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2005 Annual
Meeting
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Discussions
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Announcements
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LAST ISSUE BEFORE OUR ANNUAL MEETING!
- program updates
- accepted abstracts (oral and poster)
- speaker abstracts
- Dr.
de Cabo announces the oral
presentations of the Student Program!
- airfare - qualify for a 5% discount
if flying American Airlines!
- our
supporters
|
 George
M. Martin, MD, University of
Washington, asks
How is the evolutionary biological
theory of aging holding up against
mounting attacks?
Review
original text, all commentaries and Dr.
Martin's responses in this issue!
As always,
we welcome your commentaries on this
material!
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Ageing Across the Pond:
AGE-BSRA set up co-operative links
A New AGE
- the Journal of the American Aging
Association
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Welcome to our AGE New Members!
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2005 ANNUAL MEETING |
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PROGRAM
UPDATES -
Please review the latest
changes to our meeting
program!
ACCEPTED ABSTRACTS: We have
posted the list of our
accepted abstracts (oral and poster)
along with the name of their authors and
affiliation. The actual abstracts
are linked from each title as PDF
documents.
LECTURE ABSTRACTS: We have
posted most of our lecturers' abstracts,
available as links from the
program page (documents will
open as PDF files).
STUDENT PROGRAM: don't forget to reserve
your seat at the STUDENT-ONLY Data Blitz
and Round Table. This shapes up to
be a most exciting program so book soon!
This will be held
Saturday, the 4th of June, at 6 pm. The Program -
open only to undergraduate, graduate and first year
post-doctoral students, will include a Data Blitz, a
Round-Table Discussion, and a Student Social, as
follows:
The Data Blitz
will be held for the first 90 minutes of the program and
will include nine presentations of 10 minutes each (five
slides per presentation and 5 minutes of Q & A).
Dr.
Rafael de Cabo, Chair of the Student
Program, announces the selected
presenters of the Data Blitz
session: Drs. K. Dunlap, R.
Gay, B. Jones, D. Lamming, C. Mueck,
J. Panici, R. Puttagunta and J.
Sinclair.
All
winners are asked to contact
Dr. de Cabo for
further details about their
presentations at the program.
The Round-Table Discussion
will be held for the following 30 minutes of the
program, including some of the top directions in current
aging research, etc. Panelists will include: Drs.
Rozalyn Anderson, Qitao Ran, Sige Zou and Rafael de Cabo.
Following the Round Table
Discussion, all Student Program
participants are invited to a
reception&dance at a venue
near the hotel.
Please note that
all registrations for the Student
Program will be entered in a draw
for a one-year student membership
with the American Aging Association;
the winner has to be present at the
meeting and will be announced at the
end of the Round Table Discussion.
AIR TRAVEL:
If flying American Airlines to our
meeting of June, you can qualify for a
5% discount on flights to San Francisco,
San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento.
This offer is valid between May 28 and
June 11, 2005. Certain conditions
apply. When calling American
Airlines (1-800-433-1790) please mention
code A4055BE - American Aging.
LAND
TRANSPORTATION: Should you
arrive in California by air, here are
some more coordinates -
Oakland - OAK
(Hotel Direction: 8 mi N;
Driving Directions: Exit
airport. Take Hegenberger Rd
to I-880 N. Exit Broadway
and turn right. Go 3 blocks,
turn left on 10th St. Make
right turns around the block
to hotel entrance.)
Estimated taxi fare: 30 USD (one
way)
San Francisco - SFO
(Hotel Direction: 26 mi NE;
Driving Directions: Take 101
North. Merge to I-80. Take
580 East off the bridge to
980 S. Take 11th/12th St.
exit. Go 1 block, turn left.
Hotel is at 11th & Broadway.)
Estimated taxi fare: 70 USD (one
way)
San Jose, California - SJC
(Hotel Direction: 43 mi N;
Driving Directions: Take
I-880 North. Exit Broadway
and turn right. Go 3 blocks,
turn left on 10th St. Make
right turns around the block
to hotel entrance.)
Shuttle service fee: 100 USD
EXHIBIT: Want to exhibit at the meeting?
The 34th American Aging Association
Annual Meeting offers great
opportunities to expand your company's
visibility among the
registrants. See
some of these options and
email
or contact us at
+1.773.784.8134 for additional details.
