The world population is rapidly aging—it is estimated that by 1950, around 17% of the population will be elderly. In this context, aging involves several physiological, psychological and highly complex social processes that vary from one person to another. For a long time, medical care for older adults has focused on treating chronic, age-related diseases and their associated consequences. Recently, biomedical research brings a novel point of view to develop more effective interventions by targeting the aging process itself rather than separate conditions. There is a growing number of reports indicating that aging is driven by several interconnected mechanisms and biological components referred to as the molecular pillars of aging. Interfering with these mechanisms could help to treat, prevent, and understand the development of age-related diseases and associated syndromes. This book provides a clinical perspective and general update on biomedical and genetic research in aging, moving from an update in the molecular pillars of aging to a perspective of the most recent pharmacological, clinical, and diagnostic applications using genomic approaches and techniques. While this book focuses on the specifics of genetics and genomics, it also adopts a clinical perspective of geroscience, which seeks to understand the genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms that make aging an important risk factor and, sometimes, a determining factor in the diseases and common chronic conditions of older people. Additionally, Clinical Genetics and Genomics of Aging is a significant contribution to support aging research, as it shows that collaboration across disciplines is relevant to progress in the field. As more and more people benefit from increased longevity, clinician and researchers will be empowered by this knowledge to contribute to the progress of aging research.

Recent studies have indicated that epigenetic processes may play a major role in both cellular and organismal aging. These epigenetic processes include not only DNA methylation and histone modifications, but also extend to many other epigenetic mediators such as the polycomb group proteins, chromosomal position effects, and noncoding RNA. The topics of this book range from fundamental changes in DNA methylation in aging to the most recent research on intervention into epigenetic modifications to modulate the aging process. The major topics of epigenetics and aging covered in this book are: 1) DNA methylation and histone modifications in aging; 2) Other epigenetic processes and aging; 3) Impact of epigenetics on aging; 4) Epigenetics of age-related diseases; 5) Epigenetic interventions and aging: and 6) Future directions in epigenetic aging research. The most studied of epigenetic processes, DNA methylation, has been associated with cellular aging and aging of organisms for many years. It is now apparent that both global and gene-specific alterations occur not only in DNA methylation during aging, but also in several histone alterations. Many epigenetic alterations can have an impact on aging processes such as stem cell aging, control of telomerase, modifications of telomeres, and epigenetic drift can impact the aging process as evident in the recent studies of aging monozygotic twins. Numerous age-related diseases are affected by epigenetic mechanisms. For example, recent studies have shown that DNA methylation is altered in Alzheimer’s disease and autoimmunity. Other prevalent diseases that have been associated with age-related epigenetic changes include cancer and diabetes. Paternal age and epigenetic changes appear to have an effect on schizophrenia and epigenetic silencing has been associated with several of the progeroid syndromes of premature aging. Moreover, the impact of dietary or drug intervention into epigenetic processes as they affect normal aging or age-related diseases is becoming increasingly feasible.

Aging has long since been ascribed to the gradual accumulation of DNA mutations in the genome of somatic cells. However, it is only recently that the necessary sophisticated technology has been developed to begin testing this theory and its consequences. Vijg critically reviews the concept of genomic instability as a possible universal cause of aging in the context of a new, holistic understanding of genome functioning in complex organisms resulting from recent advances in functional genomics and systems biology. It provides an up-to-date synthesis of current research, as well as a look ahead to the design of strategies to retard or reverse the deleterious effects of aging. This is particularly important in a time when we are urgently trying to unravel the genetic component of aging-related diseases. Moreover, there is a growing public recognition of the imperative of understanding more about the underlying biology of aging, driven by continuing demographic change.

Handbook of the Biology of Aging, Eighth Edition, provides readers with an update on the rapid progress in the research of aging. It is a comprehensive synthesis and review of the latest and most important advances and themes in modern biogerontology, and focuses on the trend of 'big data' approaches in the biological sciences, presenting new strategies to analyze, interpret, and understand the enormous amounts of information being generated through DNA sequencing, transcriptomic, proteomic, and the metabolomics methodologies applied to aging related problems. The book includes discussions on longevity pathways and interventions that modulate aging, innovative new tools that facilitate systems-level approaches to aging research, the mTOR pathway and its importance in age-related phenotypes, new strategies to pharmacologically modulate the mTOR pathway to delay aging, the importance of sirtuins and the hypoxic response in aging, and how various pathways interact within the context of aging as a complex genetic trait, amongst others. - Covers the key areas in biological gerontology research in one volume, with an 80% update from the previous edition - Edited by Matt Kaeberlein and George Martin, highly respected voices and researchers within the biology of aging discipline - Assists basic researchers in keeping abreast of research and clinical findings outside their subdiscipline - Presents information that will help medical, behavioral, and social gerontologists in understanding what basic scientists and clinicians are discovering - New chapters on genetics, evolutionary biology, bone aging, and epigenetic control - Provides a close examination of the diverse research being conducted today in the study of the biology of aging, detailing recent breakthroughs and potential new directions

