Lloyd B. Minor, MD, an academic leader
Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine
Professor of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery
Professor of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery
Professor (By courtesy), Neurobiology
Professor (By courtesy), Bioengineering
As dean, Dr. Minor plays an integral role in setting strategy for the clinical enterprise of Stanford Medicine, an academic medical center that includes the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Health Care, and Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. He also oversees the quality of Stanford Medicine’s physician practices and growing clinical networks.
With Dr. Minor’s leadership, Stanford Medicine has established a strategic vision to lead the biomedical revolution in Precision Health. The next generation of health care, Precision Health is focused on keeping people healthy and providing care that is tailored to individual variations. It’s predictive, proactive, preemptive, personalized, and patient-centered.
An advocate for innovation, Dr. Minor has provided significant support for fundamental science and for clinical and translational research at Stanford. Through bold initiatives in medical education and increased support for PhD students, Dr. Minor is committed to inspiring and training future leaders.
Among other accomplishments Dr. Minor has led the development and implementation of an innovative model for cancer research and patient care delivery at Stanford Medicine and has launched an initiative in biomedical data science to harness the power of big data and create a learning health care system. Committed to diversity, he has increased student financial aid and expanded faculty leadership opportunities.
Marie A. Bernard, M.D
Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), NIH, USA
She serves as the principal advisor to the NIA director, and working closely with the director oversees over $1 billion in aging research conducted and supported annually by the Institute. As NIA’s senior geriatrician, she is particularly interested in the translation of NIA research from the very basic laboratory to the bedside and community, and in the pipeline of future scientists. She co-chairs the Department of Health and Human Services Older Adults Workgroup and the Dementias, Including Alzheimer’s Disease Workgroup for Healthy People 2020. Within NIH she serves on the Extramural Activities Working Group, the Diversity Working Group, and co-chairs the Women of Color Committee of the Women in Biomedical Careers Working Group.
Until October 2008 she was the endowed professor and founding chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics and Extended Care at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She has held numerous national leadership roles, including chair of the Clinical Medicine Section of the Gerontological Society of America, chair of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Research Advisory Committee, board member of the American Geriatrics Society, president of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.
Brian K. Kennedy, PhD, Professor
The President and Chief Executive Office
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, California, USA
Editor-in Chief of Aging Cell
An Associate Editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Science and Cell Cycle.
Brian K. Kennedy is internationally recognized for his research in the basic biology of aging and as a visionary committed to translating research discoveries into new ways of detecting, preventing and treating age-related conditions. These include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, cancer, stroke, diabetes and heart disease among others. He leads a team of 20 principal investigators at the Buck Institute - all of whom are involved in interdisciplinary research aimed at extending the healthy years of life.
Dr. Kennedy is actively involved in aging research in the Pacific Rim, which features the largest elderly population in the world. He is a visiting professor at the Aging Research Institute at Guangdong Medical College in China. He is also an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Judith Campisi, PhD, Professor
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Editors-in-Chief of Aging
Judith Campisi has received international recognition for her contributions to understanding why age is the largest single risk factor for developing a panoply of diseases, ranging from neurodegeneration to cancer. Her highly acclaimed research integrates the genetic, environmental and evolutionary forces that result in aging and age-related diseases, and identifies pathways that can be modified to mitigate basic aging processes.
Dr. Campisi also makes significant contributions to understanding why aging is the largest single risk factor for developing cancer. She is widely recognized for her work on senescent cells -- older cells that have stopped dividing -- and their influence on aging and cancer. Senescence occurs when cells experience certain types of stress, especially stress that can damage the genome. The senescence response helps prevent cancer by blocking damaged cells from multiplying. But there is a trade off - the lingering senescent cells may also cause harm to the body. The Campisi lab found evidence that senescent cells can disrupt normal tissue functions and, ironically, drive the progression of cancer over time. Senescent cells also promote inflammation, which is a common feature of all major age-related diseases. Dr. Campisi is collaborating with many other research groups at the Buck Institute to examine other suspected influences of senescent cells on other diseases of aging. Her research is shedding light on anti-cancer genes, DNA repair mechanisms that promote longevity, molecular pathways that protect cells against stress, and stem cells and their role in aging and age-related disease.
Felipe Sierra, Ph.D.
Director, Division of Aging Biology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, USA
Felipe Sierra, PhD. is the Director of the Division of Aging Biology at the National Institute on Aging, NIH. Trained as a biochemist in his native Chile, he obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Florida in 1983. After a postdoc at the University of Geneva, he worked in industry (at Nestlé, still in Switzerland) for the next 5 years. At this stage he developed his interest in the biology of aging, an interest that brought him back to Academia (and to the United States), as an Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and later as an Associate Professor at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in Pennsylvania. This last position was shared with a primary appointment at the University of Chile in Santiago. Four years after initiating this arrangement, Dr. Sierra relocated again to the US, this time as a Program Director within the Division of Aging Biology, NIA. He became the Director of this unit in April 2006.
Dr. Sierra is also the founder and coordinator of the trans-NIH Geroscience Interest Group (GSIG). The group spans the entire NIH, and is built on the fact that aging is the major risk factor for most chronic age-related diseases – Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and more – and thus understanding the basic biology of aging is central to our ability to address these diseases. In 2013 and 2014 he received NIH Director’s Awards for this effort.
