47th Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association - We are requesting funds to support the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association
(AGE) to be held June 29th to July 1st at the Courtyard Marriott, in Center City, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. This meeting is one of the premier meetings for biogerontological research and
is the only annual meeting sponsored by a professional membership organization devoted to the
basic biology of aging in the United States. The theme of the meeting is "Improving resilience to
delay aging". Dr. Christian Sell, President of AGE, together with the AGE Program Committee
(Drs. Anson, Conover, de Cabo, Galvan, and Perez); in conjunction the directors of the Nathan
Shock Centers for Excellence in Aging, Session Chairs, and the AGE Executive Board have
organized the scientific program. The overall objective is to convene scientists and trainees from
multiple disciplines in a forum for presentation and critical debate of the latest discoveries in
aging research and to stimulate forward thinking and collaboration among participants. Funds
are requested to help cover travel expenses of 1) invited speakers and 2) meritorious junior
scientists (students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty) who can benefit from exposure to
the leaders of the field, present their research findings and receive feedback from experts in the
field. The specific goals of this meeting are to assemble a broad-based forum of basic and
clinical scientists to present the most recent findings that have potential for development of
therapeutics that may enhance quality and length of healthy life; to encourage open discussion
and debate; and provide opportunities for early stage investigators to present their work, explore
career options, and interact with potential mentors and collaborators. The invited speakers
include renowned scientists in aging, and related disciplines selected for the quality of their
science and ability to stimulate debate. When selecting session topics, a particular effort was
placed on keeping with the meeting theme of improving resilience to emphasize the emerging
translational potential of the basic discoveries for improving healthy aging in people. These
include recent high profile work on cell non-autonomous signaling, improvements in biomarker
to guide interventional studies, and the impact of the microbiome on resilience. The pre
meeting, a summit of thought leaders organized by the Nathan Shock Centers will be devoted to
work aimed at translating Geroscience research into the clinics. These more translational
sessions will be complemented by sessions in the AGE meeting focused squarely on important
fundamental advances in the fast moving areas of the field such as the microbiome and cell
non-autonomous signaling. We believe that all of the symposia topics are timely, and should
stimulate discussion, collaborative endeavors and the development of possible therapeutic
targets.