The New York Academy of Sciences with the American Federation of Aging Research is planning a 2-day conference entitled/Imaging and the Aging Brain"""""""" to be held May 16th and 17th, 2006 in New York City. The number of older Americans, age 65 or greater is currently over 35.9 million, and is expected to reach 71.5 million by 2030, making this segment of the US population 20% of the total. These demographics bring to light the increased need for more intensive studies of diseases related to the aging process as well as a better understanding of the normative aging process. Age-related changes occur in brain function and anatomy. Some of these alterations are part of the normal aging process while other changes are associated with pathologic changes, ultimately resulting in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), stroke, dementia, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Important related questions are what occur at the molecular, cellular and system wide levels? And, how does this differ in normative aging as compared with disease-associated modulation? The meeting will bring together imaging scientists, those studying the aging brain, industrial experts and clinicians to jointly explore the most current methodologies and their application to brain physiology, behavior and age-related diseases. Advances in neuroimaging are providing new insights into the etiology of age-related diseases, as well as an opportunity to view the effects of normative aging on the brain. This symposium is expected to bring together as many as 200 leaders in the scientific community to explore new technologies, data from recent neuroimaging initiatives and translational research applications. The 2-day meeting will interleave the multiple modalities of brain and neuroimaging along with a progressive evolution from molecules, cells, systems, animal models and human subjects and patients. The conference is organized into 4 main themes encompassing key areas at the intersection of aging and brain imaging:1. In vivo imaging of molecules,2. Cells and networks throughout the lifespan;3. Imaging and physiology of aging; 4. Translational applications; 5. and Technologies at the forefront of imaging. ? ? ?
