Pr JEAN-MARC GAMBAUDO
President of the University Côte dAzur
Coordinator of the Jolnt, ExceItent, and Dynamic lnitiative UCATEDT
Research Director at CNRS
French "Doctorat d'Etat" in Mathematics (tgB7)
My work in mathematics concerns dynamicat systems theory, bifurcation theory, geometry, knot theory, and aperiodic tilings. Ln physics, it is related to nonlinear physics, chaos, statistical mechanics, and quasicrystals. My research activities have been the basis of approximatety 70 publicatlons in internationaljournats and an IBM patent. I have supervised 12 Ph.D students.
Jean-Marc Gambaudo was elected president of the Comue University Côte d'Azur on September 25, 2015. He was the provisional administrator since March 6 of the same year. This director of research at the CNRS was previously Director of the Nonlinear Institute of Nice (UNS / CNRS) since January 2012.
Joined the CNRS in 1984, his research focuses on the theory of dynamic systems. In the 1990s, he took part in the creation of the Nonlinear Institute of Nice and took, for eight years, the responsibility of one of the six teams of the laboratory.
Professor at the University of Burgundy, he created and directs the Institute of Mathematics of Burgundy in Dijon from 2001 to 2004. He develops interactions with industry by becoming a coauthor of an IBM patent and founds the team "Interface of Mathematics "within the Dijon Institute.
In 2006, Jean-Marc Gambaudo was called by the scientific director of the CNRS. He is in charge of the department MPPU (Mathematics, Physics, Planet and Universe) for Mathematics (2006-2007), then Deputy Scientific Director at the Department of Mathematics (MPPU) (2007-2009) and Project Manager with the Director General of the Department of Mathematics. CNRS (2008-2009). He creates the Insmi (Institute of Mathematical Sciences and their interactions).
From 2009 to 2011, Jean-Marc Gambaudo resumed a full-time research activity at the JA Dieudonné laboratory in Nice, then in 2012, he took the direction of the Nonlinear Institute of Nice.
Author of sixty articles in peer-reviewed international journals, holder of the PES (Award of Scientific Excellence) in mathematics in 2010 and physics in 2014, Jean-Marc Gambaudo is also an honorary professor at the university. from Chile.
Pr. PATRICK BAQUE
Prof. Anatomy & Surgeon
Nice, France
He is surgeon, Professor of Anatomy - General Surgery at the CHU in Nice, France. Doctor of medicine in 1998, he did most of his medical studies were at the Faculty of medicine and at the CHU in Nice from hospital student, hospital intern, hospital & practitioner assistant, lecturer. Promoted as University Professor - Hospital practitioner since 2006, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Nice since early 2013.
Pr GUIDO KROEMER, Keynote lecture
Guido Kroemer is a cell biologist who has made contributions to the understanding the role of mirochondria in cell death. He is a member of multiple scientific academies in Europe and is one of the most highly cited authors in cell biology.
Guido Kroemer, Ph.D.
Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris Descartes, Director of the research team "Apoptosis, Cancer and Immunity" of the French Medical Research Council (INSERM), Director of the Metabolomics and Cell Biology platforms of the Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center, Deputy Director of the Cordeliers Research Center, and Hospital Practitioner at the Hôpital Européen George Pompidou, Paris, France. He is also a Foreign Adjunct Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Kroemer completed medical school at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and earned a Ph.D. in biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Early in his career, Kroemer worked for the Spanish National Research Council. Now based in France, he is a cell biology researcher with INSERM and a Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris Descartes University. Kroemer first discovered the fact that mitochondrial membrane permeabilization is a concrete step in the process of programmed cell death.
In a publication analysis by the news magazine Lab Times, Kroemer was the most highly cited cell biologist for the period between 2007 and 2013. Three other scientists who had worked at Kroemer's lab were also highly ranked in the analysis. In 2007, Kroemer was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the national academy of Germany. The same year, he received the organization's Carus Medal. He was named a fellow of the European Academy of Sciences in 2010. In 2012, he won the Leopold Griffuel Prize from the French ARC Foundation for Cancer Research. Kroemer is the editor-in-chief of the journal Cell Death & Disease.
Pr STEVEN ARTANDI, Keynote lecture
Stanford University, California, USA
Dr. Steven Artandi is a hematologist in Stanford, California and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital and VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and has been in practice for more than 20 years. Dr. Artandi accepts several types of health insurance, listed below. He is one of 50 doctors at Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital and one of 21 at VA Palo Alto Health Care System who specialize in Hematology.
The Artandi lab is interested in unraveling the molecular and cellular mechanisms according to which telomeres and telomerase modulate stem cell function and carcinogenesis.
Telomeres, the nucleoprotein structures that cap the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, serve essential roles in preventing checkpoint activation and in maintaining chromosomal stability. Telomeres are composed of G-rich nucleotide repeats bound by a complex array of proteins that help stabilize formation of a looped and protected chromosomal end. Telomeres shorten progressively in humans, both in cultured cells and in certain tissues with advancing age. Telomeres shorten because DNA polymerase cannot fully replicate the lagging strand - the end-replication problem - and because certain stem/progenitor cell compartments express inadequate levels of telomerase, the reverse transcriptase that synthesizes telomeric repeats. Telomerase consists of two essential components: an RNA subunit, TERC, and a protein catalytic subunit, TERT. TERT is a reverse transcriptase that binds TERC and synthesizes telomeres by copying the telomere repeat sequences encoded in the TERC template. Overexpression of TERT in primary human cells is sufficient to extend telomeres and allow unlimited proliferation. In addition to its role in telomere maintenance, TERT can activate resting stem cells through an independent pathway.
