Ageing can lead to declining health and function, and it is the major risk factor for cancer, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease. This new Wellcome Trust conference will focus on recent discoveries and current challenges in ageing research, with a focus on translating basic research insights into health improvement for older people. We aim to explore the mechanisms of ageing in cells, tissues and organisms in order to identify interventions that can ameliorate its negative effects. The meeting will also emphasise the connection between discoveries made in model organisms and mechanisms leading to healthy ageing in humans.

The meeting is aimed at scientists, clinicians and drug developers involved in research into ageing and other relevant fields. We welcome the submission of abstracts from all areas relevant to the main themes of the meeting. Several oral presentations will be chosen from the abstracts submitted.

Topics will include:

Human ageing
Stem cells and cellular senescence
Physiology of homeostasis
Nutrition and metabolism
Genome stability
Epigenetics
Systems biology
Drug development

Scientific programme committee
Andrew Dillin University of California, Berkeley, USA
Linda Partridge University College London, UK
Thomas Rando Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
P. Eline Slagboom Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands

Keynote speaker
Josef Penninger Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Academy of Sciences, Austria

Confirmed speakers
Johan Auwerx Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Shelley Berger University of Pennsylvania, USA
Luigi Fontana Washington University, USA and Brescia University, Italy
Judith Frydman Stanford University, USA
David Gunn Unilever, UK
Gerald de Haan European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing, The Netherlands
Jing-Dong Jackie Han University of Shanghai, China
Steve Horvath University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Hong Liang Pfizer, USA
Joan Mannick Novartis, USA
Susan Ozanne University of Cambridge, UK
Bjorn Schumacher University of Cologne, Germany
John Sedivy Brown University, USA
Ana Valdes University of Nottingham, UK
Jan Vijg Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA

Venue:
This event will be held in the Kendrew Lecture Theatre at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus. Registration will take place in the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre.

Conference Programme:
The conference will open with registration from approximately 13:00 with talks starting at ~15:00, 18 May 2015 and close at approximately 16:30 on 20 May 2015.
A draft programme is available.