The final day of the 10th ARDD conference was a testament to the unwavering dedication of the global aging research community. Even though it was the last day and some speakers and delegates had to leave, the venue was comfortably full with fewer delegates standing. The first day of the ARDD was dedicated to longevity medicine, second to senescence and senomorphic interventions but third, fourth and the fifth day covered a very broad range of topics.
The day commenced with Anja Groth from the University of Copenhagen who delved into the intricacies of “Maintaining Epigenome Fidelity Across Cell Divisions – Implications for Aging.” Jennifer Gruhn, also from the University of Copenhagen, provided insights into the “Molecular Mechanisms of Reproductive Ageing – Genetic Insights into Human Ovarian Aging.”
Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO of Insilico Medicine and the author of this article, gave a talk on multimodal, multispecies, multiomics, multitasking instructional transformer models for aging research and drug discovery. Shih-Yin Tsai from NUS, Singapore, discussed the importance of “Understanding Protein Homeostasis – Improving Protein Metabolism and Reducing Sarcopenia.” Peter Fedichev from Gero, Singapore, took a philosophical yet scientific approach with “Aging Clocks, Entropy, and the Limits of Age-Reversal.”
Poster Award Ceremony
Thanks to the prominent conference sponsors, the conference featured a poster competition. For five days in a row, the poster judges reviewed the many dozens of posters from the top groups all over the world. And the three winners were: Samantha Liams, Tim Nonninge, and Garik Mkrtchan.
Eduardo Chini from the Mayo Clinic presented on “CD38 as a Target for Age-Related Metabolic Dysfunction,” emphasizing the translational potential of basic science findings.
Vera Gorbunova from the University of Rochester delved into “Transcriptomic and Proteomic Signatures of Longevity”. Her lab made several notable discoveries this year including extending the life of a mouse by giving it the gene found in the long-lived naked mole rat.
Joe Betts-LaCroix, the CEO of Retro Biosciences provided insights from “Two Years of Retro” and the many longevity programs they started working on. Previously, MIT Technology Review reported that Retro is bankrolled by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI who shares the passion for life extension.
Greater China at the ARDD Gathering
Aging and age-related diseases kill tens of millions of people around the world every year. Unfortunately, in recent years, we see that both politicians and the media drive the world toward separation and nationalism. There is substantial, often unwarranted, negativity toward China and the Chinese people. As someone who does not have any national allegiances, promotes peace, works to improve cultural understanding, and global collaboration every year I help promote the ARDD in China and its regions and enable video broadcasting. This year, the 10th ARDD had a comparable number of delegates and speakers from Greater China to the 9th ARDD; however, the number of online viewers exceeded four thousand. On the fourth day of the conference we took a group photo with the scientists from Greater China.
It was a great pleasure to see Dr. Eric Verdin, CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging during the entire conference. In addition to delivering a high-power talk, he brought multiple top scientists from the Buck. It is worthwhile noting that the Buck Institute, the world’s largest non-profit institution focused entirely on the study of aging, was omnipresent at the conference with multiple talks and with students and faculty in attendance. As the adjunct professor at the Buck I was very proud.
The conference continued with Emma Teeling from University College Dublin captivated the audience with her discussion on “The Long and Short of Bats’ Extended Healthspans.” The subsequent sessions saw presentations on a range of topics, from mitochondrial bioenergetics to the role of intracellular calcium in neuronal mitophagy, to the impact of age-induced thiol oxidation on neurodegeneration.
Julia von Maltzahn from the Fritz Lipmann Institute discussed the role of “Muscle Stem Cells in Age and Disease.” Nika Pintar from Ani Biome, Croatia, presented on “The Metabolite Path to Vitality,” and Pura Muñoz-Canoves from Altos Labs discussed strategies for “Improving Regeneration of Aged Muscle.” Brian Kennedy from NUS, Singapore, provided insights into “Targeting Healthy Longevity.”
