IRB Barcelona BioMed Conferences
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have been puzzled about the effect of time on our physiology and decay. Only in the last decades notable advances have been made as we begin to unravel the causes and mechanisms of aging. On one hand, it is clear that epigenetic alterations accumulate with age, leading to disrupted cell function and tissue pathology. Exciting advances are now exploring whether epigenetic reprogramming can be sufficient to revert the phenotypic traits of aged organs. On the other hand, provoking new studies are increasingly supporting the mutational hypothesis of aging. It is evident that some stem cell clones acquire somatic mutations that endow them with a self-renewal advantage, leading to their expansion and tissue-takeover in old age. Various researchers are beginning to explore how clonal mosaicism can contribute to organismal aging across scales. At the crossroads of these hypotheses lies the blood and immune system, which pervades most organs and contributes to various critical mechanisms of aging and tumor control.
This conference will provide an interdisciplinary forum for researchers interested in aging, somatic mosaicism, epigenetics, plasticity, stem cells and immunity. We will give specific focus to methodological and quantitative advances from the fields of genomics and single-cell biology, which have led to a revolution in the way we are understanding aging and tumor evolution. A true synthesis of all these fields will be required to identify the best avenues to delay the onset of age-related diseases in the elderly.
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