Project Win Announcements - Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity

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-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog


Greetings,

Here is an interesting announcement from the President's Office of the National Opinion Research Center, NORC, at the University of Chicago:

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From: President's Office
To: SP-All NORC Employees
Subject: Project Win Announcements - Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity


Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity


Senior Vice President and Director of the Academic Research Centers, is pleased to announce that NORC will study why people live to be 100 years or older.

The new study Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity in the United States is led co-investigators Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova, Research Associates in NORC’s Center on Aging. This husband-and-wife team has written extensively on extreme longevity. Their work has recently shown that longevity can be linked to a mother’s age at her child’s birth, birthplace within in the United States and family socioeconomic background.

The investigators will look at effects of early-life conditions, adult physical characteristics, and marriage and reproductive history on exceptional longevity. The new study takes advantage of U.S. Census and Social Security Administration data, genealogies, and military draft records. Researchers at the universities of Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin will also collaborate.

The project plan’s innovative use of data was called “exciting” by one of the reviewers at the sponsoring National Institute on Aging. Reviewers also commented favorably on other aspects, notably the strength of the research team and the overall significance of the project aims. The proposal was rated as being among the top 5 percent of all scored proposals reviewed by the NIH.

To read more about the Gavrilovs longevity studies, visit their scientific website at http://longevity-science.org/ ; also you can post your questions and comments at their discussion blog at: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/

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Key words:
Longevity, centenarians, biodemography, NIH, NIA, longevity genes, parental age, birth order, early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, reproductive history, Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Center on Aging, United States, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration datasets, Census data, family reconstitutions, genealogies, military draft records, early-life childhood conditions, National Opinion Research Center, NORC, University of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, University of Wisconsin-Madison.


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- Longevity study to be conducted by the National Opinion Research Center



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Upcoming Meeting on Life-Extension (SENS) in England, September 2009

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-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog


Dear All:

Here is an interesting announcement I have got recently about the upcoming meeting on life-extension (SENS) in Cambridge, England, September 3-7, 2009:

My apologies if you receive this email more than once. Please forward it to any colleagues who you feel may be interested.

I am writing to notify you that registration and abstract submission are now open for the fourth Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) conference, to be held at Queens' College, Cambridge, England on September 3rd-7th 2009. The early registration and abstract submission deadlines are both June 15th. All details, including forms for abstract submission and online registration, are at the conference website:

http://www.mfoundation.org/sens4

The preliminary program already has 35 confirmed speakers, all of them world leaders in their field. As for previous SENS conferences, the emphasis of this meeting is on "applied gerontology" - the design and implementation of biomedical interventions that may, jointly, constitute a comprehensive panel of rejuvenation therapies, sufficient to restore middle-aged or older laboratory animals (and, in due course, humans) to a youthful degree of physiological robustness. The list of sessions and confirmed speakers is as follows:

Making metabolism less harmful:
Vladimir Skulachev, Holly Brown-Borg, Stephen Spindler, Stephen Vatner

Spontaneous regeneration:
Brandon Reines, Jonathan Tilly, Alexandra Stolzing

Eliminating recalcitrant intracellular molecules:
William Sly, Ana Maria Cuervo, John Schloendorn, Claude Wischik, Martin Hetzer

Rejuvenating extracellular material:
Nik Nikitin, Mark Pepys, Sudhir Paul, Mark Noble, Kendall Houk

Novel anti-cancer approaches:
Paul Hallenbeck, Adela Ben-Yakar, Vera Gorbunova, Maria Blasco, David Keefe

Rejuvenating the immune system:
Janko Nikolich-Zugich, Anne de Groot

ES-like cells and cell therapy:
Justin Ichida, Ilham Abuljadayel, Thomas Zwaka, Daniel Kraft, John Sladek, Dan Gazit

Tissue engineering:
Augustinus Bader, Gabor Forgacs

The defeat of aging and its consequences:
Philip Moriarty, Tanya Jones, Leonid Gavrilov

In addition, there will be at least a dozen short talks selected from submitted abstracts, as well as poster sessions each evening. Authors of short talks and posters will, like the invited speakers, be invited to submit a paper summarising their presentation for the proceedings volume, which will be published in the high-impact journal Rejuvenation Research early in 2010.

Please note that registration fees are fully inclusive of accommodation and all meals. Those not requiring accommodation, and journalists wishing to obtain free press passes (not including accommodation) are asked to contact me by email (aubrey@sens.org).

I hope to welcome you to Cambridge in September!

Cheers, Aubrey

Aubrey de Grey
Organiser, SENS4
Chairman and Chief Science Officer, Methuselah Foundation
Editor-in-Chief, Rejuvenation Research

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Key words:
SENS, Life-Extension, Aubrey de Grey, rejuvenation research, Leonid Gavrilov, Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, anti-ageing, anti-aging, ageing, aging, longevity


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News Release: How Does One Reach 100? Chicago Researchers Will Study Determinants of Human Longevity

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog



News Release from the Chicago University News Office:

How does one reach 100?
Research team will work toward identifying longevity determinants in NIH study
The University of Chicago Chronicle, February 5, 2009, Vol. 28 No. 9, page 3
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/090205/study.shtml

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Full text:


How does one reach 100?
Research team will work toward identifying longevity determinants in NIH study

By William Harms
w-harms@uchicago.edu
News Office


The National Opinion Research Center will study why people live to be 100 years or older through a five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging.

Previous research has shown that a number of factors can lead to a person being two or three times more likely to live to extreme old age, said Leonid Gavrilov, Research Associate at the Center on Aging at NORC. The new project, “Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity in the United States,” will build on that work, he said. Gavrilov and his wife Natalia, also a Research Associate at NORC, are co-investigators on the project.

“This project will investigate why some people manage to survive to extreme old age and help identify the biological and social correlates of exceptional longevity,” Gavrilov explained. “We hope to find out the determinants of human longevity and to get insights into mechanisms and causes of long life.

“These are important issues, not only for demographic forecasts of human mortality and population aging, but also for improving our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of human aging and longevity.”

Centenarians are one of the most rapidly growing segments of the U.S. population, according to the National Institute on Aging. The number of centenarians is growing at a rate of 4.1 percent per year; the numbers increased 51 percent between 1990 and 2000.

The new study will take advantage of U.S. Census and Social Security Administration data, genealogies and military draft records. Gavrilov will look at early-life conditions, adult physical characteristics, and marriage and reproductive history on exceptional longevity.

Gavrilov and his wife have written extensively on extreme longevity. Their work has recently shown that longevity can be linked to a mother’s age at her child’s birth, birthplace within in the United States and family socioeconomic background.

Babies born to mothers under age 25 were twice as likely to live to 100 years of age, compared to infants born to mothers 25 or older. Farmers tend to outlive others, and men who fathered more than four children by the time they were 30 also live longer, research found.

The potential impact on exceptional longevity of early-life living conditions shows that environmental and behavioral factors cannot be overlooked in longevity studies Gavrilov said.

“Even the search for ‘human longevity genes’ could be facilitated when powerful confounding effects of childhood environment are taken into account,” he said.

Gavrilov will collaborate with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

To read more about the Gavrilovs’ longevity studies, visit http://longevity-science.org.

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Key words:
Longevity, centenarians, biodemography, NIH, NIA, longevity genes, parental age, birth order, early-life living conditions, adult physical characteristics, reproductive history, Biodemography of Exceptional Longevity, Leonid Gavrilov, Natalia Gavrilova, Center on Aging, United States, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Social Security Administration datasets, Census data, family reconstitutions, genealogies, military draft records, early-life childhood conditions, National Opinion Research Center, University of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, University of Wisconsin-Madison.


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URGENT: Please Contact Your Senator to Support Aging & Longevity Research!

See also:
-- 'Books Forum' blog
-- 'Health Studies' blog


Dear All:

Now when the US Senate is discussing the economic stimulus package, there is an unique gold opportunity to make a real difference in increasing funding support for vital aging & longevity research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in particular.

However the window of this opportunity is quite short -- just a few days before the vote!

Please contact your Senator now (and encourage all your friends to do the same), with a suggestion described here.

This simple immediate action can make a great difference for all of us!

Best wishes,

-- Leonid Gavrilov

P.S.: I attach below a copy of my letter sent to my US Senator recently:

Dear Senator Richard Durbin,

I am writing this brief letter to inform you of my unequivocal support for the stimulus package which hopefully will awaken our moribund economy.

I am cognizant that various amendments are being considered as a means of improving the measure. For example, I was not appalled that 246 million dollars in tax breaks for Hollywood production companies was removed.

On the other hand, a vital area that deserves maximum funding and our unequivocal support is the National Institutes of Health, N.I.H. The mission that they perform is vital to our nation's health and well being.

Specifically, I believe it is vital that the National Institute on Aging, N.I.A. have sufficient revenue to fund projects and perform research that will ameliorate and extend the healthy lives of our senior citizens.

Hopefully, within the foreseeable future we will conquer the debilitating conditions and diseases that cause the premature death of so many older Americans who have contributed so much to our country.

54 scientists including myself wrote an Open Letter on Aging Research supporting the feasibility of this approach:

http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/2006/04/54-scientists-open-letter-on-aging.html
Shorter weblink:
http://tinyurl.com/az7u2y

If only one or two percent of the money was targeted to N.I.A., the benefits could be profound!

Senator, I sincerely hope that you will seriously consider my comments before you vote on this bill.

Sincerely,

-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
US Citizen, Chicago, IL
Center on Aging, NORC/University of Chicago
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html

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See also:
http://capwiz.com/ram/issues/alert/?alertid=12514701
and here

Key words:
Aging Research, Longevity Research, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute on Aging (NIA), Richard Durbin, Dick Durbin, Leonid Gavrilov

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URGENT: Please Contact Your Senator to Support Aging & Longevity Research!
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