Aubrey de Grey on the program:

I have regretted not having thought of the title "Undoing aging" for our 2007 book "Ending Aging", ever since a reader accidentally used that name for it in an email to us. I am thus delighted to have this opportunity to use it now. It perfectly encapsulates the nature of the approach to maintaining youthfulness in old age that SENS Research Foundation pursues: the repair of the self-inflicted damage that the body generates as side-effects of essential metabolic processes. 
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This conference will, accordingly, mirror the structure of SENS, with sessions devoted to each strand and to the enabling technologies that multiple strands will rely upon. 

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Undoing Aging 2019 program

Detail program and schedule for Undoing Aging 2019 to be announced later in the year.

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Undoing Aging 2018 program​

This was Undoing Aging 2018:

Thursday, 15th

12:00   Registration

1:00   Snacks

1:50   Welcome: Aubrey de Grey & Michael Greve

​Opening Keynote

​2:00 - 3:00 Anthony Atala, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

3:00 - 4:30 Session 1: Rejuvenating the intracellular space

The two SENS categories that have, arguably, seen the greatest contribution from research funded by SRF are those relating to damage within cells: mitochondrial mutations and "garbage". Our in-house team has made immense progress recently in rendering mitochondrial mutations harmless by installing "backup copies" in the nuclear genome, and O'Connor will provide updates on where that work stands. ​Honkanen and Moody will describe the state of play in relation to elimination of the two best-characterised types of intracellular garbage that drive major age-related diseases, namely atherosclerosis and macular degeneration.​

Matthew O'Connor, SENS Research Foundation, Inc. Richard Honkanen, University of Southern Alabama Kelsey Moody, Ichor Therapeutics ​

​5:00 - 6:00 ​Session 2: Short talks from submitted abstract

A dual variable Markov model to access the potential benefits of choroideremia gene therapy on quality adjusted life years Celine Halioua-Haubold, University of Oxford ​Reversal of phenotypes of cell senescence through modulation of mTOR signalling and the acid cytoskeleton Hannah Walters, University of Oxford Undoing aging- legal & regulatory factors  Sebastian Sethe, Denoon Legal, London A beta oligomer eliminiation impedes neurodegeneration and enhances cognition even in old aged mice  Dieter Willbold, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf ​

6:00 - 7:30 ​Session 3: Restoring extracellular matrix supplenessDamage outside the cell

Extracellular changes play a major role in mediating the loss of function of cells and tissues. Talks in this part of the conference will cover a variety of such problems.  ​ ​Spiegel and Clark are both researching the stiffening of the extracellular matrix, a process that contributes both to life-threatening and to cosmetic aspects of aging. Gorbunova will discuss the longevity-promoting function of a key extracellular fluidity-conferring molecule, hyaluronic acid.  ​

David Spiegel, Yale University   Collagen crosslinking, do we really understand it? Jonathan Clark, Babraham Institute   Mechanisms of longevity in long-lived mammals ​Vera Gorbunova, University of Rocherster ​

7:30 ​Welcome Reception & Networking

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Friday, 16th

8:30 ​Coffee & Bites

9:30 - 11:00 Session 4: Drugs - Finding short cutsRegenerative medicine

We will hear, from Conlon and Zhavoronkov, how drugs can be discovered and repurposed using state-of-the-art computational techniques. Finally, Wagers's focus will be the role of circulating, naturally-occurring proteins in mediating and counteracting age-related deleterious changes of gene expression in a wide range of tissues.​

Systems pharmacology interventions in ageing Nichola Conlon, Nuchido Alex Zhavoronkov, Insilico Medicine Amy Wagers, Harvard University​ ​​​

​11:30 - 1:00 ​Session 5: Cleaning up the extracellular space

​Extracellular changes play a major role in mediating the loss of function of cells and tissues. Talks in this part of the conference will cover a variety of such problems. Planque and Graef will present novel approaches to the removal of aggregated material, notably the protein transthyretin which misfolds particularly easily and may be the main factor responsible both for important diseases and for mortality in very old age.

Antibody catalyzed dissolution of the protein detritus that causes aging Stephanie Planque, University of Texas - Houston Isabella Graef, Eidos Alzheimer's Disease Begins as a Fixable Plumbing Problem Doug Ethell, Leucadia ​

1:00 ​Lunch

​2:00 - 3:30 ​Session 6: Short talks from submitted abstractsAbstracts

Healthspan pathway maps in model organisms and human Georg Fuellen, Rostock University Medical Center Circadian glucocorticoid oscillations preserve a population of adult hippocampal neural stem cells in the aging brain  CP Fitzsimons, University of Amsterdam Biological age is a development-associated stochastic variable and a druggable phenotype Peter Fedichev, Gero How to make clinical tests for longevity a public health priority? Didier Coeurnelle, Heales (Healthy Life Extension Society) Age-dependent increase of oxidative stress regulates microRNA-29 family preserving cardiac health Johanna Heid, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main Adding aging into the International Classification of Diseases Daria Khaltourina, International Longevity Alliance, Federal Research Institute for Health Organization and Informatics of Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow

4:00 - 5:30 ​Session 7: Regenerative medicine for age-related conditions​

In an ideal world, the whole of SENS would be viewed as regenerative medicine, since it is all about restoring structure to restore function; but that term has too much history to be broadened in such a way, so we adhere to its standard usage covering just stem cell therapy and tissue engineering. The manipulation of stem cells to generate safe and effective therapeutic reagents has advanced by leaps and bounds recently, and West, Sen and Russell are among the absolute leaders in this burgeoning area, especially where age-related conditions are concerned.