Michael Forster, Ph.D., Chairman and Regents Professor,
University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), USA
President of the International Society on Aging and Disease, and Past President of the American Aging Association
Dr. Forster is recognized internationally for research on the role of oxidative stress in age-associated brain dysfunction and in the anti-aging effects of caloric restriction. Dr. Forster is Director of the UNTHSC site for the National Institute on Drug Abuse- Addiction Treatment Discovery Program (ATDP), and has directed his program continuously with National Institute on Drug Abuse- Addiction Treatment Discovery Program (ATDP) for 20 years, evaluating and reporting on over 3,000 potential medications for the treatment of drug addition, using behavioral pharmacology methods of analysis. In addition, Dr. Forster developed and validated rodent models for assessment of age-related changes in brain function, and established outstanding testing facilities appropriate for assessing the effects of long-term interventions.
Dr Forster served on the editorial board of Experimental Biology and Medicine, Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, and Journal of the American Aging Association, has been the recipient of numerous local and national awards for academic excellence, and has been awarded the title of Regents Professor. He is currently immediate past President of The American Aging Association, an international organization dedicated to basic research in biogerontology.
Heinrich Jasper, PhD, Professor
Buck Institute for Research on Aging, California, USA
Dr. Jasper received his PhD from the University of Heidelberg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, where he studied transcriptional regulation of developmental processes in Drosophila. He became a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center in 2003, and an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Rochester in 2005. Dr. Jasper received a Senior Fellow Award of the Ellison Medical Foundation in 2008 and a Glenn Foundation Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging in 2010. His work was and is funded by the American Federation for Aging Research, National Institute of Aging, National Eye Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, New York Stem Cell Initiative, and the Ellison Medical Foundation. Achievement in the field includes to characterize the interaction between stress and insulin signaling in the regulation of lifespan. Established the Drosophila intestinal stem cell system as a model for age-related decline of stem cell function.
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD
Chief Science Officer, The Biogerontology Research Foundation, and Chief Executive Officer, Insilico Medicine, Inc, Baltimore, USA
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD is the CEO and co-founder of Insilico Medicine, Inc a Baltimore-based company utilizing big data analysis and deep learning for aging research and drug discovery. He also heads the International Aging Research Portfolio (AIRP) knowledge management system for aging research and serves as the CSO of the Biogerontology Research Foundation in the UK.
Prior to Insilico Medicine, he co-founded the First Oncology Research and Advisory Center (FORAC), served as the director of ATI Technologies (Nasdaq: AMD) and as the director of GTCBio. He is also the head of research at NeuroG Neuroinformatics, a neuroinformatics company developing algorithms for cost-effective EEG devices to recognize imagined visual images and delay the onset of age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Zhavoronkov is the author of over forty peer-reviewed scientific as well as popular papers and books on the many aspects of biogerontology, aging research and aging economics including “The Ageless Generation: how biomedical advances will transform the global economy” published by Palgrave Macmillan.
He holds two bachelor degrees from Queen's University, a masters in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in physics and mathematics from the Moscow State University and is the adjunct professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Valter Longo, Ph.D
Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology
Professor of Biological Sciences
University of Southern California, Davis School of Gerontology, Los Angeles, California, USA
Dr. Longo is the Edna Jones Professor in Gerontology and Professor in Biological Science. He is also the Director of the USC Longevity Institute. He is interested in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of aging in yeast, mice and humans by using genetics and biochemistry techniques. He is also interested in identifying the molecular pathways conserved from simple organisms to humans that can be modulated to protect against multiple stresses and treat or prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease and other diseases of aging. The focus is on the signal transduction pathways that regulate resistance to oxidative damage in yeast and mice.
Alexey A. Moskalev, PhD, Professor
The Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Radiobiology and Gerontology, Institute of biology of RAS
The Head of the Laboratory of Genetics of Aging and Longevity, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia
An Associate Editor of the Frontiers in Genetics of Aging
Co-chair of the International Symposium “Genetics of Aging and Longevity”
Alexey is a specialist in the field of genetics of longevity and aging. He studies regulation mechanisms of the rate of aging, longevity and stress resistance in animal models (DNA repair, heat shock proteins, NF-kB, Tor- and PI3K-signaling cascade, apoptosis). Geroprotective properties of PI3K, TOR, NF-kBHis inhibitors were identified in his works using fruit flies Drosophila as a model. Alexey participated in the work of identifying mechanisms of exceptional longevity of Myotis brandtii bats. He was a contributor in creating a database of biomarkers of aging Digital Ageing Atlas.
James W. Simpkins, Professor,
Director, Center for Basic & Translational Stroke Research
West Virginia University, USA,
Past 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.
Ashok K. Shetty, Ph.D., 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.
David Greenberg, MD, PhD, Professor
Buck Institute for Research on Aging, USA
Co-Editor-in-Chief of Aging and Disease
Dr. Greenberg studies the normal responses that help protect or repair the brain after a stroke. He hopes to open the door to new treatments that can mimic those beneficial reactions. Stroke results when the flow of blood to the brain is interrupted. The body responds by boosting the production of proteins that help cells to survive or tissues to regenerate. The Greenberg lab is exploring the actions of two protective proteins, neuroglobin and VEGF, or vascular endothelial growth factor.
