Bringing New Focus on Aging Research

Worldwide people are living longer than before. The population of people aged 60 and older is growing exponentially according to data from the US Census Bureau, United Nations, and more. Growth in this demographic brings new challenges to meet the group’s unique needs. Traditional aging research has been conducted in silos and the INBT aims to remove those silos by creating collaborative teams that bring engineers, physical scientists, biological scientists, and medical experts together. Leading these efforts are INBT faculty members Jude Phillip assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Denis Wirtz, Vice Provost for Research and Theophilus Halley Smooth Professor, and Jeremy Walston, Raymond and Anna Lublin Professor of Geriatric Medicine & Gerontology. This past year our symposium featured guest speakers and panelists that focused on aging and how bioengineers can shape the future of aging research. Not long after the event, an aging working group was started with researchers from John Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, the Whiting School of Engineering, and the INBT. The group identified four key areas to grow their research: biomarkers of aging, regenerative engineering and aging, aging and cancer, and age-related neuroengineering. Within each area, their goals are to bring in funding for research, create working programs between Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Whiting School of Engineering, and chart a vision for the field with their perspectives of what aging research is, the trajectory it is going, and the advantages of the physical sciences and engineering approach. The INBT faculty have conducted aging research for some time, but to prepare for the future environment, the institute wants to bring aging research to the forefront.

Researchers are interested in the role senescent cells, the large cells seen centered, play in agerelated diseases. These non-dividing cells accumulate with age and can adversely influence the function of healthy cells.