SUPPORTERS/PARTNERS: The
American Aging Association is most
grateful for the generous support of the
following organizations:
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DISCUSSION |
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How
is the evolutionary biological theory of aging
holding up against mounting attacks?
by Dr.
George M. Martin, Department of Pathology,
University of Washington
back |
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To
comment on this paper, please
Email us |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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AGEING ACROSS THE POND: AGE -
BSRA set up cooperative links
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Dr. Janet Lord - President, BSRA
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It
was Alexander Graham Bell who said “Great
discoveries and improvements invariably involve
the co-operation of many minds” and it is with
this hope that the American Aging Association
(AGE) and the British Society for Research on
Ageing (BSRA) agreed recently to set up a series of
measures to encourage support and links between
our two important societies. The key elements of
the co-operation can be summarised as follows:
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The two societies will maintain a regular
exchange of information about their
organizations and their activities –
achieved through cross-posting of
e-newsletters and membership only magazines
(the BSRA has a bi-annual magazine
Lifespan, which features items on model
systems, breaking news and hot topics and a
young members section);
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Exchange of advertising for their annual
meetings (see
www.bsra.org.uk
for this year's BSRA programme which
features Skin Ageing and Immunity and
is a one day meeting in London on the 13th
of July);
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Literature distribution and logo-exchange at
the respective annual scientific meetings;
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Discounted individual subscriptions to their
respective journals (Mechanisms
of Ageing and Development
is the official journal of the BSRA
and AGE members will be able to receive an
annual subscription at the discounted rate
of £40/$75);
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Intelligence sharing with respect to ageing
research funds/investment at national level
etc (again see the
BSRA web site for a copy of our
evidence supplied in 2004 to a House of
Lords inquiry in to Scientific Aspects of
Ageing);
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Specific projects/initiatives that could be
pursued between the two organizations – for
example, if an AGE member needed a UK partner
for a project or was looking to source
valuable samples, the BSRA would try to put
them in touch with the appropriate UK lab.
So
who exactly are your new bedfellows, the BSRA?
The Society grew out of the
"Club for Ageing" founded by Vladimir
Korenchevsky in 1943. This organisation was the
first scientific body to be concerned
specifically with gerontology as a scientific
discipline and was the forerunner of the many
national gerontological societies now
established throughout the world. In its early
days the Society was the chief organiser of
International Gerontology. The mission of the
BSRA is “to promote research to understand
the causes and effects of the ageing process”
and its broader aim is to foster an experimental
approach to problems of ageing in the biological
and medical sciences. It achieves this by
providing a forum for the discussion of the
latest scientific theories and data through its
magazine and annual scientific meetings as well
as sponsorship of seminars and discussion
meetings on subjects related to normal
biological ageing around the UK. The BSRA has
also held joint meetings with other learned
societies, such as The British Society for
Immunology and The Biochemical Society, in order
to promote research in to normal ageing in other
disciplines. The BSRA also acts as a contact
point for policy makers and research funders for
information and opinions concerning the biology
of ageing.
The Society is growing
rapidly and has recently set up a young members
section. In the past, members have been drawn
largely from clinical and biomedical fields, but
an increasing proportion of the new members are
involved in comparative studies on animals. Our
membership comprises more than 120 scientists
mainly from the UK, but with some international
members in Asia and North America and includes
some of the most respected figures in biological
ageing research, for example Professors Nick
Hales, Linda Partridge FRS, Kay-Tee Khaw and
Norman Wolf. The current membership reflects the
growing emphasis on problems in experimental
psychology, physiology, cell and molecular
biology, evolution and genetics. The Society
encourages a very broad view of ageing that
includes all those aspects of developmental
biology which may have a bearing on terminal
processes. In this respect, the Society offers a
unique opportunity for the exchange of ideas
between research workers with widely different
scientific backgrounds, but who are,
nevertheless, linked through a common interest
in the temporal organization of life.
The BSRA is run by an elected
Executive Committee (8 members) which, in recent
years, has been drawn from a number of different
research areas including clinical medicine,
biochemistry, neuroscience, cell and
evolutionary biology. The current chairperson is
Professor Janet M Lord, an
immunologist working at the University of
Birmingham and previous chairs have included
Professor
Tom Kirkwood
and Sir Cyril Clark. The main function
of the executive is to ensure that the mission
of the BSRA is at the forefront of activities
and a key task is the organisation of the annual
scientific meeting and the publication of the
monthly e-newsletter and bi-annual journal,
Lifespan. The annual scientific meetings are
most usually held in July each year and although
there is normally a theme to the meeting (this
year “Is Ageing Skin Deep?”), the speakers are
chosen with the aim of informing the membership
of developments in several aspects of ageing
research. In addition four slots are reserved
for young scientists to present their findings
to the meeting and a prize is awarded for the
best oral presentation by a young speaker and
for the best poster.
In summary the BSRA is the
main voice of scientists in the UK working on
the biology of normal human ageing, irrespective
of their tissue focus. The BSRA executive is
excited about the new partnership with AGE and
feel that it is bound to be of mutual benefit to
BSRA and AGE members. We also hope that some AGE
members will decide to join the BSRA – annual
cost £20 for full members ($40) and £10 ($20)
for students, and perhaps we may even see some
of you cross the pond to attend our annual
scientific meetings, where you would be very
welcome!
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Janet M. Lord, PhD
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President, BSRA
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A NEW AGE - The
Journal of the American Aging Association:
The American Aging Association is most excited
to announce the new AGE - the Journal of
the
American Aging Association.
Dr. Donald K. Ingram,
Editor-in-Chief, in his upcoming June editorial,
"A New AGE," highlights the
journal's history and outlines its new mission,
directions, and strengths.
AGE is a quarterly, international,
peer-reviewed journal that publishes
articles related to
research in the
biology of aging and research on
biomedical applications that impact
aging.
The scope of articles to be
considered include evolutionary biology,
biophysics, genetics, genomics,
proteomics, molecular biology, cell
biology, biochemistry, endocrinology,
immunology, physiology, pharmacology,
neuroscience, and psychology.
Articles concerning clinical studies
will also be considered if the results
relate to underlying biological
mechanisms of aging. Such studies should
reflect more than issues related to the
care and treatment of geriatric
patients. Papers concerned with social,
economic, and political issues of aging
will generally not be considered unless
they relate directly to biomedical
gerontology.
In addition to manuscripts emerging from
original research, the journal actively
solicits research reviews of important
topics in biomedical gerontology. Other
types of manuscripts are also
acceptable, such as commentaries,
debates, and meeting reports.
For more information on AGE, please review
the information at the publisher's site
(click on the above journal cover or visit
http://www.springeronline.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,11855,5-40109-70-36731207-0,00.html).
For submission and information on the
journal publication, please contact
age@springer-sbm.com
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WELCOME TO OUR NEW AGE MEMBERS:
Tanvir Ahmed, MD (Student Member)
Carrie A. Brumfield, MPH (Member)
Siba Das (Student Member)
Raina Gay (Student Member)
- My work is centered around two main projects.
The first project is
 investigating how the
environment of an old host can affect the viral
evolution and pathogenesis of coxsackievirus B3.
Coxsackievirus B3 is a primary cause of viral
myocarditis and has been implicated as a major
cause of dilated cardiomyopathy, an important
cause of heart transplants. The second project
is attempting to determine the efficacy of
vitamin E supplementation on secondary
Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia following
influenza infection in old mice and its
mechanism of action. Read more at:
http://www.tufts.edu/sackler/immunology/meydani/raina.htm
and
http://hnrc.tufts.edu/departments/labs/immunology.php
Lorraine Grace
(Member)
Terry A. Grossman, MD (Scientific Member) - Dr. Grossman
is the founder and medical director of Frontier
 Medical
Institute in Golden, Colorado. His
longevity medical practice attracts patients,
including many VIPs from around the country and
the world. He graduated from Brandeis
University in 1968 and the University
of Florida School of
Medicine in 1979. Dr. Grossman undertook the
study of nutritional and anti-aging medicine in
1995 when he opened Frontier Medical Institute
in Denver, which quickly grew into one of the
largest complementary medical centers in the
country. He is a member and board certified by
the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine as
well as the American Holistic Medical
Association. His special field of interest is
nutritional medicine (the treatment of illness
with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals,
anti-oxidants and natural hormones) and
anti-aging medicine. He is assistant professor
of family practice at The University of Colorado
School of Medicine.
