The Biogerontology Research Foundation to support an aging resource at the University College London

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 23, 2008 – The study of mammalian aging in model systems in a controlled laboratory environment is essential if we are to evaluate experimental interventions designed to postpone or alleviate aging when begun late in life. Such studies are rare at present, not least because of the scarcity of suitable experimental material, yet they clearly have far more biomedical relevance and potential than interventions begun early in life or by germ-line genetic manipulation. The BGRF hopes that its support for this resource will be the first step towards elevating work on late-onset interventions in aging to the prominence that it merits within gerontology and within biology as a whole.

The UCL resource is under the expert management of Dr. Raya Al-Shawi, Senior Research Fellow and facility manager at the UCL Medical School. The BGRF is already discussing with Dr. Al-Shawi the prospects for expansion in the future as and when additional funds become available. Dr Al-Shawi said “Our interests are in understanding the processes of normal aging. The support provided by BGRF is most welcome, and in the future we hope to be able to share an expanded resource with other academics to further studies of aging”.

About the Biogerontology Research Foundation:

The Biogerontology Research Foundation is a registered UK charity # 1124054. The BGRF seeks to fill a gap within the research community, whereby the current scientific understanding of the ageing process is not yet being sufficiently exploited to produce effective medical interventions. The BGRF will fund research which, building on the body of knowledge about how ageing happens, will develop biotechnological interventions to remediate the molecular and cellular deficits which accumulate with age and which underlie the ill-health of old age. Addressing ageing damage at this most fundamental level will provide an important opportunity to produce the effective, lasting treatments for the diseases and disabilities of ageing, which are required to improve quality of life in the elderly. The BGRF seeks to use the entire scope of modern biotechnology to attack the changes that take place in the course of aging, and to address not just the symptoms of age-related diseases but also the mechanisms of those diseases.

Contact:
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD
Biogerontology Research Foundation
Registered UK Charity # 1124054
Kings Lodge
194 Kings Rd.
Reading, Berkshire
RG1 4NH, UK

Tel: + 44 20 81 44 7774
alex.zhavoronkov@bg-rf.org.uk
www.bg-rf.org.uk