Biogerontology

Biogerontology is the sub-field of gerontology concerned with the biological aging process, its evolutionary origins, and potential means to intervene in the process. The term "biogerontology" was coined by S. Rattan, and came in regular use with the start of the journal BIOGERONTOLOGY in 2000. It involves interdisciplinary research on the causes, effects, and mechanisms of biological aging. Biogerontologist Leonard Hayflick has said that the natural average lifespan for a human is around 92 years and, if humans do not invent new approaches to treat aging, they will be stuck with this lifespan. James Vaupel has predicted that life expectancy in industrialized countries will reach 100 for children born after the year 2000. Many surveyed biogerontologists have predicted life expectancies of more than three centuries for people born after the year 2100. Other scientists, more controversially, suggest the possibility of unlimited lifespans for those currently living. For example, Aubrey de Grey offers the "tentative timeframe" that with adequate funding of research to develop interventions in aging such as strategies for engineered negligible senescence, "we have a 50/50 chance of developing technology within about 25 to 30 years from now that will, under reasonable assumptions about the rate of subsequent improvements in that technology, allow us to stop people from dying of aging at any age". The idea of this approach is to use presently available technology to extend lifespans of currently living humans long enough for future technological progress to resolve any remaining aging-related issues. This concept has been referred to as longevity escape velocity. Biomedical gerontology, also known as experimental gerontology and life extension, is a sub-discipline of biogerontology endeavoring to slow, prevent, and even reverse aging in both humans and animals. Biogerontologists vary in the degree to which they focus on the study of the aging process as a means of mitigating the diseases of aging, or as a method for extending lifespan.

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Ageing

Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In a broader sense, ageing can refer to single cells within an organism which have ceased dividing, or to the population of a species. In humans, ageing represents the accumulation of changes in a human being over time and can encompass physical, psychological, and social changes.

Timeline of aging research

This timeline lists notable events in the history of research into senescence or biological aging, including the research and development of life extension methods, brain aging delay methods and rejuvenation. People have long been interested in making their lives longer and healthier. The most anсient Egyptian, Indian and Chinese books contain reasoning about aging. Ancient Egyptians used garlic in large quantities to extend their lifespan.

Longevity escape velocity

In the life extension movement, longevity escape velocity (LEV), actuarial escape velocity or biological escape velocity is a hypothetical situation in which one's remaining life expectancy (not life expectancy at birth) is extended longer than the time that is passing. For example, in a given year in which longevity escape velocity would be maintained, technological advances would increase people's remaining life expectancy more than the year that just went by.

Epigenetic ageing accelerates before antiretroviral therapy and decelerates after viral suppression in people with HIV in Switzerland: a longitudinal study over 17 years

Jacques Fellay, Christian Axel Wandall Thorball

Background Accelerated epigenetic ageing can occur in untreated HIV infection and is partially reversible with effective antiretroviral therapy (ART). We aimed to make a long-term comparison of epigenetic ageing dynamics in people with HIV during untreated ...

ELSEVIER2023

Mitochondrial Creatine Kinase Attenuates Pathologic Remodeling in Heart Failure

Yi Zhang, Annina Stuber, Yao Wang, Ashish Gupta

BACKGROUND: Abnormalities in cardiac energy metabolism occur in heart failure (HF) and contribute to contractile dysfunction, but their role, if any, in HF-related pathologic remodeling is much less established. CK (creatine kinase), the primary muscle ene ...

LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS2022

Homeostatic mini-intestines through scaffold-guided organoid morphogenesis

Matthias Lütolf, Nathalie Brandenberg, Yoji Tabata, Nikolche Gjorevski, Mikhail Nikolaev, Nicolas Antoine Vincent Broguiere, Olga Mitrofanova, Devanjali Dutta

Epithelial organoids, such as those derived from stem cells of the intestine, have great potential for modelling tissue and disease biology(1-4). However, the approaches that are used at present to derive these organoids in three-dimensional matrices(5,6)r ...

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP2020