Suresh Rattan has been heading, since its inception in 1984, the Laboratory of Cellular Ageing at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Aarhus University in Denmark. He was introduced to the field of ageing by Professor Suraj P. Sharma at the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, India, during his BSc and MSc studies (1973–1977), followed by MPhil studies on the regenerative capacity of Hydra, under the guidance of Professor Sivatosh Mookerjee, at the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India (1977–1979).

Area of research: Ageing and health of normal human cells in culture, using a variety of normal human cells including skin fibroblasts, keratinocytes, endothelial cells, osteoblasts, bone marrow stem cells, and telomerase immortalised mesenchymal stem cells. Development of the concept of ageing genes, gerontogenes. Discovering the ageing-modulatory effects of cytokinins kinetin and zeatin. Testing and application of the concept of mild stress-induced hormesis and hormetins in ageing research and interventions, and development of novel natural and sythetic nutrional hormetins.