contribute to our understanding of aging and sex differences in biology.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards