MSE Virtual Seminar: “Myths and Reality of Systemic Aging and Rejuvenation”

Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/23/2021
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Categories


Irina Conboy, Ph.D.

Professor of Bioengineering
University of California Berkeley

 

Irina Conboy, Ph.D. (Stanford University) is a Professor of Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, QB3(UCB/UCSF/UCSC) core faculty member and Core Member of UCB/UCSF Graduate Program. A key direction of her laboratory is to understand age-imposed and pathological changes in circulatory milieu and their impact on signaling pathways that regulate tissue maintenance and repair. In the past few years, this direction has been ramified to synthetic biology and innovative digital biosensors for diagnostics of age-imposed alterations and for assessing the response to treatments longitudinally, in real time. Overall, success in this research will improve our understanding of the determinants of homeostatic health and will enable novel approaches to treat a number of pathologies that range from tissue degeneration to cancer and include novel ways to avoid and diminish fibrosis, inflammation and metabolic decline.  Prof. Conboy received numerous awards for her work in the Aging field, including Silicon Valley Foundation Award for clinical translation of aging research, Open Philanthropy Award, Packer endowment for Aging research, Raymond and Beverly Sackler TAU Award, Calico Award, Bridging the Gap, Rogers’ Award, SENS Foundation and Life Extension Foundation, W.M. Keck Foundation Award, Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, Ellison’s Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging award, and NIH KO1 and National Research Service Awards.

 

Abstract:

Our research established the paradigm of systemic rejuvenation, recently clarifying that aging is driven by an excess of circulatory proteins. Diluting old blood plasma makes all tested tissues young and healthy (better than heterochronic parabiosis, single factors or infusions), not only lowering age-elevated proteins but restoring young systemic proteome.

This talk will discuss what happens mechanistically. The approach to restoring youth health to old mammals by physiologic cell-external signals is fundamental to the understanding of aging, is closer to clinic, and is safer than (and complementary to) reprogramming cells from the inside by ectopic genes, mRNAs, chemicals or direct epigenome targeting.

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