Pr BJOERN SCHUMACHER, Keynote lecture
Head of Research Area C – Principal Investigator, Chair for Genome Stability in Ageing and Disease
Prof. Dr. Björn Schumacher’s research group uses the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans to understand the causal role of DNA damage in aging and disease. With increasing age, damage to the genome accumulates and leads to the degeneration of cells and tissues. DNA damage thus plays a causal role in aging-associated diseases. The risk of cancer also increases with age because erroneously repaired DNA leads to mutations that can trigger cancer. Schumacher’s team has identified mechanisms that antagonize the detrimental consequences of DNA damage by maintaining tissue integrity and maximizing lifespan, even when the DNA damage cannot be repaired. The Schumacher group has also shown that DNA damage in individual cells impacts the entire organism. The systemic DNA damage responses are mediated by the immune system and increase the general stress resistance of the tissues throughout the body. These findings are particularly important for understanding progeria, disorders that result in premature aging in childhood. Premature aging is caused by congenital dysfunction of the DNA repair processes. Understanding the mechanisms by which organisms respond to accumulating DNA damage with age is pivotal for developing novel therapies to prevent aging-associated diseases and contribute to optimizing cancer treatment.
Prof. Schumacher’s group has shown that organisms respond to DNA damage by activating genetic mechanisms that prolong life. The focus is on understanding how this response to DNA damage is regulated so that the organism can maximize its survival even if the DNA cannot be repaired. Schumacher’s team has already identified mechanistic links between the ge-netic aging process and the stochastic accumulation of DNA damage. Schumacher and his team have revealed a previously unknown systemic immune response in C. elegans. Their key finding is that an immune response activated in individual cells in response to DNA damage can be transmitted throughout the entire body to promote survival of the organism in the face of further stress. Prof. Bjorn Schumacher has been awarded the Innovation Prize from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, holds the ERC starting grant and coordinates the European training network “CodeAge” on chronic DNA damage responses in aging.
Pr PATRIZIA ANNA D’ALESSIO
AISA Therapeutics Award Innovative Entrepreneurship Ministry of Research France
University Paris Sud-11 and Biopark Cancer Campus 1 mail Pr Georges Mathé 94807 Villejuif France
Prof. d’Alessio studied Medecine and Hematology at the University of Milan, earned her PhD in Haemorheology from the Utrecht University and worked as professor and researcher in Cell Biology at the Universities of Paris 5 René Descartes and Paris Sud-11. Her work has been focusing on cellular mechanisms of premature cell senescence due to inflammatory stress able to induce and accelerate diseases. These findings and her results constitute the hallmarks of her research.
Following a bio-guided study of over 2000 plant extracts (collaboration ICSN CNRS Gif sur Yvette / University of Hanoi, Vietnam / Academy of Medical Sciences China, Beijin) she identified 4 molecules that fight cellular stress. In 2005, she established the R&D start-up AISA Therapeutics, following the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research Award for Innovative Enterprises.
Since 2015, the AISA Moleculum trademark, resulting from 10 years of preclinical and clinical studies – including the European FP7 Ristomed project – offers a dietary and cosmeceutic supplement to relieve stress and inflammation targeting the growing 65-85 population, but also immune compromized syndromes such as psoriasis.
Prof. d’Alessio has organised several symposia dedicated to the relevance of nutrition for health (IIC) or the importance of biological models (ENS) in the recent history of science. She is co-author of such transdisciplinary books as « Architecture of Life: from Plato to tensegrity » (Brepols, 2007) and « La Sinuosité du Vivant » (Herman, 2012). Invited lecturer at international conferences all over the world, her favorite communications deal with personalized and preventive medicine, as well as the relevance of chronic inflammation for aging and cancer.
Pr ASHOK K. SHETTY.
Professor
Director of Neurosciences, Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, USA
Co-Editor-in-Chief of Aging and Disease
Associate Editor of Frontiers in Epilepsy
Ashok K. Shetty is Director of Neurosciences at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine located in Temple, Texas, and Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine. Dr. Shetty is also Research Career Scientist at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Temple.
From 2004 to 2008, Dr. Shetty served as a Charter Member of the National Institutes of Health Study Section CNNT (Brain Disorders and Clinical Neuroscience ZRG1). He has also served as an ad hoc member of over 25 other NIH study sections, and as a reviewer of grant applications for over 12 international funding agencies from Germany, France, England, Israel, India and Singapore. Presently, Dr. Shetty is a charter member of the NIH Study Section, Developmental Brain Disorders (Brain Disorders and Clinical Neuroscience IRG). Dr. Shetty also serves as an Editorial Board Member of many international journals, which include Stem Cells, Aging Cell, Stem Cells International, Current Aging Science, Frontiers in Neurogenesis, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, and Stem Cells and Cloning. Dr. Shetty is among the top 1% of scientists worldwide in the field of Neuroscience and Behavior, in terms of citations received for published articles over 10-year period.
Pr HOLLY M. BROWN-BORG
Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor
Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Therapeutics, University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences, North Dakota, USA
Holly is Past-President of the American Aging Association and current Biological Sciences Chair of the Gerontological Society of America. She is also Organizer of the International Symposia on Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology of Aging, Bregenz, Austria. A popular theory to explain the physiological decline that occurs during aging involves oxidative stress and subsequent damage to DNA, proteins, and lipids. Delaying this decline is associated with extended lifespan. Mice with hereditary dwarfism (Ames dwarf, df/df) and growth hormone (GH) deficiency exhibit delayed aging, living more than a year longer than normal siblings (P<0.0001), differences in antioxidant defense capacity, and lower DNA damage. In contrast, mice with high plasma GH concentrations live half as long as normal, wild type siblings and exhibit a depressed antioxidative defense capacity. The overall hypothesis is that the Ames dwarf mouse has a biologic advantage over normal wild type mice with better enzymatic scavenging of toxic metabolic byproducts and less mitochondrial membrane leakage underlying their enhanced longevity.
Holly’s current studies are designed to further understand the relationship between cellular oxidation, hormones, mitochondrial activities, and aging in a mammalian model of extended lifespan. Determining the pathways and mechanisms that GH utilizes may suggest potential therapeutic interventions that could lead to strategies to delay aging, treat aging-related disorders, and extend lifespan in humans.
She coedited Life-Span Extension: Single-Cell Organisms to Man and coauthored Effects of Growth Hormone and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 on Hepatocyte Antioxidative Enzymes, Mitochondrial localization of alpha-synuclein protein in alpha-synuclein overexpressing cells, Growth hormone alters methionine and glutathione metabolism in Ames dwarf mice, Hormonal regulation of longevity in mammals, Association Between Low Birth Weight and Increased Adrenocortical Function in Neonatal Pigs, and Methionine flux to transsulfuration is enhanced in the long living Ames dwarf mouse.
Pr JAMES W. SIMPKINS
Professor
Director, Center for Basic & Translational Stroke Research, West Virginia University, USA,
President of International Society on Aging and Disease.
Dr. James W. Simpkins has served as Chairman of the Department of Pharmacodynamics, Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutics, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and Director, Center for the Neurobiology of Aging at the University of Florida since 2004. Dr. Simpkins was appointed as the Frank Duckworth Professor of Drug Discovery at the University of Florida in 1996. He has more than 295 peer-reviewed publications, a dozen patents for his discoveries and has edited two texts on Alzheimer's disease therapy. He also served as the Director of the University of Florida Drug Discovery Group for Alzheimer's disease, which has sustained funding by the National Institute on Aging to support research in the pharmacotherapy for Alzheimer's disease. In 1999 he was appointed to the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the National Alzheimer's Association. In July of 2000, he became the Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience and Director, Institute for Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Research at the University of North Texas Health Science at Fort Worth. Dr. Dr. James W. Simpkins is currently the director Center for Basic & Translational Stroke Research, West Virginia University, USA.
Pr ILIA STAMBLER
IEET Affiliate Scholar and Researcher
The Department of Science, Technology and Society, of Bar Ilan University, Israel
Ilia Stambler, PhD, is Chief Science Officer of “Vetek” (Seniority) Association – The Senior Citizens Movement (Israel). He received his PhD at the Department of Science, Technology and Society, Bar Ilan University, Israel. His research has focused on the historical and social implications of aging and life extension research. He is also involved in mathematical modeling of aging and aging-related diseases (https://ec.europa.eu/eip/ageing/ commitments-tracker/a3/quantified-longevity-guide-qlg_en). He is the author of A History of Life-extensionism in the Twentieth Century and Longevity Promotion: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (www.longevityhistory.com). He is actively involved in advocacy for aging and longevity research (www.longevityforall.org), and is chair of the Israeli Longevity Alliance (http://www.longevityisrael.org/) and executive committee member of the International Society on Aging and Disease (http://www.isoad.org/). His papers have appeared in Progress in Neurobiology, Aging and Disease, Cancer Detection and Prevention, Rejuvenation Research, Current Aging Science, Global Aging, Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, Frontiers in Genetics, Geroscience, and other journals.
Pr VINCENT GELI
Deputy Director of the Cancer Research Centre of Marseille, France
Vincent Géli is 1st Class Research Director at the CNRS and currently deputy director of the CRCM, one of the largest Regional Cancer Centre in France. VG has actively participated in 2012 to the new organization of the CRCM with the introduction of genome instability as an integral topic of the CRCM thereby enriching both its research and its application areas to ensure broader understanding, diagnosis and treatment disease.VG initially characterized the budding yeast SET domain protein Set1 and revealed its role in telomeric silencing and DNA repair. He further characterized the organisation of the Set1-complex and determined the roles of its subunits in the regulation of H3K4 methylation. He showed that Set1 represses gene expression by stimulating non-coding transcription. VG also showed that Set1 and H3K4 methylation regulate meiotic replication and double-strand break formation. He answered to a long-standing question about the meiotic loop-axis model by showing that the Set1-C subunit Spp1 by interacting with H3K4me3 and the chromosomal axis protein Mer2 brings potential meiotic DSB sites to the chromosome axis allowing their subsequent cleavage by the nuclease Spo11. In the telomere field, he showed that the ss-DNA binding protein RPA facilitates telomerase action and that processing of telomeres and telomerase recruitment are different at the leading and lagging-strand telomeres. He did pioneer work to characterize the telomeric DNA damage response at eroded telomeres and disclose the relocalization of eroded telomeres to the Nuclear Pore Complex. Recently, he started a study aimed to characterize the mechanisms by which telomere are maintained in quiescent cells.
