COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Why do we get old? Is aging a disease or a physiological stage in life? As the percentage of aging population grows, under what has been termed as “global aging”, the need to understand the peculiarities of the aging process increases and has become a priority for public health. The common goal of aging researchers is being able to extend the healthy active years of life. Research in Biology of Aging is in exponential expansion because this field has benefit in recent years from the advances in many other areas of research going from genetics to cell biology, biochemistry of proteins, systems biology, etc. Furthermore, classical studies of genetics of longevity in laboratory species are now escalating to humans, thus making possible a better understanding of both physiological aging and age-related diseases.

This course presents an in-depth analysis of the biology of aging, building up from changes occurring at the molecular and cellular level and analyzing the consequences at the organism level. In addition, the influence of these age-related changes in what are commonly considered a disease of aging, such as neurodegeneration, diabetes, etc., will also be discussed. Topics will include: theories of aging, experimental models used to study of aging and longevity, impact of oxidative stress in cell and organ function, the metabolic syndrome of aging, functional changes in the immune and central nervous systems, genetic instability and genetics of aging and longevity.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• To learn about the basic cellular and molecular processes that contribute to aging.
• To understand the impact that modulating aging may have in the course of age-relate disorders.
• To gain a better understanding of ongoing interventions aiming at modulating aging.

PREREQUISITES:
Undergraduate courses in Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Genetics and Statistics highly advisable. Students who have taken graduate Cell Biology and Genetics will be able to get the most out of this course.

REQUIRED MATERIALS:
Molecular and Cellular Biology of Aging (J. Vijg, J. Campisi, G. Lithgow) 2015, Published by the Gerontological Society of America (Text book available here: https://www.geron.org/publications/molecular-and-cellular-biology-of-aging)

Other resourcers (selected chapters): The Encyclopedia of Aging (Schulz,R, Noelker LS, Rockwood K and Sprott R.), 2006*; Aging and age-related diseases: the basics (Karasek, M), 2006*; ISBN-10: 0826148433; ISBN-13: 9780826148438.

SUITABLE FOR 1ST YEAR STUDENTS: Yes

STUDENT ASSESSMENTS: Grade will be combination of attendance, participation and presentations in Journal Club.

CREDIT HOURS: 2.0