Program Sessions include:
Thursday October 17, 2013
Session I: The Biology of Aging in Research Organisms
This panel of speakers will provide an overview on the biology of aging in the traditional aging research organisms (Yeast, Drosophila and C. elegans). This session will serve as a tutorial session for the non-biologists in the audience (engineers, mathematicians, and other participants not familiar with the biology of aging). All presentation abstracts will be made available to the participants as part of the conference binder.
Proposed Speakers:
- S. Michal Jazwinski – Tulane University; Gene Networks in Yeast Aging
- Scott Pletcher – University of Michigan Medical School; Genes linking neurosensory function, diet and immune function with aging and aging-related disease in Drosophila melanogaster
- Tom Johnson –Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado; Life span extension by dietary restriction in C. elegans
Session II: Systems Biology and Biological Networks for Biologists
This session will serve as an introduction to the mathematical methods and concepts behind network analysis and systems biology. This session will serve as a symmetric balance offering the life scientists in the audience basic background in the theoretical constructs behind biological network analysis. All presentation abstracts will be made available to the participants as part of the conference binder
Proposed Speakers:
- Andres Kreite - Drexel University, Control Theory in the Aging Physiome
- Danail Bonchev - VCU Mathematical Sciences, Network Methods for Predicting Biological Function of Genes/Proteins
- Mark Gerstein - Yale University, Protein Bioinformatics: Network Applications for Understanding Structure, Function, and Evolution
Session III: General Session
This general session will provide an opportunity for younger faculty and post-doctoral students to present their work in short talks of about fifteen minutes. Presenters will be selected from submitted abstracts by an abstract review Jury Committee described in the conference management section. Dr. Myrna Serrano, an assistant professor in the School of Medicine, will chair the general session.
Session IV: Evening Poster Session
It has been our experience that one of the best experiences at our Systems Biology Summits has been the heavy hors d’oeuvres evening meet, greet and discuss poster session. In this session, general systems biology and aging research posters, selected from submitted abstracts, will be presented. This evening poster session will include posters from theoretical and experimental science researchers in a reception format designed to encourage interaction and foster future collaborations. In our past summits, students and faculty alike have responded very positively to this participatory session.
Friday October 18, 2013
Session V: Systems Biology of Aging: Focus on Science
Topics for this session include stems cells and aging, genetics, gene networks and the biochemistry of aging as well as advances in the field. These presentations will be shorter talks (~30 minutes) to allow for a diverse selection of topics to be presented. Speakers will be selected from submitted abstracts.
Session VI: From Yeast to Humans – Where Do We Go from Here?
This closing panel will serve to bridge the divide between reductionist science and integrative/systems science by bringing together senior scientists who will discuss some of the challenges of mapping our knowledge base of single genes and genomic networks in lower level organisms to higher order mammals. Speakers will be asked to raise questions for future research in systems biology of aging.
Confirmed Speakers:
- Nir Barzilai, M.D. Albert Einstein College of Medicine– the Longevity Gene Project
- Tom Kirkwood, Director, Institute for Aging and Health, Newcastle University on Tyne, UK
- Thomas Perls, Boston University – The Centenarian Study
- Caleb E. Finch, Co-Director University of Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Computational Neurobiology of Human Aging