Pr DMITRY BULAVIN
Group leader,
IRCAN, 06107 Nice Cedex 02 France
Dmitry Bulavin received his MD from the Medical Academy (St. Petersburg, Russia), where he also completed a PhD program in biochemistry and molecular biology. During a postdoc at the NIH, Dr. Bulavin identified a novel role for p38 MAP kinase in negative regulation of tumorigenesis, the direction that is now widely pursued in the cancer field. Subsequently, Dr. Bulavin made important discoveries in establishing the key role of a novel phosphatase Wip1 as a potent human oncogene, this finding catalysed the development of novel anti-cancer drugs by several companies. His academic research is primarily in the field of cancer molecular biology, with particular emphasis on the role of DNA damage and stress response signalling. After becoming fully independent, Dr. Bulavin continued interrogating the role of Wip1 phosphatase and p38 MAP kinase in cancer but also in other pathological conditions as well as during aging. Since 2013, Dr. Bulavin is a full professor at INSERM (France).
Pr GUO-YUAN YANG
Professor
School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Guo-Yuan Yang, MD, PhD, CK Wong endowed Professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Dr. Yang was a professor at University of California San Francisco and was recruited by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2008. Dr. Yang is the incumbent associate Dean of Med-X Research Institute, and Director of the Institute of rehabilitation engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Dr. Yang is also serving as a Board member of China Stroke Association; Vice chairman of the Society of Chinese cerebral blood flow and metabolism, CSA; Vice chairman of the translational Neuroscience Committee, Chinese Society of Translational Research Hospital; a Board member of Synchrotron Radiation Committee, the Chinese Society of Physics; and the American Heart Association. Associate director of the Academic Committee of Shanghai Rehabilitation aids with the well-being of the elderly. Dr. Yang is the associate editor of Stroke and Vascular Neurology, Editors of Stroke, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Aging and Disease, CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, Neural Regeneration Research, Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation, Chinese Journal of Cerebrovascular Diseases, Stroke magazine, Chinese modern nerve disease, and guest chief editor of China tissue engineering research and Clinical Rehabilitation. Dr. Yang awarded NIH grants in USA, and many funding from China including the 973 projects, Ministry of science and technology of China, National Natural Science Fund Committee, Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Has long been engaged in neurobiology, neurology and Neurosurgery, especially cerebral vascular disease of translational research, Dr. Yang published more than 230 scientific papers, the total impact factor (IF) more than 800. Cited references reached more than 10000 times.
Pr SABRINA SACCONI
Neurologist, MD, PhD – University Professor and Hospital Practitioner
Sabrina SACCONI is Professor of Neurology at Nice University Hospital (France), recognized as Reference Center for rare neuromuscular diseases and part of European rare disease network for neuromuscular diseases (ERN NMD).
Pr. SACCONI starts to practice medicine in 1997 at Pavia in Italy and becomes specialist in neurology in 2003. From 2004 to 2008, she begins a European career and constantly improves her competences and understandings on neuromuscular disorder. In 2010, she obtains a PhD in cell physiology and biology with a work on genetic and epigenetic of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. In 2012, she obtains an accreditation to supervise research in Nice and becomes full University Professor in 2014 for the Nice UHC.
Since then, she is Head of the department « Peripheral Nervous System and Muscle ». She is also involved in basic research at IRCAN Institute of Research on Cancer and Aging and working on the supplying of several databases on rare neuromuscular diseases.
The main research topic of Prof. Sacconi is the development of new therapeutic strategies to on neuromuscular diseases based on the understanding the role of genetic, epigenetic, endocrine and immune system deregulation in the progression of these diseases.
Pr THIERRY GALLI
Center of Psychiatry and Neurosciences Director
Thierry Galli is a former student of Ecole Normale Supérieure of Saint-Cloud/Lyon. He received his BSc in Biochemistry at the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, in 1988, and his PhD at the Collège de France and the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, in 1992. He then moved to the USA to carry out postdoctoral research in Professor Pietro De Camilli's laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine. There he worked on the molecular mechanism of regulated and constitutive exocytosis. In 1995, he took his first research appointment at the French National Institute of Health (INSERM) and the Curie Institute in the laboratory of Professor Daniel Louvard, and in 2001 he was recruited as Research Director of the French National Institute of Health at the Fer-à-Moulin Institute, Paris. In 2005, he was appointed as a Group Leader at the Jacques Monod Institute, Paris. Since 2015, he is director of the Center of Psychiatry and Neurosciences.
His research focuses on the role of SNARE proteins in exocytosis mediating neuronal cell differentiation, with particular emphasis on the tetanus neurotoxin-sensitive routes, mediated by cellubrevin/VAMP3 and synaptobrevin/VAMP1,2, and the tetanus neurotoxin-insensitive routes mediated by TI-VAMP/VAMP7. His team further found a non-fusogenic role of a SNARE complex comprising ER Sec22b and plasma membrane Syntaxin 1 and is currently studying its function in neuronal development. Recent work includes study of the role of secretory autophagy in both neuronal development and glioblastoma.
Thierry Galli was Editor-in-Chief of Biology of the Cell and is a member of the Factulty of 1000, and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Contact. He is Director of the multi-agency thematic institute institute (ITMO) of Cell Biology, Development and Evolution.
Pr JING-DONG JACKIE HAN
Professor, Director
CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences
Prof. Jing-Dong Jackie Han obtained Ph.D. degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She had her postdoctoral training at The Rockefeller University and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 2004, she became an investigator/professor at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She is currently a director of the CAS-Max Planck Partner Institute for Computational Biology. Her research focuses on the structure and dynamic inference of molecular networks，using a combination of large-scale experiments and computational analysis to explore the design principles of the networks and to find how the complex phenotypes, such as aging, cancer and stem cell development are regulated through molecular networks. She was awarded the Chinese Academy Sciences Hundred Talent Plan and NSFC Outstanding Young Scientist Award in 2006, and the Hundred Talent Plan Outstanding Achievement Award in 2009, selected as a Max Planck Follow in 2011 and a MaxNetAging Fellow in 2014, F1000 faculty in developmental biology in 2016.