João Passos from the Mayo Clinic discussed the secrets of senescence, particularly the role of sub-lethal apoptotic stress in unleashing the SASP. Lene Juel Rasmussen from the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen also presented, setting the stage for the much-anticipated final talk.
The Pharma Panel: Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk
A highlight was the panel discussion on “Indications for Longevity Biotech: Pharma Partnership for Age-Related Drug Discovery,” moderated by Kristen Fortney, co-founder and CEO of BioAge Labs, the panel featured Dr. Benjamin Yaden, Vice President at Eli Lilly, and Dr. Erik Vernet, Senior Director at Novo Nordisk. In 2023, the market capitalization of Novo Nordisk exceeded the size of the entire GDP of Denmark due to the unprecedented popularity of obesity drugs and its leading GLP-1 antagonist drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. It is worthwhile noting, that in 2022, Jens Juul Holst, often referred to as the “father of GLP-1”, presented at the 9th ARDD. Eli Lilly has a competing drug tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Mounjaro. While many of the other pharma companies are coming up with the competing drugs, Novo and Lilly are the dominant players and pretty much share the market. Their drugs are so popular that there are shortages in supply. In the previous article, I mentioned that there are multiple groups suggesting that GLP-1 inhibitors as single agents or in combination may act as geroprotectors and extend human lifespan. On the other hand, many non-obese people and even pretty much anorexic models are injecting these drugs to look even slimmer and control appetite, which in turn may lead to cardiovascular problems as some of the lost weight is muscle. So it is logical for any GLP-1 vendor to be interested in the basic biology of aging, metabolism, muscle growth, fibrosis and other associated biological processes and diseases.
Dr. Yaden made a clear cut case for the growing reason in aging research and associated processes and diseases at Lilly and in pharma in general. It turned out that he is one of the avid advocates for aging research at Lilly and is actively discussing the subject with academics and startups alike. Many of the targets that are of interest to big pharma in metabolism and fibrosis may have dual purpose as these same targets are also implicated in aging. Dr. Vernet also made a strong point emphasizing the importance of aging research and presented Novo in the best possible light to the extent that some of the attending postdocs expressed interest in working for the company. At the end of the conference, I shamelessly asked Dr. Vernet why the Novo Foundation does not yet support the ARDD conferences, and he explained the separation between the foundation and the company. Well, let’s hope that next year the Foundation does support this wonderful five-day event organized by the University of Copenhagen.
The Talk of The Day – Standing Ovation After Vadim Gladyshev’s Talk
The day culminated with Dr. Vadim Gladyshev from Harvard Medical School presenting “Defying Time, Defying the Clock.” As expected, the organizers’ decision to place such a revered figure at the end proved strategic. Attendees remained glued to their seats, eager to absorb insights from the master of aging research.
Dr. Gladyshev is one of the “purists” in aging research who is seeking to find the truth without any financial component. His lab is in the same institution with George Church and David Sinclair whose labs are regularly minting startups, he has not yet founded a company. He is trying to answer the fundamental questions: “What is Aging?”, and “How do We Age?”. This impartiality and freedom of any significant commercial agendas made him the perfect candidate to form the core of the Biomarkers of Aging Consortium. He presented the challenges and opportunities of biological age predictors and revealed the “Biomarkers of aging for the identification and evaluation of longevity interventions” paper published by the consortium. At the end of his talk, he thanked the organizers and the other speakers and voiced the opinion that the ARDD is really the best conference in aging research he likes to go to every year.
The day concluded with drinks and socializing at Bar7, providing attendees with a relaxed environment to discuss the week’s revelations, forge new collaborations, and reflect on the future of aging research. The remaining delegates thanked the tireless chairs of the conference, Dr. Morten Scheibye-Knudsen and Dr. Daniela Bakula, who managed to put Copenhagen on the map of global aging research and bring the who-is-who in the industry to Denmark for the entire week. The 10th ARDD was not just a conference; it was a celebration of the relentless pursuit of knowledge in the field of aging research.
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