Dr. Greenberg has also pursued one of the most encouraging recent discoveries in neurobiology. New nerve cells can be born in the adult brains of mammals, a finding that corrected a long-held theory that dead nerve cells could never be replaced. Dr. Greenberg has shown that new neurons can arise as a response to stroke, and his lab has identified factors that promote neurogenesis. He is also working with Buck colleagues on cell transplantation as a therapy for stroke.
Eric Gilson, PhD, Professor of Cell Biology
Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice (IRCAN)
University of Nice - Sophia-Antipolis - Faculty of Medicine
France
Before the 90’s, telomeres were mostly considered as DNA repeats of a certain length depending on the presence of telomerase. Overall, the work of Eric Gilson contributed to broaden this view by revealing an unusual organization of telomeric chromatin and unexpected links between this chromatin, telomere length, regulation and chromosome end stability and senescence. Therefore, his work had and still has a strong influence not only for telomere people but also for researchers working on the higher-order structure of chromatin, replication, DNA damage response, cancer and aging. Nowadays, the main objective of Eric Gilson research is to provide an integrated description of the telomere signaling pathways involved in aging and malignant transformation.
In addition to his team leader position, Eric Gilson heads the Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice (IRCAN). Research at the IRCAN focuses on unraveling the pathways shared between cancer and aging, both at the basic and translational levels.
Mladen Davidovic, PhD, Professor
President of Serbian Association of geriatricians and gerontologist
Former chief of Chair of Gerontology, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Past president of Gerontological Society of Serbia
Dr Davidovic is a geriatrician, and founder of the Chair of gerontology at University of Belgrade, geriatric section of Serbian Medical Association and editor of the first book of geriatric medicine in Serbia. He was the member of the IAGG Council, and recently EUGMS and U.E.M.S board. Member of the editorial board of Advances in gerontology and American Journal of Life Sciences. Member of the European experts panels: Research on ageing: priorities for the European region and European undergraduate curriculum in geriatric medicine. His research focus on (1) Education in geriatrics and gerontology, (2) Approach to theories of ageing: "Ageing puzzle", "Genetic instability -the key of longevity ?"," Old age as a privilege of the “selfish ones”, and (3)Clinical geriatric medicine, specially pharmacotherapy and ageing of the systems.
Linda J. Van Eldik, Ph.D., Professor
Director, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, USA
Linda Jo Van Eldik received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Duke University, and did postdoctoral research in Virology and Cell Biology at Rockefeller University in New York. She joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 1981, where she rose to the rank of Professor of Pharmacology and Cell Biology. From 1994 – 2010, she was a faculty member at Northwestern University in Chicago, where she was Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology, Co-Director of the Center for Drug Discovery and Chemical Biology, and Associate Director of the Northwestern Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Dr. Van Eldik joined the University of Kentucky in Lexington KY in 2010, where she is currently the Director of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, and Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology. She is also Director of the University of Kentucky Alzheimer’s Disease Center, a NIH-funded center established in 1985 and internationally recognized for its contributions to the fight against brain diseases that are associated with aging. Dr. Van Eldik has received numerous honors during her career, including a Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association and a prestigious MERIT award from the National Institute on Aging that recognizes investigators for an outstanding record of scientific achievements, sustained contributions to aging, and leadership and commitment to the field.
Dr. Van Eldik has an active research program focused on brain inflammation, and she is investigating why neurodegenerative disorders exhibit overactive and chronic inflammation that can lead to disruption of normal communication among brain cells and cause nerve cell damage. Her research is identifying potential points of intervention, with a goal of developing new drugs to slow the progression of impairment.
Dmitry Bulavin, MD, PhD, Professor
Group leader
IRCAN, 06107 Nice Cedex 02 France
DB 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 catalyzed the development of novel anti-cancer drugs by several companies. His academic research is primarily in the field of cancer molecular biology, with partcular 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).
Veronica Galvan, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Physiology and The Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Dr. Galvan studies the molecular pathways that link the regulation of brain aging to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and to other neurodegenerations. Her aim is to harness these pathways to delay, treat or prevent Alzheimer’s. Current studies in Dr. Galvan’s laboratory include the elucidation of the role of the target-of-rapamycin (TOR) in neuronal and cerebrovascular dysfunction of AD. In addition to genetic experiments in mouse models, Dr. Galvan tests potential drug candidate molecules with neurobehavioral, in vivo functional and optical imaging as well as cellular and molecular biology tools to determine the effect of these interventions on cognitive outcomes, and to define the mechanisms involved. Other projects in Dr. Galvan’s laboratory focus on (a) the role of TOR in neuronal and cerebrovascular dysfunction in non-diseased aged brain, (b) the role of adult neuronal TOR signaling in the regulation of whole-body metabolism and aging in mammals, and on (b) the potential of modulating adult neurogenesis or using neuronal precursor cells generated in vitro for the treatment of brain injury and neurodegeneration.
Valery Krizhanovsky, PhD, Professor
Group Leader, Karl and Frances Korn Chair in Life Sciences
Department of Molecular Cell Biology
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel
Valery Krizhanovsky’s research is focused on understanding of the role of cellular senescence in physiological and pathophysiological conditions.
Cellular senescence, a permanent state of cell cycle arrest accompanied by a complex phenotype that affects the microenvironment, is an essential mechanism that limits tumorigenesis and tissue damage. However, senescent cells accumulate in premalignant lesions, sites of tissue damage and in normal tissues during aging. If senescent cells are not cleared by the immune system, persist and accumulate in tissues, they have the potential to promote pathological conditions. Krizhanovsky lab studies how senescent cells affect cancer, aging and age-related diseases as well as embryonic development.