Pr JULIEN CHERFILS-VICINI
Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice
Julien Cherfils-Vicini is a permanent researcher (CRCN) at CNRS (2015) in the Team of Pr Eric Gilson. He obtained a Master 2 of Immunology at Pasteur Institute Paris (2005) and a PhD at the University Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC) in 2010. He performed his PhD in tumor immunology field in the laboratory of Pr Wolf-Herman Fridman in Paris (Cordelier Research Center) under the supervison of Pr Catherine Sautès-Fridman and Pr Isabelle Cremer. Notably, he showed that chronic inflammation through activation of Toll Like Receptor 7 (TLR7) in human lung cancer favor tumor growth and chemoresistance in human and that the TLR7 overexpression in Lung cancer patients is associated with bad prognosis and chemoresistance. For his postdoc, he joined the lab of Pr Eric Gilson, where he focused on the link between telomere biology and the regulation of cancer immunosurveillance. JCV discovers a new molecular mechanism implicating the shelterin protein TRF2, a key factor of the telomere protection, which is frequently overexpressed in human malignancies, in an extratelomeric role controlling immune escape. Indeed, he showed that TRF2 can regulates a gene network implicated in Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycan (HSPG) which favor immunosuppression through Myeloid Derived Suppressor cell recruitment and tumor growth(Biroccio et al. 2013),(Cherfils Vicini et al. 2014), (manuscript in revision). In 2015, he obtained a permanent position at CNRS as researcher in the team of Pr E. Gilson. Concomitantly, after examination by the SAB of IRCAN in 2015, he is leading a “Baby team” within the team of Pr E. Gilson where he studies the immunosurveillance of senescent cells in aging and cancer.
Pr OLIVER BISCHOF
Institut Pasteur
Unité "Organisation Nucléaire et Oncogenèse" - Inserm U993, 75724 Paris Cedex 15 - France
Oliver BISCHOF received his PhD in biochemistry at the Free University of Berlin/Germany before joining the laboratory of Judy CAMPISI, a pioneering figure in the field of cellular senescence. OB is currently “Research Director” for CNRS and group leader at the Pasteur Institute.
The research interests of OB center for now 20 years on the study of cellular senescence as a crucial mechanism controlling proliferation and differentiation in normal and pathological contexts. Long believed to be a process operating only at the cellular level in artificial culture conditions, senescence has now emerged as a tissue level phenomenon with significant impact acting both in a cell autonomous and in a non-autonomous fashion. Indeed, the effect of senescence and senescent cells on the tissue microenvironment is now a major field of study for understanding tissue homeostasis during development, ageing as well as in inflammatory and carcinogenic processes.
OB’s own work has contributed significantly to the elucidation of the signaling pathways leading to cellular senescence, with a primary emphasis on its role as an anti-cancer mechanism. More recently, this work has led me to explore the involvement of non-coding RNAs in the establishment and maintenance of the senescent state and allowed me also to open my inquiries into additional general mechanisms operating at the chromatin level, with the aim of deciphering the molecular underpinnings responsible for the massive chromatin changes associated with the senescence phenotype.
OB recently organized in 2017 the International Cell Senescence Association (ICSA) conference at the Pasteur Institute in Paris with more than 300 participants.
His future work seeks to address how chromatin dynamics and associated gene networks determine the stability of the senescence phenotype. My career goal is to provide an in-depth description of the senescence phenotype that would allow for rational biomarker design and interventions to promote healthy aging.
Pr EWA SIKORA
Laboratory of Molecular Bases of Aging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Prof. Ewa Sikora is the Head of Laboratory of the Molecular Bases of Ageing at the Nencki Institute. During her career Prof. Sikora received a visiting professorship at the Cross-Cancer Institute in Edmonton (Canada), a UNESCO and FEBS stipend for training at the University of Modena School of Medicine (Italy) and a postdoctoral fellowship of the National Union Against Cancer at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton (England). She was an organizer of the Polish Centenarian Project and a coordinator of the SSA FP6 Seneca Project. Prof. Sikora participated in several European grants, e.g. the IP FP6 GEHA (Genetic of Healthy Ageing), the IP FP7 MarkAge (Markers of Ageing) and organized many international conferences on ageing and cancer in Poland. Her research is focused on the molecular mechanisms of senescence and autophagy of normal proliferating and post-mitotic cells as well as cancer cells. She is also recognized for her work on cell response to treatment with curcumin, a natural polyphenol. In 2007 she received the award and in 2017 the distinction of the Polish Academy of Sciences for a series of papers concerning the mechanisms of cell senescence.
Biroccio, A. et al., 2013. TRF2 inhibits a cell-extrinsic pathway through which natural killer cells eliminate cancer cells. Nature cell biology, 15(7), pp.818–828.
Cherfils Vicini, J. et al., 2014. A novel pathway links telomeres to NK-cell activity: Implications for immunotherapy. OncoImmunology, 3(1), p.e27358.
Pr FRANCESCA CIRULLI
Senior Researcher
The Center for Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome, Italy.
After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, she obtained her Master in Biological Sciences and her Ph.D. in Neurosciences from Stanford University Medical School. Since then, she has given several original contributions to the study of stress on brain function, taking into account the crosstalk between the central nervous system, the neuroendocrine and the immune system and investigating the role of neurotrophins, such as BDNF, on mental health. Over the last 15 years she has been investigating aging biomarkers in animal models with a special emphasis on the role of oxidative stress on brain plasticity and its effects on healthspan.
