Spring 2008
e-Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 2
The Science of Healthier Aging
1. Thoughts from AFAR - A Note from the Executive
Director ____________________________________________ Thoughts from AFAR - A Note from the Executive Director
This year is poised to be another successful one for AFAR's
grant-management capabilities. In the next few weeks, our 2008 grant
recipients will be selected by AFAR's esteemed review committee led so
ably by Roger McCarter, PhD. Three hundred thirty two applications were
submitted and we once again find ourselves in the unenviable position of
selecting only 12% of the many worthy applications we receive. We continue
to try to form new collaborations to support new and existing grant
programs so that no worthy proposal will be overlooked. We often talk
about the promising research being funded (see our In the Lab
With... feature below) but we might want to reflect on what wasn't
supported and the implications that will have on the progress of aging
research.
In addition, as the recent Institute of Medicine report, Retooling
for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Work Force, indicated,
there will be a daunting shortage of geriatricians to care for an aging
society. AFAR shares this concern and seeks to address the need for more
geriatrics training at the medical school level through our Medical
Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) program, supported by the
National Institute on Aging; The Cardinal Health Foundation; The John A.
Hartford Foundation; Lillian R. Gleitsman Foundation; and the Community
Health Foundation of Western & Central New York.
Physicians with a specialty in geriatrics can serve as clinician
educators for all physicians, all of whom must learn more about geriatric
care. They also will serve as the researchers for learning more about
aging processes, delaying disability and ultimately reducing healthcare
costs, goals that benefit everyone.
____________________________________________ Back to Basics - AFAR Awards Dinner
Joseph M. Hogan, president and chief executive officer, GE Healthcare;
Peter D. Meldrum, president and chief executive officer, Myriad Genetics,
Inc.; and John W. Rowe, MD, professor, Mailman School of Public Health at
Columbia University, will be among the honorees at AFAR's annual awards
dinner, taking place on October 6, 2008, at the Grand Hyatt in New York
City. Please join AFAR as we celebrate the remarkable advances in the
field of aging research and recognize the individuals, corporations and
foundations that have made significant contributions.
For more information, please contact Nancy O'Leary at 212-703-9977 or
Nancy@afar.org.
AFAR to Host Conference on Aging and the Biology of Cancer On October 6 and 7, 2008, AFAR will host a premier scientific
conference, "Aging and Cancer: Two Sides of the Same Coin?" that
will explore fundamental aspects of aging and cancer processes and their
interactions, both from the basic research and translational perspectives.
Speakers will examine: genetic and epigenetic changes, environmental
influences, and host factors such as oxidative stress and cell death. The
evolutionary, cellular and molecular relationships among aging, tumor
suppressor mechanisms and the development of cancer as well as the
interactions of normal aging cells, stem cells and differences in the
manifestation of cancer in young and old will also be discussed.
Scientists from industry will discuss product development advances in
diagnostic and therapeutic areas, such as the use of magnetic resonance
probes, radiopharmaceuticals, and optical probes, new chemotherapeutic
agents, and methods to reduce cancer treatment side effects. Novel
approaches to therapy will also be highlighted, particularly how they
might apply to interventions in the geriatric population.
The program will also feature a panel presentation from the National
Cancer Institute-National Institute on Aging recipients of an aging and
cancer research grant (five-year report) that will be moderated by NIA
director, Richard Hodes, MD on October 6.
Presenters include: Judith Campisi, PhD, Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory; Steve Austad, PhD, and Rochelle Buffenstein, PhD, both at the
University of Texas Health Science Center, Barshop Center for Longevity
and Aging Studies; Lawrence A. Loeb, MD, PhD, University of Washington;
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, Stanford University; and Norman Sharpless, MD, and
Jack Griffith, PhD, both at the University of North Carolina School of
Medicine.
The conference will be held at the Union League Club, located at 38
East 37th Street, NYC. For more information, please visit our web site http://www.afar.org/cancerconf.html.
Space is limited so register early.
_____________________________________________ We sit down with Dr. Jones to discuss her AFAR-supported research, what
it means to the field and its potential impact on many diseases of aging.
What does your research project seek to understand? What problems are you addressing and what specific questions will
your research seek to answer? What aspects of your project are most interesting from a scientific
point of view? What are the implications of your research for age-related diseases
and disorders? If the regulation of stem cell behavior changes over time, stem cells
taken from older patients for autologous transplants may be more difficult
to grow, leading to unique hurdles to the maintenance of tissue stem cells
derived from older individuals in culture. In addition, when considering
transplantation of stem cells to treat aging-related disorders, it may be
necessary to transplant supporting niche cells in addition to stem cells
to provide a "younger" niche that may be more capable of sustaining stem
cell self-renewal over time.
Dr. Jones’s AFAR-supported research was published in the October 2007
issue of Cell Stem Cell.
To read about other AFAR grant recipients, visit the AFAR
web site.
AFAR Grantees in the News
Many AFAR grantees are gaining attention for their research in
high-profile media, helping AFAR better communicate to the public the
importance of supporting such research. Some highlights:
Research by Cynthia Carlsson, MD, a 2005 Beeson Scholar, found
that a drug used to lower cholesterol may also play a role in slowing the
onset of Alzheimer's disease. Her research was cited in a March 27, 2008,
article in The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), and demonstrated
that the middle-aged children of people with Alzheimer's disease who took
the statin had improved brain function over the group taking the placebo.
A longer study with higher-dose drugs is now being conducted by Dr.
Carlsson, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of
Medicine and Public Health and medical director of the Memory Assessment
Clinic at the William Middleton Veterans Administration Hospital.
A study conducted by Nir Barzilai, MD, and colleagues at the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, found evidence of a gene linked to
longevity that is mostly found in short women. The study, published in the
March 4, 2008, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, found a gene mutation that decreases the activity of an
insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which is linked to shorter stature but
longer life. Dr. Barzilai's research may aid in the development of drugs
that can decrease growth factor hormone that could slow aging. Dr.
Barzilai is a recipient of two AFAR-supported grants: a 1994 AFAR Research
Grant and a 1997 Beeson Award. His study findings were profiled in
Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Telegraph
(UK), and NBC Nightly News.
2005 Beeson Scholar Dellara Terry, MD, MPH, and colleagues from
the Boston Medical Center's New England Centenarian Study, reported that
for a substantial proportion of their centenarian subjects, avoiding
age-related diseases was not necessarily key to their longevity but rather
the avoidance of disability associated with diseases. In a study published
in the February 11, 2008, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine,
the researchers found that one third of 739 centenarians had been living
with age-related diseases for 15 or more years, yet were able to delay the
effects of their disabilities. The study has ramifications for researchers
as a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms for delaying
disability in the elderly could allow for better interventional therapies.
Dr. Terry's research received widespread media attention, including
Forbes.com and The New York Times.
In the February 7, 2008, issue of Nature, Bradley Hyman, MD,
PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and a 1992 AFAR Research Grant
recipient, reported results of an imaging study showing that amyloid
plaques, a cause of Alzheimer's disease, can form as early as 24 hours.
His research allowed for a greater ability to watch the process of changes
in neuron cells over time, from the earliest stages to when the neuron
cells are reacting to amyloid plaque. This may ultimately allow greater
interventions to prevent amyloid from forming. Dr. Hyman's research was
covered in Scientific American, Washington Post, U.S.
News & World Report, and Forbes.
Additional listings can be found on our website.
For more information or to inform us of about to be published studies
and upcoming media interviews, please contact Stacey Harris at
212-703-9977 or stacey@afar.org.
_____________________________________________ Recipients of the 2008 AFAR Grant Programs will be selected in May 2008
and announced in AFAR's summer 2008 e-newsletter and on the AFAR web site.
This includes all grant programs except the Paul Beeson Career Development
Awards in Aging Research and the Medical Student Training in Aging
Research Program (MSTAR).
2009 grant programs and eligibility information will also be announced
in the summer 2008.
To learn more about AFAR grants programs, visit the AFAR web site at http://afar.org/grants.html or
contact the AFAR grants department at 212-703-9977. If you would like to
be placed on a mailing list to receive periodic updates on AFAR grant
programs, please complete a form by clicking here.
Arlan Richardson, PhD, director of the Barshop Institute for Longevity
and Aging Studies at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San
Antonio, and Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD, associate professor of Anatomy and
Structural Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, were chosen
as the 2008 recipients of the American Federation for Aging Research
Irving S. Wright Award and the first Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star
in Aging Research Award, respectively.
Dr. Richardson's research seeks to understand the role oxidative
stress/damage play in aging and age-related diseases, such as cancer and
Alzheimer's disease. By developing and using transgenic and knockout mouse
and rat models with alterations in the antioxidant defense system, Dr.