Mike West, AgeX Therapeutics, Inc & BioTime, Inc. Tissue Nanotransfection: Reprogramming the Tissue Microenvironment In vivo Chandan Sen, Ohio State University ​​ Jeanne Loring, Scripps Research Institute ​

​6:00 - 7:30 Session 8: Eliminating senescent cells

Two of the seven SENS damage categories consist of the elimination of cells that we have too many of: either because they are dividing too much or because they are not dying when they should. Kirkland, Lewis and de Keizer will discuss the range of methods currently under development for selectively eliminating cells that are doing us more harm than good: small molecules, suicide genes and engineered peptides.​​​​

James Kirkland, Mayo Clinic John Lewis, Oisín Biotechnologies                  ​Peter de Keizer, University Medical Center Utrecht ​

7:30 ​Networking

  
​Saturday, 17th

8:30 Coffee & Bites

9:30 - 11:00 ​Session 9:  Cancer immunotherapy

​​After decades of painfully slow progress, the stimulation of the immune system against cancer has become a hugely promising area, with the leading companies seeing precipitous growth. But is there even better to come? Colaco, ​​Hawthorne and Russell will present novel methods for weakening the ability of cancer (or indeed any) cells to render themselves invisible to the immune system.

Cancer Immunotherapy: the paradigm shift Camilo Colaco, ImmBio Ltd Here Come the NaNots Louis Hawthorne, NaNotics Inc:   Using cells to control the in vivo distribution and delivery of immunotherapeutics. ​Alan Russell, Carnegie Mellon University ​

11:30 - 12:30 ​Session 10:  Replacing whole organs

​The replacement of entire organs from a variety of sources may soon be far more practical than hitherto, Jones will describe new approaches to addressing the still-acute shortage of organs for transplant. Finally, the restoration of organ function can in principle be achieved not only via one-for-one replacement of a malfunctioning organ, but through more distributed means where a single "organoid" only partially substitutes; Lagasse will present one highly novel approach along these lines.

Tanya Jones, Arigos Biomedical, Inc. Growing a Surrogate Liver in a Lymph Node: From an Experimental Approach to a Potential Clinical Application Eric Lagasse, McGowan Institute​ ​

12:30 - 01:00 ​Special lecture:  Singapure´s arrival on the anti-aging scene

Brian Kennedy, Buck Institute and national University of Singapore

1:00 ​Lunch

2:00 - 3:30 ​Session 11: Short talks from submitted abstracts

Biogerontological program as a competitive sports activity Developing an integrative senolytic and regenerative treatment protocol Arkadi Prokopov, Athletic HighTech S.L., Spain Microvesicle-mediated regeneration and cellular aging N. Panagiotou, University of Glasgow Dissecting the pharmacological landscape of cancer cells to reveal novel target populations T.S. Toh, University of Sheffield, UK Downregulation of pin1 in human atherosclerosis and its association with vascular smooth muscle cell senescence Lei Lv, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Transient reprogramming for multifaceted reversal of aging Tapash Sarkar, Stanford University Pathway specific senescence targeting: Using full length proteins to discover a small molecule FOXO4/p53 interaction inhibitor Adam Blanden, CSO Antoxerene, Inc

4:00 - 5:30 ​Session 12: Biomarkers - Measuring efficacy

​​Most of SENS is still at a pre-clinical stage of development, where evidence of safety and efficacy can be obtained via short cuts that would not be available when treating humans. SRF has, therefore, always set its priorities both near-term and long-term, funding proof-of-concept research alongside work that will only have clear utility further downstream. The latter tend to cross the boundaries between SENS strands. First, it is crucial to be able to measure efficacy across the full range of metabolic markers, and Horvath, Fortney and Csordas will address three complementary "omics" domains in which changes with age - and therapeutic manipulations of those changes - can be monitored: epigenomics, metabolomics and proteomics

Epigenetic clocks: causes, consequences, and anti-aging treatments Steve Horvath, University of California, Los Angeles Molecular signatures of human mortality: biomarkers and therapies Kristen Fortney, BioAge, Inc. AgeCurve: deep age profiles via personal proteomics Attila Csordas, AgeCurve, Ltd. ​​

6:00 - 7:30 ​Session 13: Delivery - Getting to the problem

The conference's closing session will feature Calos, Scholz and Hebert telling us about new ways to get nucleic acids, proteins and cells (respectively) into places that standard methods can only inadequately reach.

Genetically engineering the muscles in your body Michele Calos, Stanford University Matthew Scholz, Immusoft Replacement as an approach to undo aging - even for the brain? Jean Hébert, Albert Einstein College of Medicine ​

7:30 Party