She is currently President of the European Brain and Behavior Society EBBS. She serves as Associate Editor for the journals Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews and Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
Pr FRÉDÉRIC CHECLER
Frédéric Checler received his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology from University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis (1983). His honors include: Top 1% researcher in the world “Biology and Biochemistry” (ISI WOK field of ranking at the end of 2011); the BioMerieux award (1997); 1999 MHRI Kearney Fellow Award, Mental Health Research Institute; the Charles-Louis de Saulces de Freycinet Award, French National Academy of Science (2002); the Grand Prix Jaffé of the French Academy of Sciences (2013); Medal of the Departmental council; Medal of the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (2013). He has been recently elected « foreign corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences ». He published over 250 articles in international journals, books, monographs, editorials, and reviews. He also attended 213 Invitations in International meetings and 96 invited seminars. Dr. Checler was President of the scientific committee of the European League against Alzheimer’s disease (LECMA, 2005-2010), and has been a Member of the steering committee of the French Alzheimer plan launched by President N. Sarkozy. He has been Chief Editor or editor of J. Neurochem and currently European Editor of Current Alzheimer Research and senior editor of Scientific Reports. He formerly or still belongs to the J. Biol. Chem.; Journal of Alzheimer disease: American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease editorial boards. He supervised 63 Masters, Doctoral, and Post-doctoral students.
Pr GEORGE A. GARINIS
Professor, University of Crete
Group leader, IMBB-FORTH
Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas
GREECE
"George A. Garinis is a Professor of Genetics at the department of Biology, the University of Crete and an affiliated group leader at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at FORTH. Using the mouse as a model system and animal models carrying inborn defects in nucleotide excision repair (NER), the Garinis lab is focused on dissecting the impact of DNA damage on aging and age-related diseases in mammals. The Garinis team has been able to reveal that distinct NER proteins play a role in transcription initiation or that they are actively engaged in mechanisms that maintain chromatin architecture during mammalian development. Moreover, the team recently discovered a series of functional links between persistent DNA damage signalling and innate immune responses in mice. This cross-talk leads to endocrine and metabolic complications in mice that closely resemble those seen during natural aging. George A. Garinis has earned the EMBO young investigator award, the ERC consolidator grant (2016-2021) and is currently coordinating two European networks on aging (acronym: "HealthAge") and DNA damage (acronym: "aDDRess")."
Pr MARIO PENDE
Inserm, Paris
After a PhD work in the George Thomas laboratory (Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland), Mario Pende moved to Paris Descartes University and was awarded the INSERM AVENIR contract in 2002 and became tenured PI in 2007. He received the ERC-starting and consolidator grants in 2008 and 2013, respectively.
Mario Pende has been interested in how nutritional cues are transduced in the cell to impact growth and ageing responses, including cell size, cell proliferation, senescence, protein synthesis and metabolism. His main achievements in this field are the following:
1) identification of S6K1 and S6K2, and discovery of a cell size defect in loss-of-function mutants (Pende et al., Nature, 2000; Ohanna et al., Nature Cell Biol., 2005)
2) impact of mTOR/S6K activities on metabolic adaptations and senescence (Aguilar et al, Cell Metabolism 2007; Barilari et al., EMBO J., 2017)
3) involvement of this pathway in tumour development (Panasyuk et al., Nature Comm., 2012; Liang et al., J Exp Med, 2014)
Pr MIGUEL GODINHO FERREIRA
Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice
Age is the strongest carcinogen. The basis underlying this phenomenon, however, remains unclear. Telomere shortening is a recognized marker of humans aging and is correlated with many age-related diseases, including cancer. We are testing whether telomere shortening plays a causative role in tumorigenesis in zebrafish - a vertebrate model that, like humans, exhibits critically short telomeres with age.
Using complementary research programs in fission yeast and zebrafish, we investigate the events initiated by telomere shortening, from the cellular level to the organism level, and how these contribute to cancer and aging.
Pr ABBE N. DE VALLEJO
Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Immunology (with tenure), University of Pittsburgh
Associate Professor of Rheumatology, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Member, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Affiliated Investigator, Pittsburgh Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center
Director, Flow Cytometry Facility, John G Rangos Sr Research Center
Immunobiology of Successful Aging and Chronic Inflammatory Syndromes. Our research program on the immunology of aging provided the molecular evidence for the irreversible loss of CD28, validating CD28null T cells as unique feature of the T cell aging in humans. Subsequently, we made significant strides unraveling de novo expression of receptors, namely, NK-related receptors on clonal lineages of T cells that led us the first to coin the term “NKR+ or NK-like T cells”. This designation underlines their fundamental difference from conventional iNKT cells. Our current research on aging is at the forefront studying successful aging, a discrete physiologic construct wherein we are championing the integration of immunity with other domains of function. Our research on inflammation biology has contributed significantly to the role of prematurely senescent T cells in rheumatic autoimmune diseases. We provided the first molecular evidence of senescent T in the pathophysiology of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. We showed that T cell effector function in inflammatory arthritis is TCR-independent in marked contrast to the paradigm of self-antigen-driven T cell clonality of inflammatory arthritis, which was built on animal models but has been difficult to prove in aseptic systemic autoimmune and arthritic disease in humans.
