Cynthia Kenyon
The Larry L. Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging is hosting its 6th annual mini-symposium, “Molecules to Medicine,” in Genentech Hall Auditorium at Mission Bay on Wednesday, Sept. 10, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The symposium offers new students an exciting survey of the basic research landscape as it relates to diseases of aging. The list of speakers and topics is as follows:
• Peter Walter, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics — “Protein Quality Control”
• Jonathan Weissman, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UCSF and professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology — “Yeast, Prions and More”
• Doug Hanahan, PhD, professor of biochemistry — “Cancer Molecules”
• Mike German, MD, professor of medicine — “MicroRNAs, Gene Networks and Diabetes”
• Cynthia Kenyon, PhD, director of the Larry L. Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging and professor of biochemistry – “Aging: The Germ Cells in Charge”
• Paul Muchowski, PhD, associate investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and associate professor of neurology — “Using Yeast to Fight Protein Aggregation Disease”
“These people are either doing basic research that is relevant for understanding diseases or research that is focused on trying to find cures for diseases,” says symposium organizer Kenyon. “The idea is to highlight what UCSF is doing to bring basic research findings to the clinic.”
The symposium also will feature a research poster session by students and postdoctoral fellows. Among them will be recent winners of the Hillblom Graduate Fellowships. Each spring, center members are asked to nominate students working on aging or age-related disease, or on basic science associated with disease. Three Hillblom Fellows are selected by the center’s executive committee.
The Larry L. Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging was founded in 2002 with generous financial support from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation, which has made many grants to UCSF for scientific research related to aging and age-related illness.
The mission of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging is to create an interactive community of investigators studying aging and age-related disease as a way of facilitating research and medical breakthroughs.
