Abstract
While chronological age is arguably the strongest risk factor for most major causes of death, and disease, same-aged individuals remain heterogeneous in their susceptibilities to these various outcomes. Quantifying the aging process, and in doing so, defining measurable estimates of ‘biological aging’ (in contrast to chronological aging) has become a major initiative in Geroscience research. In this symposium, leaders in the fields of epidemiology and biology of aging will discuss cutting-edge methods for quantifying the human aging process. These will include discussion of measures based on proteomic, genomic, and epigenomic data that are generated by applying multidisciplinary methods from systems biology, network analysis, and mathematical demography, and epidemiology. Dr. Ferrucci will describe a newly developed proteomic biomarker of aging; Dr. Sabastiani will describe protein signatures of aging and longevity in a centenarian cohort; Dr. Cohen, will discuss quantification of dysregulation in gene expression networks; and Dr. Levine will describe a novel and more informative epigenetic clock of aging and healthspan. Speakers will address the validity of these measures for predicting various aging outcomes, how they can be applied to capture epidemiological and demographic health trends, and describe potential underlying mechanism related to basic biology of aging. Finally, Dr. Belsky will discuss how genomic measures of aging can facilitate assessment of intervention efficacy, by providing a more immediate endpoint that can be measured at any stage in the lifescourse. He will also discuss the effect of precipitating social, behavioral, and demographic factors-providing further insight into epidemiologically observed health disparities.