Secrets to slowing down aging: leading researcher in Hobart

Secrets to slowing down aging: leading researcher in Hobart

One of Time magazine's 100 most influential people for 2014 will come to Hobart this week for an event that will launch ASMR Medical Research Week® for 2014.

One of Time magazine's 100 most influential people for 2014 will come to Hobart this week for an event that will launch ASMR Medical Research Week® for 2014.

Harvard Medical School geneticist Professor David Sinclair, who with colleagues identified a cause of aging that is potentially reversible, has been named the Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) Medallist for 2014. He will speak at the 2014 Medical Research Week® dinner at the Woolstore tonight (Thursday 29th May).

The Time magazine article naming Professor Sinclair among the world's most influential people noted that, while immortality is out of reach, his work made possible the idea of "living more years with a body that's robust enough to make the most of them".

Professor Sinclair is Australian and obtained his PhD in Molecular Genetics at the University of NSW in 1995, before moving to the United States.

His Harvard laboratory researches genes that affect aging. In 2006, he made headlines with a study finding that a plant-derived molecule found in red wine could inhibit the ill effects of excess weight in mice. Subsequent work from Professor Sinclair and colleagues discovered a molecular cause of aging that applies to fungus and scales all the way up the food chain to humans.

The Tasmanian Branch of the ASMR will host the gala dinner in Hobart, which kicks off the 2014 national tour by the ASMR Medallist.

The winner of the ASMR 2014 Tasmanian Postgraduate Student Research Awards will be announced at the dinner. Another highlight of Medical Research Week in Hobart will be the awarding, by the Tasmanian branch of the ASMR, of the Distinguished Service Award to cancer specialist Professor Ray Lowenthal, who is an Honorary Research Fellow at Menzies.

Professor Lowenthal has been a member of the ASMR for 30 years, and was President of its Tasmanian branch from 1996-98. He has a long association with the University of Tasmania's Faculty of Health, having joined the School of Medicine in 1975 and been appointed Clinical Professor in 1994.

The University of Tasmania's Faculty of Health and the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania are proud sponsors of ASMR Medical Research Week® in Tasmania.

For more information and to arrange an interview with Professor Sinclair or Professor Lowenthal, contact:

 

Miranda Harman

Marketing and Communications Manager

Menzies Research Institute Tasmania

miranda.harman@utas.edu.au

Ph: 03 6226-7751

0427 199 562

 

The winner of the ASMR 2014 Tasmanian Postgraduate Student Research Award will be available for interview after the announcement has been made at the dinner.

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