The Biology of Aging

As we grow older, rates of serious disease such as cancer, neurodegeneration, heart disease, and diabetes increase exponentially, with age being the greatest risk factor for their onset. Understanding the biology of aging, and what about aging connects these diseases, has thus received much attention from both scientists and the general public in recent years. In this course, we will examine the scientific theories on what causes aging. A history of aging research will be provided, and students will engage with primary scientific literature to understand how modern scientists study this question. We will conclude with an examination of the ethics of further lifespan extension in the 21st century.



William Nathan is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute/NIH studying genome instability in neurons and cancer cells. He has a DPhil in Biomedical Sciences/Oncology from the University of Oxford and a BA in Biochemistry and Economics from Middlebury College.