WHAT: Doug Lund DNA Day
HOSTED BY: UNK Department of Biology
TITLE: “Adam’s Curse: Why Women Live Longer Than Men”
TOPIC: One of the most robust features of human biology is the survival advantage of women over men. Yet paradoxically, in later life women are less healthy than men of the same age. How general is the female survival advantage – and health disadvantage – across mammal species and how might we use such sex differences to give insight into mechanisms of aging? One surprising finding from the first pharmaceuticals discovered to extend the life and health of experimental animals is that most of them work in only one sex. What do these observations tell us about fundamental aging mechanisms and do they suggest that there are likely to be sex-specific anti-aging therapies for humans as well?
PRESENTER: Steven Austad is a distinguished professor and Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research in the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He’s also senior scientific director of the American Federation for Aging Research, a New York-based national philanthropic organization. Austad received his doctorate from Purdue University in 1981. In 2004, he was recruited to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where he became director of the Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies before moving to his current position at UAB in 2014.
Austad’s research encompasses many aspects of the biology of aging, from the molecular to the population levels. His specialty is the identification and study of nontraditional species – particularly exceptionally long-lived species – for insight into processes of slow aging and in pursuing knowledge of mechanisms of sex differences in aging and its treatment.
TIME: 4 p.m.
DATE: Friday, May 2
PLACE: Regional Engagement Center, Gala Room, 2204 University Drive
CONTACT: Nicholas Hobbs, UNK associate biology professor, 308.865.1572, hobbsjn@unk.edu
ABOUT THE EVENT: DNA Day was established in 2013 in honor of Doug Lund, who taught genetics for 33 years at Kearney State College/UNK and was instrumental in developing immunology and molecular biology curriculum. He was known for his outstanding teaching ability and his student-friendly personality and outreach.
