Workshop: Connecting the Biological and Physical Principles of Mammalian Aging; Arlington, VA; May 15-16, 2014

功能丧失在自然界中无处不在，从生物体的老化到人类工程系统的衰败。随着时间的推移，植物和动物失去功能并死亡，山脉被侵蚀，建筑物和设备在结构上失效和腐烂。在许多非生命系统中，已经阐明了管理这种功能丧失的一般原则，这些原则可能适用于衰老。然而，在生物系统中，已经提出了许多情景和无数机制来解释生物体结构和功能的恶化。在寻找控制系统的一般原理和“杠杆”，包括改变导致衰老的过程的途径方面，从系统水平上看哺乳动物的衰老是一个关键组成部分。在过去的20年里，随着更好的实验技术的发展，人们已经积累了大量的实验数据，并正在收集定量数据，这些数据可以用来设计进一步的实验和发展衰老的定量理论。物理学的经验是，当一个人将子系统动力学的细节整合到更整体的系统层面的方法中，并寻找支配物理过程的基本原理时，我们就会对发展对自然的可证伪的理论理解有更深的洞察。这种方法论可以为理解生物衰老提供新的和重要的见解。研讨会：“将哺乳动物衰老的生物学和物理学原理联系起来”将汇集大约25名科学家。其中大约一半是生物学家，一半是物理学家。会议将集中讨论与哺乳动物衰老相关的模型系统。研讨会将讨论当前对老龄化的理解、相关数据和未来方向。讨论感兴趣的话题包括百岁老人老化、过早衰老、癌症和衰老等。其他可能感兴趣的问题是整个物种的老龄化。人类配子似乎已经有数百万年没有衰老了，地球上的生命作为一个整体也没有衰老，也许信息复制的原理、信息载体的死亡和进化过程共同挑战了生命的衰老。对展示和讨论新的、可能是思考性的想法持开放态度的年轻科学家将参加研讨会，这些想法将导致对老龄化的新视角。参与者的混合构成将激发新的研究思路。研讨会上的讲座和讨论将被记录下来，并向公众提供。

Loss of functionality is ubiquitous across Nature, from aging in organisms to the decay of human engineered systems. With time, plants and animals lose functionality and die, mountains erode, buildings and devices structurally fail and decay. In many nonliving systems general principles have been articulated that govern this loss of functionality and these may be applicable to aging. In biological systems, however, a multitude of scenarios and myriads of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the deterioration of the architecture and function of organisms. Looking at mammalian aging from a systems level viewpoint is a critical component in the search for general principles and "levers" that control the system, including the paths to alter the processes leading to aging. A vast amount of experimental data has been accumulated and, with the development of better experimental techniques during the past 20 years, quantitative data is being collected that can be used to design further experiments and develop quantitative theories of aging. The experience in physics is that when one integrates the details of sub-system dynamics into a more holistic systems level approach and search for underlying principles that govern physical processes we gain deeper insight into developing falsifiable theoretical understandings of Nature. This methodology could provide new and important insights into understanding biological aging. The Workshop: "Connecting the Biology and Physical Principles of Mammalian Aging" will bring together approximately 25 scientists. Approximately half of them will be biologists and half physicists. The meeting will focus on model systems relevant to mammalian aging. The workshop will have discussion of the current understanding of aging, the relevant data, and future directions. Topics of interest to the discussion, but not limited only to these, are centenarian aging, premature aging, cancer and aging, etc. Other questions that could be of interest are the aging of species as a whole. It seems that the human gametes have not aged for millions of years, that Life as a whole on Earth has not aged, and that perhaps the principles of information copying, death of the individual carriers of information, and evolutionary processes together defy the aging of Life. Young scientists who are open to presenting and discussing new, possibly speculative, ideas that will lead to a new perspective on aging will participate at the workshop. The mixed composition of the participants will stimulate new research ideas. The talks and discussions at the workshop will be recorded and made available to the public.