Dr. Krizhanovsky was one of the pioneers to study the role of cellular senescence in tissue damage and repair and the interaction of senescent cells with the immune system. Recently Krizhanovsky laboratory discovered a novel mechanism of interaction of senescent cells with other cells that regulates the immune surveillance of senescent cells. Research at Krizhanovsky laboratory showed presence of cellular senescence in the placenta; thus providing, together with other laboratories, the first evidence that senescence can play a role in embryonic development. Current research at Krizhanovsky laboratory also focuses on: Cellular senescence in aging and age-related diseases; Interaction of senescent cells with the immune system; Cellular senescence in premalignant lesions and cancer.
Björn Schumacher, PhD, Professor,
Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Disease
CECAD Research Center,University of Cologne
Germany
Since 2013, Björn Schumacher is full professor for Genome Stability in Ageing and Diseases at the “Cluster of Excellence: Cellular Stress Responses in Ageing-Associated Diseases” (CECAD) and since 2014 the acting director of the CECAD Research Centre at the University of Cologne. He received his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich and conducted his postdoctoral research as EMBO and Marie Curie fellow at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. B.S. received the innovation prize of the State of Northrhine-Westphalia, the European Research Council (ERC) starting grant, and coordinates the FP7 Marie Curie initial training network on chronic DNA damage in ageing (CodeAge). Professor Schumacher is President of the German Society for Ageing Research (DGfA) and serves on several editorial boards. His research interest focuses on the molecular mechanisms through which DNA damage contributes to cancer development and ageing-associated diseases. Employing the C. elegans system and mammalian disease models, his group uncovered cell-autonomous and systemic responses through which the ageing organism adapts to accumulating DNA damage with ageing. Through the understanding of the basic mechanisms of genome instability-driven ageing, Schumacher aims to contribute to the development of future strategies to prevent ageing-associated diseases.
Dongsheng Cai, MD, PhD, Professor
Department of Molecular Pharmacology
Institute of Aging
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, New York 10461, USA
Dr. Cai is professor in Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Institute of Aging, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He received his medical training and Ph.D. in China from 1988 to 2000, and post-doctoral training at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School from 2000 to 2005. He was appointed as Assistant Professor in 2005 at University of Wisconsin-Madison before he was recruited to his current institution in 2008. Dr. Cai is an international leader in studying neural mechanism of aging as well as related metabolic syndrome. His research interest is focused on understanding the role of central nervous system in the development and intervention of metabolic syndrome, aging and related diseases. First, they are studying the interactions between various signaling cascades and neuronal regulatory network that underlie the development of obesity- and aging-associated neural dysfunctions and subsequent whole-body pathophysiology. Second, they are identifying intrinsic molecular and cellular pathways which can counteract obesity- and aging-related neural dysfunctions. Finally, they are aiming to develop novel and effective strategies of molecular and cell therapies to break the pathogenic connections, leading to the prevention and treatment of metabolic and aging-related diseases.
Matt Kaeberlein, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Co-Director, UW Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging
Director, SAGEWEB
Dr. Kaeberlein graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in Mathematics from Western Washington University in 1997. He earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002, and performed his post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Stanley Fields in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. Kaeberlein was appointed to his current position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington in 2006 and is the incoming Associate Director of the University of Washington Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging.
His research is centered on understanding the genetic and environmental factors that control aging using yeast, nematodes, and mice as model systems. His group has contributed to seminal discoveries in this area, including defining the importance of sirtuins in aging, the role of TOR signaling in the response to dietary restriction, and the identification of the hypoxic response as a new longevity pathway. Dr. Kaeberlein has coauthored more than 70 publications in top scientific journals and books, and he has been recognized with several prestigious awards including selection as an Alzheimer’s Association New Investigator, an Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging Award, and a Breakthroughs in Gerontology Award from the Glenn Foundation and the American Federation for Aging Research.
Ji Xunming, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Vice President
Xuanwu hospital, Beijing Capital University, Beijing, China
Dr. Ji’s achievement mainly include following aspects: (1) severe stroke high morbidity and mortality in China the status quo, research and confirmed that based on the reconstruction of the cerebral blood flow of regional intravascular low efficacy and safety of the treatment of acute cerebral infarction, developed brain protection, therapeutic apparatus and fluids at low temperature is established on the basis of the reconstruction of the cerebral blood flow of regional intravascular low temperature cerebral protection treatment, significantly improve the successful rate of acute cerebral infarction. (2) stenosis or occlusive cerebrovascular disease in China, a high proportion of intracranial lesions (55% VS 9%) in our country, the existing operation, and the current situation of drug control effect is not ideal, set up the double upper arm remote ischemic preconditioning treatment, significantly decreased in patients with symptomatic intracranial artery stenosis recurrence of stroke, in the development of medical instruments, on the basis of the remote endogenous protective mechanisms of ischemic preconditioning were studied. (3) for cerebral venous thrombosis early diagnosis difficult in our country, the problem of high morbidity, mortality, from basic to clinical series of research, found the pathological physiology evolution law of cerebral venous thrombosis, screening the early diagnostic markers, developed venous sinus thrombosis treatment equipment, set up and promote the way the endovascular treatment of severe cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, improve cerebral venous thrombosis early diagnostic rate, caused severe cerebral venous thrombosis treatment success rate in China in the international leading level.
Dudley Lamming, PhD, Assistant Professor
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine
Madison, WI 53705, USA
Dudley Lamming, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. He received his bachelor's degree in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he studied the biology of aging using yeast as a model system in the laboratory of David Sinclair. Dr. Lamming then joined the laboratory of David Sabatini at the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research, where he transitioned to studying the biology of aging in mammalian model systems.
The Lamming laboratory is primarily focused on understanding the physiological role played by the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), a protein kinase that, through a diverse set of substrates, regulates cellular processes including growth, metabolism, and aging. Recent work has shown that rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTOR signaling, can promote health and longevity in model organisms including mammals. As detailed by Dr. Lamming in a recent review article - Rapalogs and mTOR inhibitors as anti-aging therapeutics - understanding and manipulating the mTOR signaling pathway may provide insight into the treatment of age-related diseases, including diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer.
Ying Mao, M.D., Ph.D., Professor
Vice President, Hua Shan Hospital, and Vice Chairman of Department of Neurosurgery Fudan University
Dr. Mao already published over 300 papers (more than 180 in English), and over 20 patents. Currently he is the vice chairman in Department of Neurosurgery at Huashan hospital, Fudan University, the vice president of Chinese Neurosurgical Society, and the president of Chinese Neurosurgical Society in Shanghai, and also many committee members in many Chinese, Asian and international neurosurgical societies.
He was awarded “Guanghua Scholarship” as an outstanding graduate student by an overseas Chinese organization (1992), “New Star Project” as an outstanding young clinician by Shanghai Municipal Government (2000), “Top 10 Excellent Youth” by Shanghai JingAn District Government (2002), “Wu Jieping Medical Research Award & Pau Janssen Pharmaceutical Research Award” (2004), “Excellent Medical New Star” by Shanghai Municipal Government (2004), “Outstanding Medical Academic Leader” and “ShuGuang Scholar” by Shanghai Municipal Government (2005), “Top 10 Excellent Youth Researchers in Shanghai” by Shanghai Government (2008), “Excellent Youth Doctors” as outstanding clinician in China by Ministry of Public Health of China (2009), "Outstanding Scientific and Technological Researchers" by the Chinese Science Association (2011), "Top ten scientific and technological elite of Shanghai" by Shanghai Association for Science and Technology (2011), “Outstanding contribution award” by Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University (2012), “Top 10 outstanding doctors” by Shanghai Municipal Government (2012), “Outstanding Contribution Award for young researchers” by Shanghai Municipal Government (2013).
Vincent GELI, Ph.D., Professor
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 pioneering 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.
Julie K. Andersen, Ph.D., Professor
Buck Institute for Research in Aging, California, USA
Dr. Andersen is pursuing a wide array of leads toward treatments for complex disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Recently, the laboratory has joined efforts with the Lithgow laboratory at the Buck institute as part of a collaborative project aimed at identifying novel drugs that eliminate neurotoxic protein deposits in patients diagnosed with these devastating disorders. This would fill critical unmet need for drugs that can block disease progression in the brains of patients already impacted by these conditions. Joint research from the Andersen-Lithgow laboratory has recently identified a factor called TFEB as being critical to this process. A recent drug screen performed by our laboratories has identified a novel series of potent, structurally-related compounds that activate TFEB and prevent neurodegenerative phenotypes in C. elegans models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Independent bioinformatic analysis suggests that these compounds have favorable characteristics for CNS-acting drugs in humans including high brain availability and low toxicity. Current efforts are towards pre-clinical studies in order to provide appropriate proof-of-principle to move forward into human phase I trials. A recent independent study from the Andersen laboratory has also identified lysosomal dysfunction as a prime driver of elevated toxic iron levels which occur in these disorders and suggests that these drugs may provide additional benefit by preventing associated brain metal toxicity. In a recent collaborative effort with the Campisi lab, the Andersen lab has shown that a process known as cellular senescence, previously associated primarily with aging in peripheral tissues, may also play an important role in age-related brain pathologies. The laboratory is working to identify novel 'senolytics', compounds which prevent age-related brain senescence, as a novel potential cure.
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD
Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Director of The Glenn Laboratories for the Biology of Aging, Deputy Director of Stanford Center on Longevity, Stanford University
Chief, Neurology Service, and Director, Rehabilitation Research & Development Center of Excellence, Palo Alto VA Medical Center
Thomas A. Rando is an internationally recognized researcher on the biology of aging, with a particular focus on stem cell aging. His lab pioneered the recent use of heterochronic parabiosis to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging and rejuvenation, demonstrating that factors in young blood are able to restore youthful molecular and functional properties to aged cells and tissues. Based on the seminal work from his laboratory, dozens of laboratories around world have explored systemic regulation of cell and tissue aging using heterochronic parabiosis. Recently, based on this body of evidence, a clinical trial was initiated to test the potential benefits of infusion of plasma from young donors into patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Rando is Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he is also the Director of the Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging. He is Chief of Neurology at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, and he is Director of the Center to Tissue Regeneration, Repair, and Restoration (CTR3) at the Palo Alto VA. This is a translational research center focused on the intersection of stem cell therapeutics, bioengineering, and physical medicine approaches to restore tissue structure and function after injury. Dr. Rando is Deputy Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, a multidisciplinary program focusing on the challenges and opportunities of an aging demographic. He is also currently a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology.
