Human aging and age-associated diseases are becoming one of the biggest challenges faced by developed and developing countries. The financial burden caused by these chronic diseases is already overwhelming and currently taxing the healthcare and welfare systems of developed nations, but if present trends continue, the challenges could overwhelm the systems. In rodents, both dietary restriction (DR) and mutations in nutrient and growth signaling pathways can extend longevity by 30-50% but also lower the incidence of age-related loss of function and disease, including tumors and neurodegeneration. This application requests funds to support the Consensus Workshop """"""""Interventions to Slow Aging in Humans: Are We Ready?"""""""" to be held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, from October 8-13, 2013. The main aim of the consensus workshop is to bring together leading experts in gerontology, drug discovery and development to begin to obtain consensus related to the discovery and development of safe interventions to slow aging and increase healthspan in humans. The goals of the conference are: 1) To determine the most suitable candidate healthspan interventions/drugs for clinical development, 2) To provide a forum for the discussion of state of the art techniques for drug discovery related to aging and age-related disease, 3) To stimulate clinical trials to begin the testing of drugs generated by basic biogerontology research and discuss the potential pitfalls and side effects of each drug.

Public Health Relevance

The aging of the population and the prevalence of chronic disease associated with aging are becoming a major health and financial challenge in the United States. In experimental animal models, both dietary restriction (DR) and genetic manipulations in nutrient-sensing cellular pathways can extend lifespan by 30- 50%, and most importantly reduce the incidence of multiple age-related diseases. It is clear that the biomedical research has reached a point where interventions that function primarily on aging can be carefully proposed. Further progress requires informed discussion and debate on the best avenues for development to pursue and what structure can be put in place to measure the success of proposed interventions. This application requests funds to support the Consensus Workshop Interventions to Slow Aging in Humans: Are We Ready? to be held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, from October 8-13, 2013. The main aim of the consensus workshop is to bring together leading experts in gerontology, drug discovery and development to begin to obtain consensus related to the discovery and development of safe interventions to slow aging and increase healthspan in humans.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Conference (R13)
Project #
1R13AG046104-01
Application #
8597898
Study Section
National Institute on Aging Initial Review Group (NIA)
Program Officer
Finkelstein, David B
Project Start
2013-09-01
Project End
2014-08-31
Budget Start
2013-09-01
Budget End
2014-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$15,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
072933393
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089
Karunadharma, Pabalu P; Basisty, Nathan; Dai, Dao-Fu et al. (2015) Subacute calorie restriction and rapamycin discordantly alter mouse liver proteome homeostasis and reverse aging effects. Aging Cell 14:547-57
Longo, Valter D; Antebi, Adam; Bartke, Andrzej et al. (2015) Interventions to Slow Aging in Humans: Are We Ready? Aging Cell 14:497-510