2014-09-20
Alexander Zhavoronkov and International symposium on geroprotectors
My dearest friends, please note the schedule update for the Practical Applications of Aging Research for Drug Discovery forum in Basel. Registration is Free. Please use the interactive meeting planner at www.miptec.ch . For more information and forum schedule you may see http://www.agingpharma.org/2014/09/important-forum-schedule-update.html
The forum is organized by Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD (The Biogerontology Research Foundation, UK) and Bhupinder Bullar, PhD (Novartis Pharma AG, Switzerland)
It is interesting to note that forum collect so many briliant scientists in one place such as:
Brian Kennedy PhD, Director, CEO, Buck Institute for Aging Research
Joan Mannick, PhD, Director, Translational Medicine, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research
Anton Buzdin, PhD, DSc, President, CEO, Pathway Pharmaceuticals, Hong Kong
Joao Pedro De Magalhaes, PhD, Lab Head, University of Liverpool
Alexander Zhavoronkov, PhD, Director, The Biogerontology Research Foundation, CEO, Insilico Medicine, Inc
Robert Molinari, PhD, CEO, Retrotope, Inc
Dr. Joerg Reinhardt, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Novartis
Alexey Moskalev, PhD,
DScBhupinder Bhullar, PhD
William Bains, PhD, Head of the SENS Laboratory, Cambridge
Sven Bulterijs, PhD, Post-grad researcher, Yale University
Olga Kovalchuk, PhD, Professor, Lab Head, University of Lethbridge, Director, Canada Cancer and Aging Research Laboratories
Mikhail Blagosklonny, MD, PhD, Professor, Editor-in-Chief of Aging, Cell Cylcle and Oncotarget high-impact journals, Rosewell Park, NY
Blanka Rogina, PhD, Director Genetics & Developmental Biology Graduate Program, University of Connecticut
James Kirkland, MD, PhD, Professor, Mayo Clinic
Barry Merriman, PhD, Professor, UCLA / Lead System Architect, CSO, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Alexander Bürkle, PhD, Professor, EU MARK-AGE Co-ordinator, University of Konstanz
Antonei Benjamin Csoka, PhD, Assoc. Professor, Howard University, CEO, Vision Genomics, Inc
Richard Faragher, Professor, University of Brighton
Geoffrey Furlonger, CEO, Aging Analytics, Charles Groome, Head of Communications, Aging Analytics UK
David Brindley, Research Fellow , Harvard University of Oxford
2014-09-09
About Calico and AbbVie company
About AbbVie
AbbVie is a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following separation from Abbott Laboratories. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to develop and market advanced therapies that address some of the world's most complex and serious diseases. AbbVie employs approximately 25,000 people worldwide and markets medicines in more than 170 countries. For further information on the company and its people, portfolio and commitments, please visit www.abbvie.com. Follow@abbvie on Twitter or view careers on our Facebook or LinkedIn page.
About Calico
Calico (California Life Sciences LLC) is a Google-founded research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls lifespan. We will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. Visit www.calicolabs.com.
MipTec 2014 conference in Switzerland
The recently formed R&D partnership between Calico and AbbVie paves a pathway for aging research as the new industry, with more details at the MipTec 2014 conference in Switzerland
Aging research has long been regarded by the pharmaceutical industry as a subject of controversy associated with failed expectations, ineffective remedies, and blatantly false claims. However, the explosion of the research and clinical data, fueled by the drop in sequencing costs and technology convergence, has led to the emergence of projects with credible business models and approaches targeting both the age-related diseases as well as the aging-associated processes. Advances in aging biomarkers and in silico drug screening methods may soon enable the pharmaceutical industry to revisit their business models and reshape the regulatory frameworks.AbbVie and Google-backed Calico announced yesterday that they will co-invest up to $1.5 billion to create a leading R&D facility focused on aging and age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer. This center will be located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the amalgamation of the two companies serves as a trailblazer for similar research teams dedicated to eradicating aging and age-related diseases.
InSilico Medicine, Inc. is thrilled about this new collaboration and its innovative potential.
"InSilico Medicine, Inc. has developed several methods for geroprotector and geroprotector combination discovery and screening that are undergoing pre-clinical validation with multiple publications out, in review, and in the pipeline. We must thank Google for paving the way and setting the trend. After they got involved in this field, it gained a lot of credibility. In our opinion it is not a competitor, it is a bulldozer, which will pave the way for the many innovative companies like us." InSilico Medicine CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, says.
