This is a conference grant proposal for the 1991 Gordon Research Conference on the Biology of Aging, which will be held in San Miniato, Italy from April 28 through May 3, 1991. The 1991 Gordon Research Conference on the Biology of Aging represents the first time that the Conference has been held outside the United States. Therefore, a special effort has been made to internationalize the meeting and to have leading scientists in the field of aging from the United States and Europe participate in the Conference. Funds are requested to support the costs of travel, room, and board for the speakers and the session chairs who come from the United States. In addition, a limited amount of funds are requested to partially pay for the expenses of seven graduate students and/or post-doctoral fellows to attend the Conference from the United States. The 1991 Gordon Research Conference will focus on Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Aging. The presentations in the first two sessions will describe research in which transgenic animals have been used to study aging at the molecular level. The third session of the Conference will focus on research in which the role of gene expression in cellular senescence has been examined. A fourth session will deal with the effect of aging on DNA damage. The fifth session will focus on the latest studies on the mechanism of cell death in which the potential role of cell death in aging will be discussed. The sixth and seventh sessions will be devoted to two rapidly growing areas of cell biology: the role of growth factors in aging and the effect of aging on signal transduction. The final session of the conference will focus on the role of transcription factors in aging. A round-table discussion between four leading gerontologists from the United States and Europe will be held at the end of the Conference. The theme of the discussion will be: Basic Biological Research in Aging: Past Discoveries, Present Status, and Future Directions.
