Dr. Dillin’s laboratory works on the genetic and molecular mechanisms that regulate aging and aging-related disease. The Dillin lab is particularly interested in understanding why an organism begins to lose control over the quality and integrity of its proteins as it ages, and how the recognition of protein misfolding stress is communicated to distal tissues and organs. The lab utilizes emergent technologies to look at the manipulation of stress response pathways within a specific cell type or a single subcellular compartment within a specific cell type. In its research, the Dillin lab works with a variety of organisms, including mice and stem cells. However, the lab's historic roots are in working on the nematode C. elegans, a well-established model organism in aging studies.

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Dr. Dillin’s laboratory is also a part of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Aging Research at UC Berkeley and UCSF, a joint venture between scientists at the two universities to understand how aging both accelerates and reciprocally is exacerbated by a loss in protein homeostasis and an increase in protein folding.