Pr DANAN GU
United Nations
Dr. Danan Gu earned a Ph.D. degree in demography. He works at the United Nations Population Division. He has an extensive publication record. His research mainly covers health and longevity, population aging, family demography and its applications, urbanization, population spatial analysis, estimates and projections. Dr. Gu serves as the editor-in-chief of an ongoing Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging and the Editor-in-chief for a Book Series on Advances in Studies of Aging and Health with Springer Nature, the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Population Studies, and a Section Editor of BMC Geriatrics. He also serves as an editorial board member of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Journal of Aging and Health, and Research on Aging.
Pr DANDAN SUN, MD, PHD
Professor
Department of Neurology
University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Dr. Sun’s research focuses on identifying targets with the potential to translate into disease-modifying therapies, and her expertise is on the roles of ion transporter proteins, such as Na+-K+-Cl- cotransporters, Na+/Ca2+ exchangers, and Na+/H+ exchangers, in ionic dysregulation and neurodegeneration in experimental models of ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, and glioblastoma. Dr. Sun serves as a principal investigator for multiple NIH/NINDS grants, and VA merit research grant funded research. Dr. Sun has served on multiple study sections of NIH/NINDS, and peer review groups of the American Heart Association, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs of USA, and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft of Germany.
Pr PAULA C. BICKFORD
Distinguished Professor, Center of Excellence for Aging & Brain Repair
Professor, College of Medicine Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology
Dr. Bickford is funded by NIA and the VA for studies in aging. As most neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease develop as we age, it is important to understand these diseases in the context of aging. Dr. Bickford's research focuses on the role of inflammation and oxidative stress in aging and neurodegenerative disease with a specific emphasis on age-related changes in neuronal plasticity and learning. Her work now includes studies of anti-inflammatory mechanisms as well as stem cell approaches to slow brain aging and treat neurodegenerative diseases. Her work in the area of anti-inflammatory changes has focused on the molecular signaling pathways between neurons and glia via cytokines and chemokines such as fractalkine, which is neuroprotective. Her work has demonstrated that fractalkine increases neurogenesis in aging and is neuroprotective in Parkinsons disease models. She has shown that nutritional approaches such as blueberries or spirulina are also effective neuroprotective treatment strategies for Parkinson's disease models and in models of stroke, via an interaction to increase neural progenitor function. Her recent work has also identified botanical approaches that support regenerative medicine in that these botanical increase stem cell proliferation in the aged brain and other stem cell niches. As aging is a primary risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, her work focuses on studying changes in the aged brain that increase the risk for neurodegenerative disease and may reduce efficacy of therapeutic interventions. Recent work has demonstrated that stem cell therapy approaches for traumatic brain injuries are less effective in the aged as the cells do not survive as well in the aged brain and other organs. Her current work is focused on studies of microglia using proteomics and genomics as the innate immune system clearly influences aspects of aging and understanding how these cells change with age is of interest.
Pr VALERY KRIZHANOVSKY
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular Cell Biology
Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot, Israel
Web: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/mcb/valery/
Prof. Krizhanovsky is Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science. His laboratory studies the role of senescent cells in diseases, cancer and aging. Krizhanovsky lab was one of the labs who have discovered that senescence might play an instructive role during embryonic development in mammals, specifically focusing on the placenta. Krizhanovsky group has discovered the mechanisms of interaction between NK cells and senescent cells and has shown that elimination of senescent cells by the immune system plays a protective role in diseases and supports tissue fitness. During aging senescent cells accumulate in the organism and contribute to age-related diseases and aging. Krizhanovsky lab discovered molecular mechanisms that regulate the viability of senescent cells in vivo. Targeting these mechanisms allows pharmacological elimination of senescent cells. We study how presence of senescent cells is regulated, what is the dynamics of senescent cells during normal aging. Manipulation of senescent cells in vivo allows understanding the mechanism of interaction of senescent cells with other cell population and unleashing the impact of these interactions on age-related diseases. These studies will contribute to development of novel senolytic approaches in order to target age-related diseases.
Pr LIANG-JUN YAN
Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
UNT System College of Pharmacy
University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Dr. Yan received his BS in biochemistry from Peking University and his PhD in molecular and cell biology from University of California at Berkeley. His laboratory is studying the role and mechanisms of redox imbalance biochemistry and mitochondrial oxidative stress in aging and age-associated metabolic diseases. Dr. Yan's current projects, utilizing mouse and rat as animal models, focus on two mammalian mitochondrial enzymes: dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (DLDH) in stroke neuroprotection and NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) in diabetic pathogenesis. Both enzymes respond to chemical hypoxia by changing their activities and use NAD+ as their cofactor which serves as an essential molecule in cellular redox sensing, stress response, energy metabolism, and mitochondrial function.
Pr SHAN PING YU
Asa Griggs Candler Endowed Professor
Department of Anesthesiology and Department of Hematology and Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, GA, USA
Dr. Yu's research has focused on the ionic, molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuronal cell death and neuroprotection after ischemia in vitro as well as in animal models. His early research was among the few firsts to apply the electrophysiological approach to delineate the ionic mechanism of apoptotic cell death. His investigations identified voltage-gated channels and ligand-gated receptors in apoptotic and necrotic cell death. Using electrophysiological and gene modification techniques, his work revealed the novel mechanism of the interaction between Kv2.1 channels and FAK protein phosphorylation that promotes FAK activation and migration of neuronal cells. In his apoptosis research, he demonstrated that dysfunction of Na+,K+-ATPase is a key step in the apoptotic process, while the disruptions of the Ca2+ and Na+ homeostasis at the same time lead to a previously unreported hybrid cell death of concurrent apoptosis and necrosis in the same cells. In recent years, Dr. Yu has developed drug-induced hypothermia therapy using the novel neurotensin receptor 1 agonists. It is expected that the drug-induced hypothermia provides an efficient and safe early treatment after an ischemic, traumatic or hemorrhage attack and provides a global brain protection via multiple mechanisms. Dr. Yu has also applied optogenetics in stem cell transplantation therapy. The goal is to promote the survival and regenerative properties of transplanted cells that benefit morphological and functional repair of damaged brain structures. His published papers have been cited over 10,000 times with an H index of 52.
