Loss of functionality is ubiquitous across Nature, from aging in organisms to the decay of human engineered systems. With time, plants and animals lose functionality and die, mountains erode, buildings and devices structurally fail and decay. In many nonliving systems general principles have been articulated that govern this loss of functionality and these may be applicable to aging. In biological systems, however, a multitude of scenarios and myriads of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the deterioration of the architecture and function of organisms. Looking at mammalian aging from a systems level viewpoint is a critical component in the search for general principles and "levers" that control the system, including the paths to alter the processes leading to aging. A vast amount of experimental data has been accumulated and, with the development of better experimental techniques during the past 20 years, quantitative data is being collected that can be used to design further experiments and develop quantitative theories of aging. The experience in physics is that when one integrates the details of sub-system dynamics into a more holistic systems level approach and search for underlying principles that govern physical processes we gain deeper insight into developing falsifiable theoretical understandings of Nature. This methodology could provide new and important insights into understanding biological aging.
The Workshop: "Connecting the Biology and Physical Principles of Mammalian Aging" will bring together approximately 25 scientists. Approximately half of them will be biologists and half physicists. The meeting will focus on model systems relevant to mammalian aging. The workshop will have discussion of the current understanding of aging, the relevant data, and future directions. Topics of interest to the discussion, but not limited only to these, are centenarian aging, premature aging, cancer and aging, etc. Other questions that could be of interest are the aging of species as a whole. It seems that the human gametes have not aged for millions of years, that Life as a whole on Earth has not aged, and that perhaps the principles of information copying, death of the individual carriers of information, and evolutionary processes together defy the aging of Life. Young scientists who are open to presenting and discussing new, possibly speculative, ideas that will lead to a new perspective on aging will participate at the workshop. The mixed composition of the participants will stimulate new research ideas. The talks and discussions at the workshop will be recorded and made available to the public.
