Physics of Wear, Tear, Aging and Failure in Living and Nonliving Systems Conference

生物老化的特征是随着时间的推移，结构完整性丧失和功能衰退。一般认为，这些变化是随着年龄的增长而逐渐发生的，最终导致生物体的死亡。工程物理系统也会随着时间的推移而改变，再次失去结构完整性，最终无法执行其设计功能。本次研讨会将探讨在何种程度上，这些过程的一般想法可以应用到生活和非生活系统。关于生物衰老的潜在机制有许多建议，其中大多数集中在单个分子过程。例如，许多工作已经进入端粒缩短作为细胞衰老的一个非常具体的驱动因素的问题。然而，这项工作的大部分回避了一个核心问题，即衰老是否是生命中发生的物理和化学过程的必然结果，或者它是否是细胞执行的遗传和/或表观遗传程序的可修改结果。大多数工程系统的失败并不是因为其部件的预先程序化劣化，而是因为复杂系统相互作用时发生的自然物理过程。生命系统相似吗？这些都是研讨会要讨论的问题。有几种类型的老化过程发生在物理系统中。侵蚀、腐蚀和结构缺陷形成是导致结构完整性降低、保真度降低和物理设备最终失效的一些机制。不同的系统受制于这些基本机制的不同组合。在生命系统中，有机体的不同部分年龄不同。例如，免疫系统、皮肤和经历连续细胞更新的其他器官被认为由于细胞增殖能力的降低而老化。尽管存在许多关于如何通过细胞中发生的物理和化学过程来引起这种减少的“理论”，但对构成组织的细胞的增殖潜力的降低负责的细胞内机制还没有很好地理解。另一方面，动物的膝盖以不同的方式老化。在这种情况下，连续使用带来的摩擦导致软骨磨损，并且它逐渐变得越来越难用作关节。在衰老的第一个例子中，随着时间的推移，器官变得更容易受到各种疾病的影响，最终导致与疾病相关的死亡。在第二种情况下，动物无法与捕食者竞争，并被他们吃掉。当它们的部分失效时，生物和机械系统可以并且经常被修复。然而，修复过程本身也容易出错，不能无限期地保持下去。有多少50年代的汽车还在运行？无论是在个体层面还是在物种层面，这似乎都是正确的。但是，如果我们把生命作为一个整体来考虑，进化似乎已经违背了这个基本的限制，地球上的生命在地球历史的大部分时间里都是繁荣的。这仅仅是我们有限的生命经验的问题，还是进化总是会找到一个可行的策略。在这个研讨会将于2015年5月7日至8日在弗吉尼亚州泰森斯角举行。大约25名代表物理学，材料科学和生物学的科学家将讨论生命和非生命系统中衰老的物理原理和过程，生命和非生命系统之间的相似性和差异以及它们的修复和失败。研讨会的参与者将讨论非平衡热力学与衰老之间的关系，信息理论在描述衰老过程中是否有作用，以及这些信息如何在整个生命中保存，最后，我们可以从生命系统中学习强大的技术发展经验。该研讨会特别寻求青年科学家的代表参加研讨会，他们将带来他们对老龄化的看法，并向更有经验的同事学习。

Biological aging is characterized by loss of structural integrity and functional decline with time. It is generally believed that these changes occur gradually with age, leading to the eventual death of the organism. Engineered physical systems also change as time passes, again losing structural integrity and eventually failing to perform their designed function. This workshop will explore the extent to which general ideas regarding these processes can be applied to both living and nonliving systems. There have been many proposals regarding the underlying mechanisms of biological aging, most of which focus on a single molecular process. For example, much work has gone into the issue of telomere shortening as a very specific driver of cellular senescence. However, much of this work begs the central question of whether aging is an inevitable consequence of the physical and chemical processes that take place during life or alternatively whether it is a modifiable consequence of a genetic and/or epigenetic program that is being executed by the cells. Most engineered systems fail not because of prior programmed deterioration of its parts, but because of the natural physical processes that take place when complex systems interact with each other. Are living systems similar? These are the questions that the workshop will address. There are several types of aging processes that take place in physical systems. Erosion, corrosion, and structural defect formation are some of the mechanisms contributing to diminished structural integrity, decrease in fidelity and eventual failure of physical devices. Different systems are subject to different mixes of some of these fundamental mechanisms. In living systems, different parts of an organism age differently. For example, the immune system, the skin, and other organs subject to continuous cell renewal, are believed to age due to diminishing cell proliferative capacity. The intracellular mechanisms responsible for the reduction of the proliferative potential of the cells comprising the tissue are not well understood, although many "theories" exist of how such reduction could be brought by the physical and chemical processes taking place in a cell. On the other hand the knee of an animal ages in a different manner. In this case the friction brought by continuous use leads to wear of the cartilage, and it gradually becomes harder and harder to use as a joint. In the first example of aging the organs become more susceptible with time to various diseases and eventually lead to disease related death. In the second case the animal cannot compete with its predators and gets consumed by them. As their parts fail, biological and mechanical systems can and often are repaired. However, the repair process is also by its nature prone to errors, and cannot keep up indefinitely. How many cars from the 1950's are still operational? This seems to be true both at the individual level and at the species level. But, if we consider life as a whole, evolution seems to have defied this fundamental limitation and life on Earth has been flourishing for most of the history of the planet. Is this just a question of our limited experience with life or will evolution always find a viable strategy. In this workshop that will take place May 7 - 8, 2015 at Tysons Corner in Virginia. Approximately 25 scientists representing Physics, Materials Science, and Biology will discuss the physical principles and processes underlying aging in living and nonliving system, the similarities and differences between living and nonliving systems and their repair and failure. The workshop participants will discuss what is the relation between non-equilibrium thermodynamics and aging, is there a role for information theory in describing the aging process and how is this information preserved in life as a whole, and finally are there lessons for robust technology development that we can learn from living systems. The workshop especially seeks to have representation at the workshop of young scientists, who will bring their perspective on aging and learn from more experienced colleagues.