Fight Aging!

The Gerontology Research Group is a long-standing point of connection and networking hub for a range of scientists and advocates interested in slowing or reversing degenerative aging. It was set up by the late Stephen Coles of the UCLA faculty back in 1990, right at the dawn of the modern era of scientific interventions in the aging process. A mailing list has been running for about as long as I've been interested in the defeat of aging and extension of healthy life span as a goal, and nowadays there is a linked blog as well.

Of late the GRG volunteer staff have been experimenting with online meetings as a way to expand access to the regular presentations on aging research and related science that have been taking place on at least a monthly basis for more than two decades. A couple of meetings are coming up at the start of May, for example. If interested in listening in, you'll want to click through for connection instructions, which I won't reproduce here:

Gerontology Research Group Online Meetings

Dear GRG Member, Two GRG online meetings are scheduled.

1) Saturday May 2 - 10:00 am Pacific, 1:00 pm ET, 5:00 pm GMT

We will meet with GoToMeeting. A test run will be done the day before, so if you are not familiar with GoToMeeting but would like to join or watch - and make sure it works for you - contact us.

Robert Young, Director of the Supercentenarian Research and Database division will bring us up to date on recent supercentenarian activities. I'll briefly discuss the severe problem that currently exists with pre-clinical testing and solutions involving engineered (lab grown) tissue systems for drug and aging therapy assessment. Here and now there is Organovo's exVive3D™ liver and tissue testing services, and under development other varied systems such as tissue chips and engineered tissue systems for heart, liver, lung, kidney, brain and others.

Then as the main event, Vince Giuliano of Anti-Aging Firewalls will make a presentation on liposome delivered aging intervention therapies in humans: principles, research, and practical experience.

2) Friday May 8 - 10:00 am Pacific, 1:00 pm ET, 5:00 pm GMT

We will meet via NIH's WebEx system. You will receive instructions on how to join before the meeting.

This will be an extension of the tissue chips and engineered tissue systems section of the previous meeting. Our presenter will be Kristen Fabre, Scientific Program Manager, NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) and Manager of the Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program.

Topic: The Tissue Chip for Drug Screening Initiative. This NIH/DARPA/FDA collaboration aims to develop 3-D human tissue chips that model the structure and function of human organs, such as the lung, liver and heart, and then combine these chips into an integrated system that can mimic complex functions of the human body. Once developed and integrated, researchers can use these models to predict whether a candidate drug, vaccine or biologic agent is safe or toxic in humans in a faster and more cost-effective way than current methods, and how effective a therapeutic candidate would be in clinical studies.