Danica Chen, PhD
Associate Professor
University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Danica Chen is an Associate Professor of Metabolic Biology, Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology at University of California at Berkeley, a member of Berkeley Stem Cell Center, and a member of QB3 Consortium in Lifespan Extension. She is a Searle Scholar, an Ellison Scholar, a Kavli Fellow, and a Hellman Fellow. Dr. Chen received Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from University of California at Berkeley and obtained postdoctoral training in biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research aims to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying aging-associated conditions and elucidate which aspects of aging-associated conditions are reversible. Recent studies from her lab have revealed mitochondrial stresses as causes of stem cell exhaustion and tissue degeneration during aging. She identified mitochondrial stress resistance programs that become dysregulated in aged stem cells, and demonstrated these programs can be targeted to improve survival and regenerative capacity of aged stem cells. These findings give hope for targeting aging-associated dysregulated cellular protective programs, such as the pathways regulated by NAD+-dependent enzymes sirtuins, to reverse stem cell aging, tissue degeneration and dysfunction.
Jack Kupferman, J.D.
President of Gray Panthers, NYC Network
Founding member of the Stakeholder Group on Ageing at the UN
A member of the Executive Committee of the NGO Committee on Ageing at the United Nations.
Globally, Jack has had a key role in assuring that the concerns of older persons are prominently featured in the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. He also co-chairs a small fund to promote innovations in aging services for NGOs in the least developed nations. One project funded microfinance-lending opportunities for older women in rural Pakistan. His leadership and advocacy in building coalitions that work toward a global instrument to protect the human rights of older persons are ongoing and effective.
Through Gray Panthers (Activism and Advocacy Against Ageism), in addition to overseeing daily operations, he has chaired task forces, including one on Emergency Planning concerns for older persons and those with functional needs following Superstorm Sandy; and advocated for improvements in New York’s Nursing Home enforcement mechanisms. Understanding the importance of intergenerational solidarity, he has built an internship program for motivated college students to become agents of change for aging.
Importantly, in his capacity at the Department for the Aging (DFTA), he successfully supervised and enhanced the appeals process for the NYC Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption program – NYC’s $100 million program for rental assistance for seniors – during the period it was administered by DFTA. Among other responsibilities, Jack currently oversees contractors providing legal assistance to NYC’s seniors.
Jack received his undergraduate degree from Colgate University and a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School. A true New Yorker, his childhood was spent at the family owned and run rest home for the elderly in Rockland County, New York. This is where the seeds of his passion were sown.
Ilia Stambler, Ph.D., a researcher
The Department of Science, Technology and Society, of Bar Ilan University, Israel.
His research focuses on the history of aging and life extension research. He is the author of A History of Life-extensionism in the Twentieth Century. In addition, he cooperates in mathematical modeling of aging and life-extending processes and is involved in advocacy for aging and longevity research.
Holly M. Brown-Borg, Ph.D., Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor
Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Therapeutics, University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences, 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.
Aubrey de Grey, MA, PhD.
The Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation, California, USA
Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist based in Cambridge, UK and Mountain View, California, USA, and is the Chief Science Officer of SENS Research Foundation, a California-based 501(c)(3) biomedical research charity that performs and funds laboratory research dedicated to combating the aging process. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research, the world’s highest-impact peer-reviewed journal focused on intervention in aging. He received his BA in computer science and Ph.D. in biology from the University of Cambridge. His research interests encompass the characterisation of all the accumulating and eventually pathogenic molecular and cellular side-effects of metabolism (“damage”) that constitute mammalian aging and the design of interventions to repair and/or obviate that damage. Dr. de Grey is a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and sits on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of numerous journals and organisations. He is a highly sought-after speaker who gives 40-50 invited talks per year at scientific conferences, universities, companies in areas ranging from pharma to life insurance, and to the public.
Michael D. West, Ph.D.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, BioTime, Inc. California, USA
Michael West is Co-CEO of BioTime, a biotechnology company focused on applying regenerative medicine to age-related disease. Prior to that, he led Ocata Therapeutics focused on reprogramming aged somatic cells to pluripotency using nuclear transfer, and prior to that, he was the founder of Geron Corporation where he led work in telomere biology and the isolation of human embryonic stem cells.
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 serve 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 project, 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.
S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., Professor
The School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago
S. Jay Olshansky received his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Chicago in 1984. He is currently a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The focus of his research to date has been on estimates of the upper limits to human longevity, exploring the health and public policy implications associated with individual and population aging, forecasts of the size, survival, and age structure of the population, pursuit of the scientific means to address the underlying causes of aging-related disease, and global implications of the re-emergence of infectious and parasitic diseases. Dr. Olshansky is on the Board of Directors of the American Federation of Aging Research.
Heng Zhao, PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, CA, USA
Dr. Zhao received both his BS and MS degrees from the School of Pharmacy, West China University of Medical Sciences in Chengdu, China. He then received his PhD degree from the School of Medicine, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan, and received post-doctoral training from School of Medicine at Stanford University, California, USA. In 2006, he started his own laboratory in the Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His lab is the first to show that ischemic postconditioning protects against cerebral ischemia, and is also among the very first to study the protective effects of remote limb pre- and postconditioning against focal cerebral ischemia. His lab has been actively studying the underlying protective mechanisms of ischemic postconditioning, in particular, the roles of the Akt/mTOR pathways. Dr. Zhao is also interested in studying the interactive effects between brain injury and the immune system, for which his lab has shown the distinctive roles of T cell subsets in stroke-induced brain injury, and the unique role of T cells in stroke-induced immunodepression.
Anis Larbi, PhD, Associate Professor
Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), National University of Singapore, Singapore
Anis Larbi received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada performed at the Research Center on Aging. The Aging program is his leading is part of several initiatives such as the Singapore Longitudinal Aging Study (SLAS), the SG90 Healthspan study, other longitudinal, interventional and cross-sectional studies as well as a Phase-IV clinical trial on influenza vaccination in elderly. His main theme is to understand how immunological history relates to health of aging humans with a focus on the immune system, metabolic diseases, infectious diseases, inflammation and age-related conditions in humans. The causes for increasing susceptibility to infections and other diseases with aging are not clearly defined. Loss and unbalanced immune functions is one hypothesis to explain age-related decreased immunosurveillance, response to vaccination as well increased levels of pro-inflammatory molecules. The expansion of late-stage differentiated T cells, occupying the immunological space as well as inflamm-aging is associated with chronic stimulation of the immune system. Persistent infections seem to be an important driving force leading to immunosenescence. How stem cells adapt to aging is a growing focus of the laboratory. His team is interested in defining aging and its components including healthy aging, molecular signatures of age-related conditions as well as candidate pathways for interventions. Dr. larbi was appointed in 2016 Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Canada.
Michael J. Zigmond, PhD, Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Psychiatry
Pittsburgh Institute of Neurodegenerative Disease, Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Neurobiology
Professor at University of Pittsburgh, International Distinguished Professor at Fudan University almost 200 publications including forthcoming edited book on the neurobiology of brain disorders, Lifetime Achievement Award from the US Society for Neuroscience, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Zigmond and his research team have continued their studies of cellular and animal models to examine Parkinson's disease (PD), which they believe is a multi-factorial disorder. A major focus of the lab is the role of intracellular signaling cascades in determining the viability of dopamine (DA) neurons. They hypothesize, for example, that trophic factors such as GDNF and oxidative stress can both stimulate intracellular survival cascades, including those involving MAP kinases. They further believe that endogenous trophic factor expression can be enhanced by exercise which in turn can be neuroprotective. And they have evidence that protection also can derive from acute exposure to low levels of a neurotoxin, a form of preconditioning. Last year their work included studies of the impact of oxidative stress induced by 6-hydroxydopamine, a DA analogue that is concentrated in DA cells and rapidly breaks down to form reactive oxygen species. Results from these and other studies suggest that DA neurons react to stress by initiating a set of protective responses. Learning more about these responses may provide insights into new treatment modalities for PD.
Simon Melov, Ph.D., Professor
Co-Director of the Phenotyping Core, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA 94945, USA
Simon Melov is one of the founding faculty of the Institute, and has been at the Buck since its doors opened in 1999. He has broad expertise in multiple domains and model systems of aging, including C. elegans biology, functional decline with age in mice, the role of endogenous oxidative stress in the mitochondria, exercise physiology and age-related disease.
Over the last few years, a key focus of the Melov lab has been to define what “aging" means in the context of different organ systems in aging mice, and to use non-invasive techniques to quantitate and enumerate such functional changes. The end goal is to be able to relate age-related functional decline in mice to human aging. Other research interests include the development of molecular techniques to better understand how single cells change with age, and then to use that understanding to elucidate how such changes impact tissue function.
Dr. Melov has always placed a high value on collaborative studies, believing that in the current research environment, the best science is done by synergizing expertise. Based on multiple collaborations, he has published with most of the faculty at the Institute, and has maintained collaborations with researchers at other locations as well. This approach has consistently resulted in multiple discoveries being made in conjunction with other laboratories within the institute, as well as those outside.
Dr. Melov received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of London in the UK. He held positions at Emory University in Atlanta and at the University of Colorado in Boulder before joining the faculty of the Buck Institute as an associate professor in 1999.
Jing YE, MD, PhD, Professor
Pôle Sino-Français de recherche en Sciences du Vivant et Génomique
Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
The goal of Dr Jing Ye is to lead the study of telomeres in aging research and medical practice. During her early carrier as a researcher, Dr Jing Ye identified a crucial role of the shelterin protein TRF2 during telomere replication. This was followed by unexpected results pointing to “non canonical” roles of the same protein in neuronal gene expression and function. These seminal discoveries contributed to the concept of tissue-specific signaling of telomere dysfunction. Her current work is devoted to understand how these pathways shape systemic aging. As a clinical doctor, Dr Jing Ye makes a substantial effort to translate her results in clinic, particularly by the development of innovative telomere assays to screen compounds preventing the installation of neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders in the aging population.
