"Science for Life Extension" at the World Gerontological Congress
The Anti-Aging Science program was presented at IAGG-2009The World Gerontological Congress (IAGG-2009), which took place in early July in Paris, gathered a record number of participants – about six thousand from 82 countries.
This is due to two related reasons. Firstly, the discoveries, research and technological breakthroughs in fundamental biology of recent years make it fundamentally possible to significantly prolong human life. And this very opportunity requires the involvement of a large number of specialists in various fields in this area – not only biologists in the broadest sense of the word and, of course, physicians, but also psychologists, philosophers, lawyers, sociologists. Employees and experts of the Science for Life Extension Foundation took an active part in the congress.
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| In the photo: the opening of the World Gerontological Congress (IAGG-2009) on July 5, 2009. |
The congress program was divided into four huge sections – "biological sciences", "health and geriatric medicine", "psychology and behavioral research", "social, political research".
And the "biological" section was certainly the most intriguing, since its sessions presented the latest achievements of science in the fight against aging. Among the participants were very famous scientists whose names have been heard for the last two or three years, for example, Walter Longo from the University of Southern California, who managed to extend the life of yeast cells ten times, which is a record in life extension experiments. The main part of the reports was devoted to the study and search for remedies for age–dependent diseases, of which there are several dozen today, but there was also a general approach to the problem - an attempt to find and generalize the mechanisms of aging of the human body and all living things in particular.
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| Walter Longo | Leonard Hayflick | Suresh Ratan |
One of the main sessions in this direction in Paris was called very ambitiously: "Aging is no longer an insoluble biological problem." The first report was presented by the famous Leonard Hayflick (USA), who claims that "the causes of biological aging are known." But the expression "is not an unsolvable problem" suggests that there are means to solve it. Unfortunately, Professor Hayflick did not present these funds. But his colleague at the symposium, Professor Tom Kirkwood, head of the Institute of Aging and Health at Newcastle University (UK), continued this idea in this way: "The problem of aging has been solved, but this solution just demonstrates its complexity."
He explained his position as follows:
– It will take more than one year (I don't even undertake to predict the approximate period) when our current knowledge about the aging process can be used to influence it.
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| Bruce Karns. | Caleb Finch and Tom Kirkwood. |
And yet there were biologists at the congress who were more optimistic. The second "conceptual" session, which was chaired by Suresh Ratan, Professor at the Danish Center for Molecular Gerontology and editor–in-chief of the international journal "Biogerontology", was called: "Why are we getting old. Synthesis of modern ideas". Professor Bruce Karns from the University of Oklahoma, who spoke at it, said that in order to radically affect the aging process, it is necessary to "change the current biology, turning it towards prolonging life." And the approach to this problem should also be changed: "Instead of asking ourselves how to "add years to life," we should solve another problem – how to add life to years," said Bruce Karns. In his opinion, this problem should be studied systematically, at different levels of the structure of the human body within the framework of an interdisciplinary project.
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| Poster session. Mikhail Batin, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science for Life Extension Research Support Foundation; Elena Kokurina, Coordinator of the Science against Aging program; Vladimir Anisimov, President of the Gerontological Society at the Russian Academy of Sciences, expert of the Foundation.The Scheme of interrelations of aging processes and stress resistance in the human body presented by the Foundation aroused great interest of the congress participants. |
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And this approach is already being implemented – a new version of the comprehensive interdisciplinary program "Science against Aging" (it can be downloaded in text form or in pdf) was presented at the congress by the Russian charitable Foundation "Science for Life Extension". At the moment, there are 25 domestic and foreign scientists among the authors of the program, but judging by the interest it aroused at the congress, the next version will be even more representative. For example, the already mentioned Professor Ratan suggested to the head of the foundation Mikhail Batin to prepare an article for the journal "Biogerontology" about the goals and objectives of the program, and put forward the idea to organize a discussion among Western researchers.
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| Professor Vladimir Anisimov speaks with a report at the session "Melatonin, biorhythms and aging". |
The report of Alexey Moskalev, Doctor of Biological Sciences and expert of the Foundation, on the impact of moderate stress on the life expectancy of fruit flies raised many questions from interested listeners. |
Oral reports of the Foundation's scientific experts also aroused interest at the congress. Alexey Moskalev, Doctor of Biological Sciences, specialist in aging genetics, leading researcher at the Institute of Biology of the Komi National Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented the latest research data on the topic "The role of HSF and HSP 70 in changing life expectancy after irradiation or oxidative stress in Drosophila melanogaster".
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| Leonid and Natalia Gavrilova, experts of the Foundation, presented their work on the impact of parents' life expectancy on the trajectory of human mortality at the congress. |
Alexey Moskalev, the developer of the Scheme of interrelations of aging processes and stress resistance in the human body, and Vladimir Anisimov, the scientific director of the Science against Aging program.Natalia and Leonid Gavrilov from the University of Chicago, who have been working for many years at the intersection of biology, statistics and population studies in search of predictors of aging, spoke about the impact of parental life expectancy on the trajectory of offspring mortality in humans. |
The President of the Gerontological Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences, scientific director of the Science against Aging program, chaired the section called "Melatonin, biorhythms and aging", and presented a report on "Melatonin as a geroprotector and carcinogen".
But it is noteworthy that, after all, the "biological section" at the congress turned out to be the smallest (we are not talking about quality, but about quantity). This could be judged at least by the minimal area occupied by scientific posters compared to those given to geriatricians (doctors who treat the elderly), social workers, psychologists. Such an approach could be justified if all these spheres were united ideologically and were aimed at solving a single task.
It is hoped that the negotiations with the world's leading biogerontologists, which the Science for Life Extension Foundation held in Paris, will help unite scientists, politicians, and social workers within the framework of a single project to combat aging.
Congress participants (from left to right): Maria Konovalenko (Russia), Evgeny Frindlyand (Israel),
Mikhail Batin (Russia), Leonid and Natalia Gavrilova (USA), Alexey Moskalev (Russia).
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru22.07.2009