Sunday, March 17, 2024

Parental age at death and age at first birth


Interesting study published in Experimental Gerontology which examines the age of death for parents and the age they had their first offspring.  

The abstract:

People age at different rates and the available evidence suggests that the rate of aging is partly inherited from previous generations. This heterogeneity in aging is evident already in midlife, but to what extent aging is associated with the timing of events earlier in life is not fully known. Here we aim to shed light on this topic by investigating the trade-off between reproduction and aging postulated by evolutionary theories of aging.

Cheers, 

Colin 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Geroscience in Canada


The proceedings of Canada's first geroscience summit are now published in The Journals of Gerontology. Having the opportunity to collaborate with 32 scientists at this important event was a real pleasure and learning experience for me. The abstract:

The inaugural Canadian Conferences on Translational Geroscience were held as two complementary sessions in October and November 2023. The conferences explored the profound interplay between the biology of aging, social determinants of health, the potential societal impact of geroscience and the maintenance of health in aging individuals. Although topics such as cellular senescence, molecular and genetic determinants of aging and prevention of chronic disease were addressed, the conferences went on to emphasize practical applications for enhancing older people's quality of life. This manuscript summarizes the proceeding and underscores the synergy between clinical and fundamental studies. Future directions highlight national and global collaborations and the crucial integration of early-career investigators. This work charts a course for a national framework for continued innovation and advancement in translational geroscience in Canada.

My passion and interest in the social and ethical implications of this area of science continues to grow, with many new projects in the works to keep me busy writing for the foreseeable future.

Cheers, 

Colin 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Online version of inaugural Peacock lecture


Cheers, 
Colin

Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Geroscience Summit Proceedings (forthcoming)


I was very happy to learn that the proceedings of Canada's first Geroscience summit from the October meeting have been accepted for publication in The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.  The abstract and details:

Authors: Guy Hajj-Boutros, Andréa Faust, John Muscedere, Perry Kim, Naji Amburad, Stéphanie Chevalier, Mylene Aubertin-Leheudre, Howard Bergman, Dawn Bowdish, Jessica Burford, Stacey Carrington-Lawrence, Hélène Côté, David Dawe, Philipe de Souto Barreto, Colin Farrelly, Robert Fowler, Gilles Gouspillou, Lea Harrington, Sofie Hindkjaer Lautrup, Susan Howlett, Mahdi Imani, James Kirkland, George Kuchel, Frédérick Mallette, José A Morais, John Newman, Daryl Pullman, Felipe Sierra, Jeremy Van Raamsdonk, Jane Rylett and Gustavo Duque

Title: “Navigating the Landscape of Translational Geroscience in Canada: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Current Progress and Future Directions” 

Abstract:  The inaugural Canadian Conference on Translational Geroscience was held as two complementary sessions in October and November 2023. The conference explored the profound interplay between the biology of aging, social determinants of health, the potential societal impact of geroscience and the maintenance of health in aging individuals. Although topics such as cellular senescence, molecular and genetic determinants of aging and prevention of chronic disease were addressed, the conference went on to emphasize practical applications for enhancing older people's quality of life. This manuscript summarizes the proceeding and underscores the synergy between clinical and fundamental studies. Future directions highlight national and global collaborations and the crucial integration of young investigators. This work charts a course for a national framework for continued innovation and advancement in translational geroscience in Canada.

Cheers, 

Colin

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Peacock Inaugural Lecture (next week)

 


Next week I am giving the advertised lecture above to officially "kick start" my 5 year term as the Sir Edward Peacock Professor of Political Theory at my home institution Queen's University.  

This lecture, and the research chair, is a great honour and I have been working on refining the lecture for the past number of months.  It will survey a host of topics and ideas I have been working on over the past number of years concerning the intellectual history of public health, advances in geroscience and insights from communication science concerning the challenges of engaging in science communication and advocacy in the modern context of limited attention spans and a media bias towards negativity.  

I start with this passage from my favorite 20th century philosopher, John Dewey:


I then unpack some of the lessons we can learn from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the ways imagination and idealism are invoked in the medical sciences, drawing on the details of this recent paper. 

After addressing imagination in medical science, I turn to the topic of political imagination, noting the challenges with framing science in today's polarized and hyper-distracted arena of politics.  The dominant paradigm of the medical sciences is the "War Against Disease" (Winslow 1903), so I detail the limitations of continuing down that same path for today's aging populations.  While doing so I work towards developing "frames" I hope will convince the audience that the aspiration of healthy aging is critical for today's aging population.

I finish the talk by showing the video abstract of my recent paper in Aging Cell on climate science and geroscience, as a way of illustrating how insights from political communication can be harnessed to effectively communicative the importance of healthy aging.  Should be a fun event!

Cheers,

Colin 

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Mimics of fasting study


The latest issue of Nature Communication has this study out today.   The abstract:

In mice, periodic cycles of a fasting mimicking diet (FMD) protect normal cells while killing damaged cells including cancer and autoimmune cells, reduce inflammation, promote multi-system regeneration, and extend longevity. Here, we performed secondary and exploratory analysis of blood samples from a randomized clinical trial (NCT02158897) and show that 3 FMD cycles in adult study participants are associated with reduced insulin resistance and other pre-diabetes markers, lower hepatic fat (as determined by magnetic resonance imaging) and increased lymphoid to myeloid ratio: an indicator of immune system age. Based on a validated measure of biological age predictive of morbidity and mortality, 3 FMD cycles were associated with a decrease of 2.5 years in median biological age, independent of weight loss. Nearly identical findings resulted from  a second clinical study (NCT04150159). Together these results provide initial support for beneficial effects of the FMD on multiple cardiometabolic risk factors and biomarkers of biological age.

Cheers, 

Colin 

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Latest Article

 


My latest piece in Royal Society's Open Science is now published.  A sample:

For the past 3+ years, medical researchers, the media, the general public and policy makers have focused their idealism and imagination on managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Herter’s JAMA Address has significance for both the COVID-19 pandemic and the aspirations of medical science in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era. The latter ought to prioritize the science of healthy ageing so that older populations can enjoy more years of healthy life (healthspan) versus making incremental increases invlifespan by extending the period of time managing multi-morbidity, frailty and disability.

Cheers, 

Colin