NIH hosts national research summit on link between aging processes, chronic disease

WHAT: "Advances in Geroscience: Impact on Healthspan and Chronic Disease" brings together 50 renowned investigators to examine how the basic biology of aging drives chronic disease. Aging is the single biggest risk factor for the development of non-genetic, chronic diseases; better understanding of this interplay is crfitical for progress. The meeting reflects the emergence of "geroscience," which features an integrated approach to the study of diseases and disability associated with aging.

WHO: Keynote speakers include: Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH); Brian Kennedy, Ph.D., President and CEO, Buck Institute for Age Research; Linda Fried, Ph.D., Dean, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Christopher Murray, M.D., D.Phil., Professor of Global Health, University of Washington

WHEN: Wednesday and Thursday, October 30-31, 2013

8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Natcher Conference Center at NIH

9000 Rockville Pike

Bethesda, MD, 20892

In addition to a plenary session with the keynote speakers, the summit features seven scientific sessions covering inflammation, adaptation to stress, epigenetics, metabolism, macromolecular damage, proteostasis, and stem cells and regeneration. (A brief summary of these sessions appears here: http://www.nia.nih.gov/newsroom/2013/10/nih-hosts-national-research-summit-link-between-aging-processes-chronic-disease#.UmfwYBD-TK0.)

The summit was organized by the trans-NIH GeroScience Interest Group (GSIG) and co-sponsored with the Alliance for Aging Research and The Gerontological Society of America, with additional private sector support through the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH). The GSIG was formed to focus on the relationships between aging and age-related diseases and disability and is among the newest trans-NIH interest groups. Additional information and the agenda are available at: http://www.geron.org/gerosciencesummit.

Media are invited to attend the meeting, which will be held on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. Please contact the communications office at the NIH's National Institute on Aging at nianews3@nia.nih.gov or 301-496-1752 if you plan to attend.

Provided by NIH/National Institute on Aging