X-Message-Number: 2324 Newsgroups: sci.cryonics From: (Ralph Merkle) Subject: Biology of Aging talk Message-ID: <> Date: 1 Jul 93 21:25:03 GMT PARC Forum Thursday July 8, 1993 Xerox PARC Auditorium, 4:00 PM BIOLOGY OF HUMAN AGING Leonard Hayflick University of California, San Francisco Our finding that normal human and animal cells age in laboratory cultures just as they do in the animals or humans from which they were obtained overturned the dogma held since the turn of the century that cultured cells are immortal. We proposed that aging results from intracellular events, a proposal now widely confirmed. Two of the observations that support this are: 1) The number of population doublings of cultured normal human fibroblasts is inversely proportional to donor age. 2) A direct proportionality may exist between population doubling potential and the maximum lifespan of many animal species. It seems that a molecular clock is present in cells. One recent discovery that merits attention is the loss of the telomeric sequences TTAGGG as normal cells age in vitro and in vivo. Could this be the molecular clock? ----------------------- This Forum is OPEN to the public. All are invited. For more information contact Ralph Merkle at (415) 812-4422 () Refreshments will be served at 3:45 P.M. for Forum Attendees only. Requests for videotapes *Xerox Employees Only* should be sent to Susie Mulhern (Mulhern:PARC:Xerox). The PARC Auditorium is located at 3333 Coyote Hill Rd. in Palo Alto. We are in the Stanford Research Park, between Page Mill Road (west of Foothill Expressway) and Hillview Avenue. The easiest way here is to get onto Page Mill Road, then turn onto Coyote Hill Road. As you drive up Coyote Hill past the horse pastures, PARC is the building on the left after you crest the hill. Park in the large lot, and enter the auditorium at the upper level of the building. (The auditorium entrance is located down the stairs and to the left of the main doors.) Upcoming Speakers: Thursday, July 15, 4pm, Paul Saffo, Institute for the Future, Never Mistake A Clear View for a Short Distance (and other lessons from innovation in the information revolution). Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2324