SUMMER TRAINING COURSE ABSTRACT Support is requested to continue a series of Summer Training Courses in Experimental Aging Research to be held in June from 2008 through 2012. The 5-day Course will be directed from the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, CA and the conference site will rotate among three host institutions: The Buck Institute for Age Research, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the University of Washington in Seattle. Similar courses have been held with great success every summer since 1993. The Course is designed to provide trainees with intensive exposure to modern research in experimental biogerontology and individualized guidance regarding research ideas and plans. Each year's enrollment will be limited to 20 researchers. Most trainees will be in formative stages of their careers, but the Course will also consider senior investigators who wish to enter or redirect their efforts to an area of aging research. Each trainee is expected to have at least 2 years of productive laboratory experience in some aspect of cell or molecular biology beyond the doctoral degree (MD, PhD, or DVM). Each day during the 5-day program will include 3 activities: (a) 2 overview lectures designed to introduce trainees to the context, latest findings and main unanswered questions in a major area of gerontology; (b) a research development workshop, at which each trainee will have an opportunity to present his or her own research ideas and plans for critique; and (c) a research seminar presented by a prominent faculty member of the host or nearby institution, who will generally cover a topic or disease aspect not covered in the overview lectures. This Summer Training Course will provide younger researchers with a solid foundation in modern experimental gerontology, and provide a useful perspective to more senior scientists who are developing new programs in aging research. Four scientists will serve as the Course Steering Committee and will participate in the course on a regular basis: Judith Campisi, the Course Director, will discuss cancer, stem cells and the cell biology of aging; Jan Vijg will lecture on mouse models of aging and genome instability; Arlan Richardson will discuss on caloric restriction and oxidative stress; and Peter Rabinovich will lecture on free radicals and mitochondria. Fourteen other researchers will serve as Participating Faculty, attending the course approximately every third year. They include: Andrzej Bartke (endocrinology of aging), Brian Kennedy (invertebrate models, caloric restriction), Caleb Finch (neurodegeneration, stochasticity), George Martin (progerias, neurodegeneration, age-related disease), Gordon Lithgow (invertebrate models, stress), Jim Nelson (endocrinology, stress), John Tower (invertebrate models, sex determination), Marc Tatar (demography, evolution), Nir Barzilai (genetic variation), Richard Miller (vertebrate models, immunology), Rita Effros (immunology, cell biology), Steve Austad (comparative biology, evolution), Tom Rando (stem cells, cell biology), Virginia Lee (neurodegeneration).
SUMMER TRAINING COURSE RELEVANCE Aging is the largest single risk factor for a host of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, type II diabetes and neurodegeneration. As the U.S. population ages, there is a need to train a cadre of researchers who are equipped to apply the progress being made in biomedical research to problems relevant to the biology of aging and age-related disease. The Summer Training Course in Experimental Aging Research is designed to fill this need. Each year, the Course will provide 20 researchers at formative stages of their careers, or senior researchers wishing to enter an area of aging research, with intense exposure to major questions in the field and individualized critiques and advice on their research plans.