Dr. Grossman is
a widely sought lecturer on longevity medicine
throughout the United States and has presented
keynote addresses at anti-aging seminars in
Japan, South Korea, South Africa and elsewhere.
He is the coauthor with Ray Kurzweil of
Fantastic
Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever
(2004) and
The Baby Boomers’ Guide to Living Forever
(2000). Current research projects include
treatment of age related macular degeneration
with microcurrent
stimulation as well as glucose enhanced, lower
dose chemotherapeutic protocols for cancer.
Review more at: www.fmiclinic.com
and
www.fantastic-voyage.net.
Michael Grotewiel, PhD (Scientific
Member)
Yuji Ikeno, MD, PhD
(Scientific Member)
Matt Kaeberlein, PhD
(Scientific Member)
Larry Miller, PhD
(Scientific Member)
Robin Mockett, PhD (Scientific Member) - I am currently a Research
Assistant Professor in the Department
 of
Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology, at the
University of Southern California. The goal of
my research is to understand the biology of
aging of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster,
with emphasis on the oxidative stress hypothesis
of aging. This research is conducted using the
techniques of genetics, molecular biology,
biochemistry and organismal physiology.
For more information, see:
http://www.usc.edu/assets/pharmacy/pages/RobinJonMockett.html
Steven Pratt, MD (Scientific Member)
Rose
Reynolds, PhD
(Student Member)
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RESEARCH GOALS: Determine if mortality rates do
indeed decline at late ages, and why.
Examine
the roles that (1) behavior, (2) environment,
(3) reproduction, and (4) genetics play in
determining aging patterns.
Find evidence for or against MA theory by
looking for the existence of age-specific
mutations. Read more at:
http://www.life.uiuc.edu/kahughes/reynolds.htm
Takuji Shirasawa, MD (Scientific Member)
- My research interests are:
Free Radical and
Aging, Longevity
 Gene, Alzheimer’s Disease.
We aim to resolve the mechanisms by which
the lifespan is controlled in mammals and human.
In C. elegans, several mutants that show
longevity have been isolated and the genetic
analysis in these mutant animals has suggested
the involvement of insulin signaling pathway on
the longevity. That is, genetic alterations were
identified in the coding regions of the proteins transducing the insulin signal, such as
insulin/IGF-1 receptor (daf-2) and PI3K (age-1).
The involvement of mutations on another type of
gene, clk-1, has also been suggested for
longevity in C. elegans, which is independent on
the insulin signaling. We have generated two
types of model mice carrying the similar genetic
alterations that were found in C. elegans
(insulin/IGF-1 receptor knock-in mice and clk-1
knock-out mice). Utilizing these model mice, we
are going to try to elucidate the mechanisms by
which higher organisms succeed in longevity. In
our group, the mechanisms underlying the
development of Alzheimer's disease are also
being studied.
Review more at:
http://www.tmig.or.jp/research/regular_07.html
Jennifer L. Vila (Student Member)
Sergiy Volovyk, PhD
(Scientific Member) - Research
interests include:
 Free-radical paradigm in
aging, neurodegeneration, and neuropsychiatric
disorders. Free-radical / oxidative biomarkers
and perturbation of redox signaling networks.
Free-radical chemistry of brain/CNS. Free
radicals physiological ambivalence and
complementarity as the function of their
electronic donor-acceptor ambivalence.
Free-radical dynamic redox homeostasis in living
systems. Free-radical effects of ionizing
radiation (IR) and extreme environmental
stresses. Modeling aging phenomena by IR
effects. Gene-environment interactions in
free-radical framework. Free-radical
evolution of life.
Xue Zhao, PhD (Scientific Member)
If we
had omitted your name from this list of new
members,
please let us know.
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GRANT DEADLINES:
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1. Four Leading Brain Philanthropies
Announce Awards - Program to Focus on New
Technologies
BRIEF: Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure
(http://www.abc2.org), the Alzheimer's
Association (http://www.alz.org, the Michael
J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
(http://www.michaeljfox.org), and the Robert
Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns
Hopkins (http://www.alscenter.org) have
announced the formation of the Brain Trust,
a collaboration to fund development of new
therapeutic approaches with application to
diverse brain diseases. The group,
which hopes to expand to include many other
brain organizations, companies, and
universities in funding other collaborative
efforts, is seeking applications focused on
technologies that can achieve selective
targeting and/or delivery of therapeutic
agents to specific regions or cells in the
brain, including overcoming the limitations
imposed by the blood-brain barrier, which
can be applied in the clinical setting in
the next twenty-four months.