"We salute Calico and AbbVie for spearheading the revolution in aging drug discovery and setting the example for other pharmaceutical companies to follow. These are fantastic news for InSilico Medicine, Inc., Human Longevity, Inc., Retrotope, Pathway Pharmaceuticals and many other companies pursuing age-related diseases and aging itself."
"InSilico Medicine, Inc. has developed several methods for geroprotector and geroprotector combination discovery and screening that are undergoing pre-clinical validation with multiple publications out, in review, and in the pipeline. We must thank Google for paving the way and setting the trend. After they got involved in this field, it gained a lot of credibility. In our opinion it is not a competitor, it is a bulldozer, which will pave the way for the many innovative companies like us." InSilico Medicine CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, says.
"We salute Calico and AbbVie for spearheading the revolution in aging drug discovery and setting the example for other pharmaceutical companies to follow. These are fantastic news for InSilico Medicine, Inc., Human Longevity, Inc., Retrotope, Pathway Pharmaceuticals and many other companies pursuing age-related diseases and aging itself."
With the MipTec 2014 (http://www.agingpharma.org/) conference in such close proximity to this notable collaboration, there is a great deal excitement for the experts, industries, and enthusiasts of aging therapies. The conference will host exceptional speakers, elaborate forums, and a variety of sponsors and exhibitors all dedicated to practical applications of aging. The conference serves as a bridge for scientists and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to discover the potential for drug screening and discovery platforms for age-related disease. As more companies such as Calico and AbbVie continue to enter the field of aging research, forums like MipTec will increase in popularity and unite partners from a large variety of organizations on an international scale.
###
2014-06-25
Aging and symposium on geroprotectors
Aging lies at the core of every age-related disease and affects every
person on the planet. It represents an unbearable toll on the economies
of the developed countries resulting in over two trillion dollars in
direct medical costs, costs of caring and lost productivity in the US
and EU alone. Yet, pharmaceutical companies fail to see the practical
applications of aging research as many early experiments with drugs that
held promise in slowing the aging processes resulted in commercial
failures and write offs. Lack of business models, regulation and absence
of a clear set of aging biomarkers make it difficult for large
pharmaceutical companies to fully engage in aging research. Unlike other
events that are geared towards academia or have a broad range of
topics, this forum intends to focus on drug discovery and
pharmaceuticals that may have a role in postponing the aging processes,
preventing the age-related diseases and evaluating the effectiveness of
various small molecules with geroprotective properties. I'd like to invite you to:
Dates: September 23 – 24, 2014
International Symposium on Geroprotectors: Practical Applications of Aging Research for Drug Discovery
Dates: September 23 – 24, 2014
Location: Basel, Switzerland
The event will showcase the research projects in aging research to
the leaders of the pharmaceutical industry. The symposium will comprise
into the three sessions relevant to the drug discovery companies. Each
session will be chaired by the top expert in the field:
Session I: Predicting the activity of geroprotective drugs: in-silico screening, omics data analysis and rational drug design
Session II: Drugs with the potential geroprotective properties
Session III: Aging Biomarkers: how do we measure aging and geroprotective efficacy?
Session IV: Trends in Aging Research and Drug DiscoveryThe forum is part of MipTek 2014, the largest drug discovery conference in Europe attracting over 3,000 delegates from the pharmaceutical industry.
Session II: Drugs with the potential geroprotective properties
Session III: Aging Biomarkers: how do we measure aging and geroprotective efficacy?
Session IV: Trends in Aging Research and Drug DiscoveryThe forum is part of MipTek 2014, the largest drug discovery conference in Europe attracting over 3,000 delegates from the pharmaceutical industry.
The forum is organized by:Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD (The Biogerontology Research Foundation, UK)
and Bhupinder Bullar, PhD (Novartis Pharma AG, Switzerland)
and Bhupinder Bullar, PhD (Novartis Pharma AG, Switzerland)
Links:
2014-06-05
Professor Charles Cantor joins InSilico Medicine, Inc. in the War on Aging as the Chair of the SAB
The Former Head of the Human Genome Project Joins InSilico Medicine, Inc. in the War on Aging as the Chair of the SAB
Dr. Cantor, one of the leaders of the Human Genome Project, has
published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles, authored and co-authored
more than 50 U.S. and international patents. He is also an author of
the first genomics textbook, "Genomics: The Science and Technology of
the Human Genome Project" and the three-volume textbook "Biophysical
Chemistry".
