We’re all getting older. But more Americans are old now than ever before—and that’s both a strain on the medical system and a scientific opportunity. University of Connecticut undergraduates can now study the biology of aging through a new program offered by the Institute for Systems Genomics and Department of Molecular & Cell Biology.
The aging of the Baby Boom generation combined with slowing birthrates has led to a bloom of people over age 65. By the year 2035, when the last Baby Boomers are 70, there will be more senior Americans than children under age 18—or about 21% of the population. Old age is often accompanied by cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or neurodegenerative disorders. Those four diseases cause a great deal of the illness and consequent frailty of aging. If we could delay the onset of those illnesses, or prevent them altogether, it would add life to many older people’s years.
The new field of geroscience aims to do just that. Rather than treating each disease individually, geroscientists seek to understand and manipulate the basic biological processes of aging in order to help people live healthier longer. The rising number of older adults means the geroscience fields need researchers and health care workers, and lots of them. UConn’s Institute for Systems Genomics (ISG) aims to help fill the need with the Education in Aging and Geroscience Research Program. The program will introduce undergraduates to geroscience coursework and lab research. It offers two intensive classes on the molecular and cellular biology of aging, as well as a summer research program that places students into labs at UConn and UConn Health. The research placements are intended to foster collaborations across the University.
“Our goal is to give as many students as possible a greater appreciation and understanding of aging,” says cellular biologist Ken Campellone, a member of both the ISG and the UConn Health Center on Aging. The current program is supported with a grant from the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. Campellone is working to build it into a Geroscience minor with courses from Molecular & Cell Biology, Human Development and Family Studies, Microbiology, Physiology and Neurobiology, Kinesiology, Nutritional Sciences, and Allied Health.