Richardson studies how increased or decreased oxidative damage affects
survival, age-related pathology, and physiological parameters that are
markers of physiological aging. He is also developing assays to measure
oxidative damage to proteins.
The Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction is named in honor of the
founder of the American Federation for Aging Research and is intended to
honor exceptional contributions to basic or clinical research in the field
of aging by members of the scientific community.
Dr. Richardson will present the Wright Award Lecture at the
Gerontological Society of America's annual meeting in National Harbor,
Maryland on Saturday, November 22, 2008.
Dr. Cuervo's work has elucidated a central role for alterations in
autophagy as a mechanism in aging and age-related diseases. Modifications
in autophagy lead to accumulation of damage components inside cells and an
increased sensitivity to stress, hallmarks of the aging process. Her
research focuses on understanding how altered and damaged proteins, as
those that accumulate in neurodegenerative diseases, can be eliminated
from cells. Her research team has identified a novel cell surveillance
mechanism that contributes to eliminate these damaged proteins, and have
recently developed a transgenic mouse model in which accumulation of
damaged proteins with age is dramatically reduced, demonstrating that
removal of these toxic products is possible.
The Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research
honors the late Vincent Cristofalo, PhD, who devoted his professional
career to conducting research on aging and encouraging younger scientists
to investigate important problems in the biology of aging. The award
recognizes outstanding researchers in the first half of their careers who
have made major discoveries in the fundamental biology of aging and whose
work is deemed likely to be highly influential for decades to come.
Dr. Cuervo will be presenting the Cristofalo Award Lecture at the
annual scientific meeting of the American Aging Association in Boulder,
Colorado, Saturday, May 31, 2008.
Both awards will be formally presented at the AFAR annual awards dinner
taking place in New York City on October 6, 2008. Read the full press
release here.
Meeting Dates
The 2008 Beeson Annual Meeting will be held June 19-22, 2008 at the
Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa at the Santa Ana Pueblo Reservation in
New Mexico.
The AFAR Grantee Conference has been scheduled for September 6-9, 2008
at Fess Parker's Double Tree Resort in Santa Barbara, California.
For more information or to register, please contact Hattie Herman at
212-703-9977 or grants@afar.org.
_____________________________________________ Support our Scientists
2. Events
3. Our Grantees
4. Grants Update
D. Leanne Jones, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of
Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, received an AFAR
Research Grant in 2006 to study the Identification of Factors Regulating
Aging of the Stem Cell Niche. Her AFAR grant was made possible through the
generous contribution of David W. Gore.
Loss of
tissue and organ function is a characteristic of aging, and such changes
have been attributed to decreases in stem cell function. Stem cells are
the building blocks during development of organisms as varied as plants
and humans. In addition, stem cells provide for the maintenance and
regeneration of tissues, such as blood and skin, throughout the lifetime
of an individual. The ability of stem cells to contribute to these
processes depends on their ability to divide and generate both new stem
cells (self-renewal) as well as specialized cell types (differentiation).
Stem cells lose the potential for continued self-renewal when removed from
their normal cellular environment, known as the stem cell "niche,"
suggesting an essential role for the niche in controlling stem cell
behavior. The long-term goals of our research are to understand how stem
cells, the stem cell environment and the relationship between the two
change during aging.
We have found that a major factor
contributing to loss of stem cell function over time is aging of the stem
cell microenvironment. Our research has shown that one characteristic of
aging of the niche is reduced production of self-renewal signals. In other
words, the stem cell niche is less able to support stem cells to maintain
tissue homeostasis. Therefore, the goal of this project is to determine
why the niche no longer produces self-renewal signals and to identify
other changes that occur to the stem cell niche in older individuals.
The fact that the stem cell niche ages was very
surprising, as most studies so far had focused on how stem cells age. Our
results suggest that it might be possible to maintain stem cell activity
and tissue homeostasis longer by ensuring a healthy, functional stem cell
environment.
One of the long-term goals of stem cell research is
to facilitate the use of stem cells in tissue replacement therapies, also
known as regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine can be defined as a
group of new techniques that rely on replacing diseased or dysfunctional
cells with healthy ones. In the future, these new techniques may be
applied to a wide range of human disorders, including many types of
cancer, diabetes, muscle degeneration and neurological diseases such as
Parkinson's disease.
AFAR Announces 2008 Irving S. Wright Award Winner and First
Recipient of the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research
Award