Charles Cantor, PhD, professor emeritus at Boston University and former principal scientist of the Human Genome Project joined the Science Advisory Board of InSilico Medicine, Inc.
"Aging is one of the most
pressing problems facing the economies of the developed countries and
there is an urgent need for new ways to increase productive longevity
and screening the known drugs for their geroprotective properties and
personalizing anti-cancer and aging-suppressive regiments using genetic
and epigenetic analysis is one of the low hanging fruits in applied
aging research. I am pleased to join the SAB of this international team
dedicated to develop working solutions for both aging and age-related
diseases", said Charles Cantor, PhD, chair of the Science Advisory Board
of InSilico Medicine, Inc.
Dr.
Cantor was the chairman of Genetics and Development at Columbia
University College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Professor of
Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley.
For more information please visit http://www.InSilicoMedicine.com .
Contact @ Insilico Medicine, Inc.:
InSilico Medicine, Inc.
Johns Hopkins University Eastern Campus
B301, 1101 East 33rd Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
Johns Hopkins University Eastern Campus
B301, 1101 East 33rd Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
Qinsong Zhu, PhD
Chief Operating Officer
+14107109674
zhu@insilicomedicine.com
Chief Operating Officer
+14107109674
zhu@insilicomedicine.com
This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/InSilico/Medicine/prweb11904553.htm
2014-03-30
Drilling into trends in genetics, epigenetics of aging, longevity
A comprehensive analysis of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms by an
international group of scientists demonstrated that the majority of the
genes, as well as genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that are involved in
regulation of longevity, are highly interconnected and related to
stress response.
Journal Reference
Alexey A Moskalev, Alexander M Aliper, Zeljka Smit-McBride, Anton Buzdin, Alex Zhavoronkov. Genetics and epigenetics of aging and longevity. Cell Cycle, 2014; 13 (7) DOI: 10.4161/cc.28433
"The study of the effects of mutations and epimutations on life expectancy and the aging rate expands the range of potential pharmacological and genoteraputic targets, as well as biomarkers of treatment of aging-dependent pathologies," said professor Alexey Moskalev, PhD, DSc, head of the laboratories for aging research at the Institute of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
The international group of scientists performed a comprehensive analysis of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms and demonstrated that the majority of the genes, as well as genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that are involved in regulation of longevity, are highly interconnected and related to stress response. Also, for the first time, the group performed a comprehensive analysis of government research grants related to the genes involved in aging. One of the tools that may help understand the direction of scientific research that is still unpublished are research grant abstracts. To better understand the general trends in aging genetics, the funding and citation information for the longevity genes was collected using the International Aging Research Portfolio (IARP) system as well as the NCBI PubMed system.
Grants analysis led to interesting conclusions. The science of aging genetics is a comparatively new field. P53 was discovered in 1979 and implicated in aging in 1987. On average, genes in Table 2 were discovered 21 years ago and it took 9.7 years between the first citation and the first citation with "aging." The approximate amount of funding spent on genes related to aging is at over $8.5 billion with over 195,000 citations with the most funding spent on genes involved in stress response. On average approximately 7.4% of the funding was spent on projects with "aging" in the grant application and this was consistent across all three categories. The average amount of funding per citation was over $43,900. The largest amount of funding spent on a single gene with "aging" in the grant abstract was $195 million, which represents fewer than 5% of the total funding spent on P53 research. SIRT1 and homologs is the only gene with over $100 million spent on analyzing its role in aging with just under 14% of the funding spent on non-aging related projects. Most of the genes related to aging and longevity were associated with other biologic processes, and most of the funding and publications citing these genes is related to areas other than aging.
"While most scientists rely on published research data and scientific conferences to follow the advances their areas of research, the vast amount of knowledge is codified in the published research grant abstracts and associated metadata. A comprehensive analysis of government grants and related publications shows that aging research is an emerging field and that only a minor fraction of the research dollars spent on genes implicated in aging and longevity was actually intended for aging research," said professor Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, director of the Biogerontology Research Foundation, UK.