The Brain Trust favors research applications
focused on translational and clinical
programs that will benefit patients in the
near term. Applications will be accepted
from for-profit and not-for-profit
organizations, unaffiliated individuals, and
from individuals affiliated with for-profit
and not-for-profit organizations.
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Sponsor: Brain Trust
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2.
Grants-in-Aid
- Brief:
The Grants-in-Aid program is
designed for researchers at the
assistant professor level who experience
difficulty in competing for research
funds because they have not yet become
firmly established. Grants-in-Aid will
also be made to senior scientists.
-
Sponsor: Whitehall Foundation
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-
3.
Research Grants
- Brief:
Research grants are available to
established scientists of all ages
working at accredited institutions in
the United States.
-
Sponsor: Whitehall Foundation
-
-
4. Ruth
L. Kirschstein NRSA Program for NIGMS
Brief: MARC Predoctoral
Fellowships are Individual National
Research Service Awards made to
outstanding graduates of the MARC U*STAR
Program to help them pursue a graduate
degree in the biomedical sciences.
Support is not available for individuals
enrolled in medical or other
professional schools unless they are
enrolled in a combined-degree (e.g.,
M.D.-Ph.D., D.D.S.-Ph.D., or D.V.M.-Ph.D.)
program.
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MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Email
us your meeting announcement
-
May 30-June 2, 2006
- Copenhagen, Denmark
The International Federation on Ageing (IFA)
8th Global Conference
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June 18-21,
2005
-
Washington, DC
-
Alzheimer's Association International
Conference on Prevention of Dementia
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July 14, 2005
- Keele, Stoke-on-Trent,
Staffordshire, England, United
Kingdom
-
British Society of Gerontology 34th
Annual Scientific Meeting 2005
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September
9-12, 2005 - Torun, Poland
-
The European
Sociological Association 7th
Conference 'Rethinking Inequalities'
-
http://www.7thesaconference.umk.pl
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CONGRATULATIONS TO
DR. JAMES JOSEPH
 Dr.
James Joseph, member and former president of
the American Aging Association, has been awarded
the International Prize for Modern Nutrition
2005!
The jury met on May 3, 2005 and decided to give
the Prize in recognition of his work related to
"Nutrition, Aging and Brain Function."
The members of the jury were impressed by his
contributions to the field of the neurobiology
of aging, being particularly interested in the
various mechanisms that Dr. Joseph had studied
over the years, and that are associated with age
related decline in brain functions. His
study that fruits and vegetables per se could
reverse age-related alterations in brain and
behavioral function in rats opens hopes for
similar effects in humans. The prize
ceremony will take place September 7, 2005 in
Lucerne, Switzerland.
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June 2004 -
Dr. Joseph (left) receives the
Harman Research Award
from Dr. Norm Wolf, AGE
Past-President
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James
Joseph
is the director of the Neuroscience
Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human
Nutrition Research Center on Aging.
He was the recipient of the American
Aging Association’s Harman Research
Award at the 33rd annual meeting of the
American Aging Association June 4-7,
2004 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Dr. Joseph was honored for his
contributions to research on aging,
centering on his premier research in the
recognition and definition of the role
of nutrition in modulating age-related
changes in neuronal function and
behavior. He presented the Harman
Lecture on June 7, 2004. |
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...AND THE WINNERS ARE...
Our
many thanks to all those who have participated
in the discussion initiated on Dr. George M.
Martin's
"How
is the evolutionary biological theory of aging
holding up against mounting attacks?".
Also, our congratulations to the winners of our
giveaway, Drs Leonid and Natalia Gavrilov, who
had submitted a commentary on this
discussion. They are the winners of a free
registration to attend the 34th Annual Meeting
of the American Aging Association!
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BECOME A MEMBER OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY AT:
-
and take advantage of discounts for the
annual meeting of June!
|
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