Pr MARINA SHKRELI
Principal Investigator; CR1 Inserm
Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice (IRCAN)
CNRS UMR 7284-INSERM U1081-UCA, France
To study kidney homeostasis, regeneration and aging
We found that TERT causes a dramatic effect on kidney podocytes, resulting in acute cell cycle entry and loss of differentiation markers. These observations have led us to hypothesize that podocytes in fact possess significant regenerative capacity, a potential revealed by activation of a telomerase signaling pathway. We are therefore investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in podocytes renewal by the mean of genetic approaches in vivo, and we aim to determine if podocyte renewal capacity is impaired during organismal aging.
To study the role of telomerase non-canonical activity in cancer development
The ability of telomerase to maintain and stabilize telomeres was clearly shown to be critical in mediating the ability of cancer cells to proliferate in an immortal fashion. In addition, recent observations suggest that the ability of telomerase to support proliferation and tumorigenesis extends beyond its activity in preventing critical telomere shortening. However, the precise impact of TERT’s ability to modulate Wnt signaling on tumorigenesis and cancer progression in vivo remains unknown. We are therefore investigating the impact of TERT activity, which is independent of telomere elongation, on tumorigenesis and cancer progression in vivo.
Pr JOAO PEDRO DE MAGALHAES
Senior Lecturer, University of Liverpool
Dr. João Pedro de Magalhães is one of the arguably few people who found their purpose in life at a very young age. When he was still in elementary school, dr. de Magalhães realised that he, like everyone else in the world, suffered from an incurable, progressive disease – aging. Consequently, he decided to become a biogerontologist, and dedicate his life to finding ways to conquer ageing and put an end to the suffering and deaths that come with it.
João started his journey from the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia in Porto, his hometown, where he graduated in Microbiology. He then was part of the UnIGENe research group at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology in Porto, and completed his doctorate at the University of Namur, Belgium, where he joined the Aging and Stress Group.
He has worked with luminary and genomics pioneer George Church at Harvard Medical school, Boston, USA, where he did his postdoctoral studies. Today, he is a Reader (a title equivalent to Associate Professor) at the University of Liverpool, England, where he studies ageing and longevity at the genetic level, and he is also an affiliate Principal Investigator in the Neuroendocrinology and Aging Group at the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
João believes that gene sequencing of extraordinarily long-lived animals (such as the naked mole rat or the bowhead whale) as well as of human supercentenarians may provide important insights on the genes that control the aging process. This knowledge is potentially leading to drugs to mimic the effect of these genes in people to protect them from age-related diseases. To this end, he leads the research endeavours of the Integrative Genomics of Aging laboratory of the University of Liverpool.
Pr PIERRE SOUBEYRAN
Institut Bergonié · Department of Medical Oncology
Pierre Soubeyran was appointed as Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Bordeaux in 2006 and is the Head of Clinical Research and Coordinator of the Haematology Research Group at the Bergonié Cancer Institute.
Pierre Soubeyran graduated in medicine from the University of Bordeaux in 1989. After a research position in Haematology and Laboratory Medicine at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, he received his PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Bordeaux in 1996.
Pierre Soubeyran was a young oncologist beginning his career at the Institut Bergonié in Bordeaux, France, in the mid-90s when he was asked to assist his colleagues with a trial examining outcomes in patients with cancer under the age of 65. As he examined the results, Dr. Soubeyran realized the patients in the study responded differently than those he treated on a daily basis, many of whom were older than the trial’s cutoff age.
For his commitment to promoting research in elderly patients with cancer, ASCO will award Dr. Soubeyran the 2016 B.J. Kennedy Award and Lecture for Scientific Excellence in Geriatric Oncology.
Pr DIDIER COEURNELLE
Co-chair of Healthy Life Extension Society
Didier Coeurnelle is co-chair of Heales (Healthy Life Extension Society, Brussels, Belgium), which publishes a monthly newsletter: “La mort de la mort” (The Death of Death) and organizes international conferences. He is spokesman of the French association française transhumaniste Technoprog, which aims to “spread the themes and questions related to technologies that could extend and enhance the lives of individuals and of humankind”. He is a board member of the International Longevity Alliance, an active member of the social and environmental movement and a jurist.
He published two books: Et si on arrêtait de vieillir ! : Réalité, enjeux et perspectives d'une vie en bonne santé beaucoup plus longue (2013); Technoprog. Le transhumanisme au service du progrès social. With Marc Roux (2016)
Pr ANTON KULAGA
Bioinformatician at Computational Biology of Aging Group
296 Splaiul Independentei, Bucharest, Romania, 060031
Anton Kulaga is a bioinformatician at the Computational Biology of Aging Group (Institute of Biochemistry, Romanian Academy of Science). His research is focused on big data analysis of *-omics data and designing genetic circuits and expression modules for lifespan interventions and regenerative medicine. He has been actively involved in international longevity advocacy, having served as a board member of the International Longevity Alliance.