The team also performed the signaling pathway analysis of the genes implicated in aging and longevity and demonstrated that that most of the gerontogenes are members of the stress response pathways that confirm the existence of genetics "longevity program." As a rule, genes -- regulators of longevity program -- suppress mild stress response and mutations that make some of those pathways less efficient and provide life-extension benefits. Mild overexpression of effector longevity genes, involved with stress-response to DNA, protein, or other cellular damages, prolong lifespan. While moderate stress induces "longevity program" by stimulating expression of life assurance genes and promoting prevention or elimination of errors, including the novel and spontaneous ones, chronic or acute stress exposure exhausts the defense mechanisms and therefore accelerates aging. Pro-aging and anti-aging gene-determined processes exist on all levels of organismal system -- from molecules to systems (metabolic, endocrine, immune, and inter-cellular communication). Their multi-level organization, the interpenetration of levels, a combination of regular and stochastic elements, is what makes the process of aging a fractal process.
Journal Reference
Alexey A Moskalev, Alexander M Aliper, Zeljka Smit-McBride, Anton Buzdin, Alex Zhavoronkov. Genetics and epigenetics of aging and longevity. Cell Cycle, 2014; 13 (7) DOI: 10.4161/cc.28433
"The study of the effects of mutations and epimutations on life expectancy and the aging rate expands the range of potential pharmacological and genoteraputic targets, as well as biomarkers of treatment of aging-dependent pathologies," said professor Alexey Moskalev, PhD, DSc, head of the laboratories for aging research at the Institute of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
The international group of scientists performed a comprehensive analysis of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms and demonstrated that the majority of the genes, as well as genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that are involved in regulation of longevity, are highly interconnected and related to stress response. Also, for the first time, the group performed a comprehensive analysis of government research grants related to the genes involved in aging. One of the tools that may help understand the direction of scientific research that is still unpublished are research grant abstracts. To better understand the general trends in aging genetics, the funding and citation information for the longevity genes was collected using the International Aging Research Portfolio (IARP) system as well as the NCBI PubMed system.
Grants analysis led to interesting conclusions. The science of aging genetics is a comparatively new field. P53 was discovered in 1979 and implicated in aging in 1987. On average, genes in Table 2 were discovered 21 years ago and it took 9.7 years between the first citation and the first citation with "aging." The approximate amount of funding spent on genes related to aging is at over $8.5 billion with over 195,000 citations with the most funding spent on genes involved in stress response. On average approximately 7.4% of the funding was spent on projects with "aging" in the grant application and this was consistent across all three categories. The average amount of funding per citation was over $43,900. The largest amount of funding spent on a single gene with "aging" in the grant abstract was $195 million, which represents fewer than 5% of the total funding spent on P53 research. SIRT1 and homologs is the only gene with over $100 million spent on analyzing its role in aging with just under 14% of the funding spent on non-aging related projects. Most of the genes related to aging and longevity were associated with other biologic processes, and most of the funding and publications citing these genes is related to areas other than aging.
"While most scientists rely on published research data and scientific conferences to follow the advances their areas of research, the vast amount of knowledge is codified in the published research grant abstracts and associated metadata. A comprehensive analysis of government grants and related publications shows that aging research is an emerging field and that only a minor fraction of the research dollars spent on genes implicated in aging and longevity was actually intended for aging research," said professor Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, director of the Biogerontology Research Foundation, UK.
The team also performed the signaling pathway analysis of the genes implicated in aging and longevity and demonstrated that that most of the gerontogenes are members of the stress response pathways that confirm the existence of genetics "longevity program." As a rule, genes -- regulators of longevity program -- suppress mild stress response and mutations that make some of those pathways less efficient and provide life-extension benefits. Mild overexpression of effector longevity genes, involved with stress-response to DNA, protein, or other cellular damages, prolong lifespan. While moderate stress induces "longevity program" by stimulating expression of life assurance genes and promoting prevention or elimination of errors, including the novel and spontaneous ones, chronic or acute stress exposure exhausts the defense mechanisms and therefore accelerates aging. Pro-aging and anti-aging gene-determined processes exist on all levels of organismal system -- from molecules to systems (metabolic, endocrine, immune, and inter-cellular communication). Their multi-level organization, the interpenetration of levels, a combination of regular and stochastic elements, is what makes the process of aging a fractal process.
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