The new science of ageing

Start Time: 9.00am
Start Date: 10 May 2010
End Date: 11 May 2010
End Time: 5.00pm
Venue: The Royal Society, London

Organised by Professor Linda Partridge DBE FRS, Professor Janet Thornton CBE FRS and Professor Gillian Bates FRS

Immunosenescence

A one day conference: 22 April 2010, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham

An 'aged' immune system has a reduced capacity to mount robust immune responses. The elderly are therefore more susceptible to infectious agents, present a greater risk for disease, and exhibit diminished vaccine efficiency.

These characteristics, along with many other immunological perturbations, are described under the umbrella term; immunosenescence.

This one day conference, financed by the Roberts Fund in collaboration with the Graduate School, aims to widen interest in immunosenescence, by exploring ageing of the innate and adaptive immune system, while examining the causes and consequences of senescence in the immune compartment.

Lynne Cox, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, UK 
An exciting new paper by Harrison et al. [1] describes a highly significant extension of lifespan in mice fed dietary rapamycin.