Biology of Aging Sessions at Meetings of The Gerontological Society of America

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This proposal requests financial support from the National Institute on Aging for the 2012-2014 Annual Scientific Meetings organized by the Biological Sciences Section of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA). The GSA, founded in 1945, is the oldest and largest national interdisciplinary scientific organization devoted to the advancement of gerontological research. The Society has approximately 5,200 members organized within four (4) major sections; Biological Sciences, Health Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences and Social Research, Policy, and Practice Sections and has an active student section (Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization). The overall goal of the proposed biological sciences sessions is to educate members of GSA on the latest advances in the basic science research of aging and ensure that there is a mechanism for translational research across disciplines. Although there are many specialty meetings that occur each year that are focused on aging and age- related disease, the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting is the only regularly scheduled conference that brings gerontologists from multiple disciplines together to present and discuss the latest advances in aging research. This ¿translational¿ interaction was engrained in GSA from its inception. In 1954, Dr. Ollie Randall¿s Presidential address to the GSA, discussed the ¿growing necessity for people of different disciplines to be brought together for the mutual benefit of the enrichment of each.¿ The focus on translational research is also a key goal of NIH. The GSA Biological Sciences Section is dedicated to providing the highest quality program for its attendees at the GSA annual meeting and fulfilling the translational niche that links biological scientists with clinicians, psychologists, and sociologists devoted to research and education in aging. The guiding principle for reaching this goal is that the highest quality and most relevant science will emerge when basic science researchers understand the primary issues of aging from geriatricians, psychologists and sociologists¿and they, in turn, understand the emerging basic science mechanisms of aging and the efficacy of interventions designed to ameliorate aging and age-related disease based on rigorous scientific investigation. The GSA Annual Scientific Meeting is unique in its ability to foster such a dynamic, interdisciplinary approach. Importantly, we are cognizant of our primary responsibility to educate researchers on the most important emerging scientific concepts that would potentially result in incorporation of these advances into their own scientific endeavors.