The Biology of Senescence

This book is something which almost accidentally has developed very differently from how it was initially planned. The intention was to elaborate the part played by the immune system in ageing with the role of the thymus as central theme. It was to be essentially an expansion of a lecture I gave in 1970 and would inevitably have been concerned with much the same material as Walford's book, The Immunologic Theory of Aging, though from a different slant. What changed its character arose from a series of attempts to find logical connection between two findings that most gerontologists regard as axiomatic: that the lifespan of a mammal is genetically determined, and that the actual process of ageing is an accumulation of genetic error, of somatic mutations. It is possible that the connection is so indirect, circuitous and multiform that generations of detailed and unattractive research will be needed to elucidate it, or, more likely, the whole matter discarded as a non-problem. But a more inspiring approach does seem possible. The working hypothesis, which halfway through its writing became the new central theme of the book, arose when I was a member of a committee appointed by the Australian Academy of Science at the request of the Australian Government to advise on the danger from French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

The release of the complete version of the human genome sequence in 2003 has paved the way for defining gene function and genetic background for phenotypic variation in humans and allowed us to study the aging process in a new light. This new volume results from that research and focuses on the genetic and epigenetic process of aging. While the interpretation of the genome data is still in its initial stages, this new volume looks at the evolving understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in cellular processes, gene function associated with complex traits, epigenetic components involve in gene control and the creation of hypothesis-free genome-wide approaches. Longevity Genes: A Blueprint for Aging explores the genetic and genomic elements that can maintain a long life such as DNA damage mechanisms, epigenetics and the way we can use this knowledge to generate customized treatments. It touches on some of the multidisciplinary approaches as well as genomic-wide association technology used to analyze complex traits. This book describes the hunt for genes affecting complex traits using a high throughput technology, with adequate consideration for the selection of an appropriate population, applications of statistical genetics and computational biology, and most importantly, considering phenotype-genotype association studies. Longevity Genes provides coverage of not only established aspects of genetics and aging, but also new approaches and perceptions in this important area of research.

Robert Arking's Biology of Aging, 3rd edition, is an introductory text to the biology of aging which gives advanced undergraduate and graduate students a thorough review of the entire field. His prior two editions have also served admirably as a reference text for clinicians and scientists. This new edition captures the extraordinary recent advances in our knowledge of the ultimate and proximal mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of aging. As a result, six important conceptual changes are included here: · Clarified distinctions between the biological mechanisms involved in longevity determination and those involved in senescent processes. · A new conceptual framework around which we can organize all the new facts about aging. This will assist readers to make sense of the information and use the data to form their own ideas. · Increased knowledge of aging cells has lead to new ideas on how a cell transits from a healthy state to a senescent state, while still allowing for high levels of intra- and inter-specific variability. · Discussion of senescent mechanisms assists the reader to understand that aging is a non-programmatic loss of function, likely arising from the loss of regulatory signals, and so is modifiable in the laboratory. · Because the standard evolutionary story does not fully explain the evolution of social organisms, this edition also includes recent work dealing with intergenerational resource transfers. · Lastly, if aging mechanisms are plastic, then the demand to move these anti-aging interventions into the human arena will inevitably grow. A discussion of the biological and ethical arguments on both sides of the question frames the question in an appropriate manner. The mass of data related to aging is summarized into fifteen focused chapters, each dealing with some particular aspect of the problem. The last two chapters integrate all this material into a coherent view of how the relevant biological processes change over the life span. This view is expressed in two non-technical figures (you might say that the whole book exists to fully support Figs 9-4 & 14-9), whose meanings are elucidated as the reader progresses through the book.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Brilliant and enthralling.”​ —The Wall Street Journal A paradigm-shifting book from an acclaimed Harvard Medical School scientist and one of Time’s most influential people. It’s a seemingly undeniable truth that aging is inevitable. But what if everything we’ve been taught to believe about aging is wrong? What if we could choose our lifespan? In this groundbreaking book, Dr. David Sinclair, leading world authority on genetics and longevity, reveals a bold new theory for why we age. As he writes: “Aging is a disease, and that disease is treatable.” This eye-opening and provocative work takes us to the frontlines of research that is pushing the boundaries on our perceived scientific limitations, revealing incredible breakthroughs—many from Dr. David Sinclair’s own lab at Harvard—that demonstrate how we can slow down, or even reverse, aging. The key is activating newly discovered vitality genes, the descendants of an ancient genetic survival circuit that is both the cause of aging and the key to reversing it. Recent experiments in genetic reprogramming suggest that in the near future we may not just be able to feel younger, but actually become younger. Through a page-turning narrative, Dr. Sinclair invites you into the process of scientific discovery and reveals the emerging technologies and simple lifestyle changes—such as intermittent fasting, cold exposure, exercising with the right intensity, and eating less meat—that have been shown to help us live younger and healthier for longer. At once a roadmap for taking charge of our own health destiny and a bold new vision for the future of humankind, Lifespan will forever change the way we think about why we age and what we can do about it.

With the world's population getting increasingly older, there has never been a more pressing need for the study of old age and ageing. An Introduction to Gerontology provides a wide-ranging introduction to this important topic. By assuming no prior expert knowledge and avoiding jargon, this book will guide students through all the main subjects in gerontology, covering both traditional areas, such as biological and social ageing, and more contemporary areas, such as technology, the arts and sexuality. An Introduction to Gerontology is written by a team of international authors with multidisciplinary backgrounds who draw evidence from a variety of different perspectives and traditions.