The number of elderly people (aged 65 and older) in the U.S. will be more than doubled, from 40.3 million in 2010 to 88.5 million in 2050. This rapid growth of the older population dramatically increases the incidence of chronic and degenerative diseases, and presents a grand challenge for public health. To tackle this challenge, success from C. elegans research makes significant contribution. C. elegans is a proven workhorse of aging research, and new discoveries in C. elegans have greatly accelerated the advance of the field of aging biology. This conference on Aging, Metabolism, Pathogenesis, Stress, and Small RNAs is the only topic meeting on aging in the C. elegans community and will bring together scientists from numerous disciplines for the purpose of defining, describing, and analyzing critical scientific problems and recent advances in aging biology and its related fields. Since the inauguration of this conference in 2010, the aging biology field has grown dramatically, which is reflected in the enthusiasm for this conference. The rapid growth of the field is attracting particularly young scientists at the start of their career. The conference has a strong tradition providing a forum for young scientists, providing an opportunity to present data and engage in scientific discussion across seniority levels. For a complex biological problem like aging, advances in understanding its underlying molecular mechanisms require scientists from a number of backgrounds and scientific disciplines. Due to their different background, many researchers have not previously attended the same conferences. Based on our experience, we are confident that the small conference format and secluded conference site will foster an intimate and interactive environment in which junior investigators, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty, will have ample opportunity to interact with more senior, established investigators. This application requests funding to support the participation of invited speakers, session chairs (junior investigators), graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the conference to be held July 21-24, 2015 at University of Wisconsin, Madison. The format will include one Keynote lecture, six sessions of talks with invited speakers, and in each session additional short talks to be selected from submitted abstracts. The session topics include: 1) Reproductive Aging and Signaling, 2) Environments and Nutrients, 3) Cellular Metabolism, 4) RNAs and Epigenetics, 5) Microbe-Host Interaction, and 6) Stress Response and Signaling. Two poster sessions, as well as the short talks to be selected from abstracts, will allow additional investigators, including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, to present their research. In addition, two ?Meet the experts? sessions will further increase the number of opportunities for junior researchers to connect to established PIs in this field.
Results from this study are important for public health. Improvement of healthy aging in the elderly represents a big challenge for pubic health. Advances in understanding of aging biology will provide new information that may be used to develop therapeutic approaches to promote health and longevity. This conference will bring together scientists at different career stages and with different scientific backgrounds to discuss the biology of aging and its related biological processes.
