Bill (William) Keyes is Team Leader in the Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC), Strasbourg, France. His work focuses on the mechanisms of cancer and aging using a combination of cellular studies and mouse models. Bill Keyes and his team are investigating a process called cellular senescence. This is an apparently irreversible form of cell cycle arrest that prevents the proliferation of damaged cells, thereby acting to prevent cancer. However, this is a complex and organized, dynamic cellular process that also instructs the removal of the damaged cell, and its replacement. Therefore, in certain contexts including embryonic development, regeneration and the protection from cancer, senescence is a beneficial process. However, when not regulated properly, the abnormal accumulation of senescent cells can cause cancer, aging and disease. The Keyes lab uses primary cells, and the mouse and chicken as model systems to investigate the roles and mechanisms of cellular senescence in development, cancer and regeneration.