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Friday Evening Lecture Series
 08/15/03
Gene Action in the Pathobiology of Aging
George M. Martin, Professor of Pathology Emeritus, University of Washington
Introduction by Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Director of the Biotechnology Study Center at the New York University School of Medicine
Lecture Abstract:
The recipe for a long and healthy life includes a good set of genes, a good environment, and a large dose of good luck. Alas, the best of recipes eventually fails to prevent us from getting into trouble, as we age, with reproducing, moving, hearing, and an array of geriatric diseases that threatens to bankrupt Medicare. Why is this so and how does it happen? To answer the why question, we shall embrace the evolutionary biological theory of aging which, in a nutshell, states that individuals within age-structured populations age because of the decline in the force of natural selection with chronological age. No theory is immune from attack, however. Attempts will be made to defend this theory against a number of cogent criticisms.
To gain insight in to the how question, we shall systematically consider the several classes of gene action that escape the force of natural selection. This exercise leads us to conclude that there are both "public" and "private" mechanisms of aging. Both types present potential targets for some degree of intervention, given continued progress in basic research.
George M. Martin received his undergraduate and graduate medical education at the University of Washington, where he currently serves as Professor Emeritus (Active) in the Department of Pathology and Director Emeritus of the University of Washington's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. His postgraduate training included research in somatic cell genetics with Guido Pontecorvo, molecular biology with Francois Gros, and experimental embryology with Richard Gardner and Henry Harris. His lab has utilized genetic approaches to elucidate the pathobiology of aging and age-related diseases for the past 40 years. Highlights have included the discovery of genetic defects underlying the Werner syndrome and certain familial forms of Alzheimer's disease, and the demonstration of rising frequencies of somatic mutations in aging human epithelial cells. At a more clinical level, Dr. Martin has systematized our knowledge of human genetic disorders from the point of view of their rich potential to elucidate specific aspects of the senescent phenotype and used this analysis to make inferences concerning the polygenic basis of aging. More recent research has utilized genetic engineering in mice to elucidate mechanisms of aging and Alzheimer's disease. His honors have included election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Alzheimer Congress. He currently serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Ellison Medical Foundation (a sponsor of courses and colloquia at the MBL), and Scientific Director of the American Federation for Aging Research. In addition, he is President of the Gerontological Society of America and Editor-in-Chief of the Science of Aging Knowledge Environment (SAGE KE) website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Gerald Weissmann, M.D. was born in Vienna, Austria. He received a B.A. from Columbia University in 1950 and his M.D. from New York University (NYU) School of Medicine in 1954. He is currently a Professor of Medicine and Director of the New York University School of Medicine's Biotechnology Study Center. From 1973 to 2000, he served as Director of NYU School of Medicine's Division of Rheumatology. Dr. Weissmann is on the Advisory Board of the Ellison Medical Foundation and now manages the Rockefeller Foundation's "Undeveloped Drug Project." He was Co-Founder (with E.C. Whitehead) and a Director of The Liposome Company in Princeton, NJ from 1982 to 2000. Dr. Weissmann has a longtime association with the MBL. He is a former investigator and instructor in the Physiology course and is currently an MBL Trustee in the Class of 2005. A former president of the Harvey Society and the American College of Rheumatology, he is a Fellow of the AAAS and the New York Academy of Sciences. He was elected to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome) in 2002. Some of the honors and awards Dr. Weissmann has received include the Paul Klemperer Medal, New York Academy of Medicine in 1997; Liposome Research Award 1994, the Distinguished Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology in 1992; the MBL Centennial Award (with James Wyngaarden and DeWitt Stetten, Jr.) in 1988; the Lila Gruber Cancer Research award (with Emil Frei, III) in 1979; and the Alessandro Robecchi International Prize for Rheumatology in 1972. His seven books of essays range from "The Woods Hole Cantata" (1985) to "The Year of the Genome (2002). Dr. Weissmann lives in New York and has a home in Woods Hole.
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