Shaohua Yang, MD.，PhD., Professor
Vice Chair, Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center,Fort Worth, TX. USA
Dr. Shaohua Yang graduated from Medical School Beijing Medical University (current Peking University Health Science Center) at 1991. After completing his neurosurgery residency at Beijing Tiantan Hospital, he stayed on as an attending neurosurgeon at the Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital. During his residency training and practice, Dr. Yang has received several municipal and national awards, including a first and a second place award of the Beijing Scientific and Technical Progress Award and a second place award of the National Scientific and Technical Progress Award. At 1997, Dr. Yang went to the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Florida for his fellowship training in cerebral vascular disease. At 2000, he attended the Graduate School of Biomedical Science at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. After received his Ph.D. in pharmacology and neuroscience at 2004, Dr. Yang joined the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center as a faculty and obtained tenure in 2009. Dr. Yang is currently Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. In 2010, Dr. Yang was recognized as Beijing High-Caliber Talent from Overseas by Beijing Municipal Government and serves as the oversea director of the Department of Physiopathology at the Beijing Neurosurgical Institute. Dr. Yang’s research has been focused on cerebral vascular disease and brain tumor. His research has been supported by NIH, AHA, Nestle Purina, UNTHSC and Chinese National Natural Science Foundation of China. Dr. Yang has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles and 3 books. He is currently serving as editorial board member in Experimental Biology and Medicine, Aging and Disease, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, Clinical Pharmacology, ISRN Neurology, Translational Stroke Research, and Chinese Journal of Stroke. He has been serving on grant study sections for American Heart Association, Italian Ministry of Health, National Health Institute, UK Research into Ageing, and National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has also serving as reviewer for over 30 SCI journals.
Lee Wei Lim, Assistant Professor
Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Dr. LIM Lee Wei is currently an Assistant Professor in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong. At the same time, he is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Sunway University, Malaysia. He conducted his Master of Affective Neuroscience and PhD studies at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Subsequently, Dr Lim spent several years of research scholarships including the European Marie Curie Research Fellowship and Kootstra Top-Talent Research Fellowship in Maastricht University and Oxford University. In 2011, he was also awarded the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew Research Fellowship to conduct his neuromodulation research for memory enhancement in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Dr Lim’s research focuses on the basic and translational neuroscience using the existing neuromodulatory treatment of deep brain stimulation for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. More specifically, his interests are directed towards understanding the neural basis of mood and anxiety disorders (depression, panic disorder and phobia), as well as learning and memory behavior in neurodegenerative disorders. The plan of investigation consists of different inter-related sections using cellular and molecular techniques, electrophysiology, behavioral and neurochemical methods, which together provide a multidisciplinary approach to understand how electrical stimulation interfaces with the brain networks, by controlling the neuronal activity and cellular microenvironment.
Jean Hébert, Ph.D., Professor
Departments of Neuroscience and Genetics
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY U.S.A.
Jean Hébert completed his PhD at the University of California, San Francisco, under the mentorship of Gail Martin where he studied cell-signaling factors that regulate some of the early steps in mammalian development. As a postdoctoral fellow in Susan McConnell’s lab at Stanford University, he then focused his attention on the fetal development of the neocortex, the part of our brains that we use for our highest cognitive and perceptual functions. Continuing with these interests, he joined the faculty at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2003 where he is currently a professor in the Neuroscience and Genetics departments. His group has primarily undertaken three lines of investigation related to the cerebral cortex. The first is understanding how a simple sheet of neuroepithelial cells early in embryogenesis develops into the adult neocortex, seat of our consciousness. The second line of investigation examines issues related to cortical homeostasis in the adult, including astrocyte reactivity, oligodendrogenesis, and neurogenesis. And finally, a third aim is to establish protocols for replacing the principle neurons of the adult cerebral cortex when they are lost due to trauma, disease, or age-related degeneration.
Feng-Yan Sun, Ph.D., Professor
Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical college; Research Center of Aging and Medicine, Fudan University, China
Feng-Yan Sun, Professor of Fudan University, got her Ph.D. degree from the Department of Neurobiology of Shanghai Medical University in 1987. From 1984 through 1985, she worked as an inviting researcher in Tokyo Science University, Tokyo. From 1990 through 1994, she worked as an International Forgarty Fellow and Visiting Scholar in Georgetown University, Washington DC. Professor Sun was appointed as Vice-Director and Professor (1995-1999) and Director (1999--2006) of State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, as Chair in the Department of Neurobiology (2000--) and director of Fudan Research Center of Aging and Medicine (2013--). She is selected as members of The Editorial Boards of Acta Pharmacologica Sinica, Neuroscience Bulletin, Chinese Journal of Clinical Neurosciences and Acta Physiologica Sinica. Professor Sun has been engaged in teaching and research in Fudan University. Her research interest is studying on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal injury and neuroprotection in normal and aging brains. She has reported that newly generated neurons in non-neurogenic regions induced by ischemic injury can reform regional and distal neural networks in adult rat brains after stroke, including new formed striatonigral and corticonigral projections. The capacity of neurogenesis in the adult brains after stroke was significantly reduced by aging, which was associated by increase of apoptosis of new neurons. Recently, she found that striatal reactive astrocytes stimulated by a transient occlusion of cerebral artery can be precursor cells for new neurons and become mature and functional neurons, which can be enhanced by exogenous administration of VEGF in the brains. Besides, she also worked on the mechanism of central neuritic dystrophy in aging and diabetic brains. She has been published more than 80 papers in the international pear review scientific journals as first or corresponding authors. She was awarded as Chang-Kong Scholar in 1999-2004 and HLHL Prize in 2004.
Kristen Fortney, PhD