Webinar: Lyceum Society May 2022 Meeting

Social Chat and Announcements: 11:30am - 11:45am

Preliminary Presentation:  11:45am - 12:30pm

Speaker: David J. Haas

Topic: Nobel Prizes Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Crystallography

More than 25 Nobel prizes have been awarded to scientists for their work in crystallography. Crystals have been scientifically studied since 1700, but their atomic models began in 1912. Although X-ray crystallography is the most familiar tool, there are many others. This presentation will review a century of Nobel prizes and the innovative techniques they honored.

CV: David Haas received his BA in Physics and PhD in Biophysics in protein crystallography and molecular biology at the State University of NY at Buffalo.  For the next five years, he performed basic research in protein crystallography at several institutions in Europe, Israel and the United States.  In 1970, he joined Philips Electronic Instruments in Mt Vernon NY as Principal Scientist for X-ray systems, working on analytical instruments and designing some of the first airport security X-ray systems that were used worldwide during the 1970s.  Conceiving the idea of a self-expiring security ID (Visitor badge), David and his wife, Sandra, formed Temtec Inc. which developed and manufactured high-tech visitor and temporary IDs for more than 20 years under the brand name TEMPbadge.  Temtec Inc. was sold to Brady Worldwide Corporation in 2002.  David & Sandra Haas have more than 100 patents as well as many technical and scientific publications.

Dr. Haas has published a book by ASIS International entitled: “Personal Identification – Its Modern Development and Security Implications."  It reviews the history and reasons for modern personal identification documents such as Passports, National Identity Cards, etc.  Dr. Haas has also published a monograph on the development of Electronic Security Screening for Aviation Passenger Screening between 1968-1973.

Main Presentation: 12:30pm - 2:15pm

Speaker: Nir Barzilai

Topic: Age Later: Translational Geroscience

Geroscience has demonstrated that the biology of aging drives age-related diseases and that it is flexible. This biology has been targeted and healthspan and lifespan have been significantly extended in numerous animal models. Major hallmarks of aging have been identified, which are targets for developing gerotherapeutics and geroprotection.

(1) Is animal aging really relevant to human aging? We have studied the exome sequencing of 500 centenarians and 500 controls, all from in the DNA of the homogenous population of Ashkenazi Jews and, using a system biology approach, asked what are the pathways that are distinct for exceptional longevity. We discovered that alterations in centenarians included the insulin/IGF-1 signaling, mTOR pathways and other pathways that suggest that human aging and longevity are conserved through evolution and pose targets for therapy.

(2) Can we establish criteria for biological aging that will change with therapies that will target aging? I will demonstrate how we discovered, by looking at 5000 protein levels (by Aftamers) in 1000 subjects between ages 65-95, the fingerprint of biological vs, chronological aging.

(3) Can we change the regulatory establishment to recognize aging as a target for preventing age-related diseases? I will talk about the rationale for a study that is about to be launched, Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME). Metformin is a ‘tool’ to pave the way for the FDA to show that targeting aging will prevent age-related diseases. I will also show which other FDA approved drugs can be re-purposed to target aging.

CV:  Dr. Barzilai is a chaired Professor of Medicine and Genetics and Director of the biggest Center in the world to study the Biology of Aging and the principal investigator of the Einstein Nathan Shock Center and the Glenn Center. He was the recipient of an NIH Merit Award aiming to extend the healthy life span in rodents by biological interventions. He also studies families of centenarians that have provided genetic/biological insights on the protection against aging. Several drugs have been developed, based in part, on these paradigm-changing studies. He now leads EXCEL Study (EXCptional Longevity) to recruit 10,000 centenarians and their families to validate and discover new longevity genes. He is leading the TAME (Targeting/Taming Aging with Metformin) multi-centered study to prove that concept that multi- morbidities of aging can be delayed in humans and change the FDA indications to allow for next-generation interventions.

He is the author of over 290 peer-reviewed papers and a recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the recipient of the 2010 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction in Aging Research, and is the 2018 recipient of the IPSEN Longevity award.  He is on the board of AFAR, is its scientific director, and is a founding member of the Academy for Lifespan and HealthSpan, the Longevity Biotech Association and Longevity Medicine Society. He co-founded CohBar and Life Biosciences. He has been featured in major papers, podcasts, TV programs and documentaries (2 TEDx and TEDMED) and has been consulting or presenting the promise of targeting aging at The Singapore Prime Minister Office, the Prime Minister office in Israel, several International Banks, The Vatican, Pepsico, Milken Institute, Davos Economical Forum, and is featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Economist, and Wired Magazine. His book Age Later was published in the June of 2020.

Academic titles:

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

• Professor of Medicine and Genetics
• Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair in Aging Research
• Director, Institute for Aging Research

PI: Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging

PI: Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging.