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5th EMBL/EMBO Joint Conference 2004 |
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Scope |
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| Time
and aging, mechanisms and meanings |
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"Time
is the river which carries me away, but I am that river;
time is the tiger that devours me, but I am that tiger"
J. L. Borges, Labyrinths, 1970
5th
EMBL/EMBO Joint Conference 2004 Booklet
[3Mb PDF]
Science
and technology have a pervasive impact on the way people live
their lives. The steep rise in average life expectancy everywhere
in the affluent, technologically developed parts of the world
is one striking example. The first part of the upcoming inter-disciplinary
conference at the European Molecular Biology Laoratory in
Heidelberg will focus on what human genetics and biology have
uncovered about the nature of time and aging in living organisms.
We hear of 'circadian rhythms', developmental clocks, genetic
re-programming, genetics of aging, chromosomal erosion, and
'apoptosis'. How can we make common sense of all the relevant
biological research, and how does it inform and affect the
ways we [should] live our lives, how is it likely to affect
us in the future?
In focusing on specific growth-areas of
understanding and know-how relevant to 'the
biology of time and aging', we would like
to assess the prospects that this new knowledge
may provide us with cures for degenerative
diseases, and thus improve the quality of
our life. What effect would such progress
have on the average length of the human
lifespan? Will increased knowledge of the
biology of time and aging enable us to distance
ourselves from what have heretoforth been
regarded as immutable biological determinants
of the human life course? What effect would
such applications of biological knowhow
have on identities and inter-generational
relationships? From the point of view of
public good, should aging, like 'death',
be regarded as 'normal' and therefore inevitable,
or as a form of disease, and therefore curable?
If longer healthy life becomes technologically
attainable, how should the means to that
end be distributed? Serious ethical issues
would arise if antiaging interventions were
developed and were not universally available.
These are some of the fundamental questions
that experts from a variety of disciplines
will tackle and discuss in an open debate
on the occasion of the 5th EMBL/EMBO
Science and Society conference in Heidelberg
5-6 November 2004. |
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