The degeneration which occurs with age was once thought to be the result of causes too complicated to ever understand and ultimately not amenable to medical treatment. However, new discoveries reveal common mechanisms involving the accumulation of damage are shared by most age-related diseases and that new technologies have the potential to repair that damage, restoring health and function to the aging body.

At the basis of the deterioration that accompanies aging is a loss of integrity at the cellular level caused by the accumulation of only a few types of damage.  This damage is ongoingly produced throughout life as a result of simply being alive, but only when it passes a threshold level does it produce symptoms and noticeable loss of function. 

Although there is some debate as to its completeness, the list below comprises all of the currently known forms of damage that lead to age-related disease.  It is important to note that despite rapid progress in many fields of science, no new cause has been found in the past 20 years. New therapies involving stem cells, gene therapy, and other biomedical breakthroughs, have been and are being developed which when applied to these few types of damage have the potential for alleviating many related age-associated disorders at once by attacking them at their root.  For instance, Alzheimer"s, Parkinson’s, Diabetes and others often show an accumulation of indigestible material within their particular cell type.  Therapies able to remove this junk in one cell type will likely be able to remove the same material in another removing that damage as a factor in the development of associated diseases.

The current need for such technologies is great and increasing as generations that have benefited from the application of science to childhood diseases have survived to suffer from the problems of aging.  There is little doubt that promising technologies will be further developed and applied to reduce the burden and suffering of an aging population.

To this end, this symposium is designed to bring an awareness of the rapid pace of the development of intervention-oriented therapies in age-related dysfunction to the educated layman and lab-hardened researcher alike, as well as draw the attention of policy-makers to the massive economic benefits available to those who create an environment where these technologies can be developed and implemented at all possible speed.  Alberta is in a unique and precarious position, with billions of dollars in surplus revenue from a non-renewable resource.  It is hoped that this symposium will provide some food for thought as to long-term future directions where some of this surplus might be put to work to develop an industry based on a more renewable resource, technology providing the universal consumables of relief and time to a suffering and globally aging population.

The Symposium Program opens with presentations in the social sciences and economics of aging which examine the current and worsening situation which faces Canada, and indeed almost every country on the planet, where an aging population results in much hardship, suffering and economic cost.  This provides the human backdrop which will give the biomedical presentations context. Thus the start of the symposium will focus on more the social impact of these technologies and the justification for their development. 

Part of this human backdrop are the economic reasons for the development of effective intervention-oriented aging therapies.  These are dealt with in the early sessions which discuss the current and projected costs of an aging population.  However, economic benefits are only one outcome of the development of real anti-aging medicine. Longer and healthier lifespans will have many far-reaching social consequences and some may see many of these as undesirable.  Shouldn't we be focusing our resources on other pressing problems such as global poverty and disease rather than extending life for those already fortunate enough to have their basic needs met? Are the potential benefits of developing such technologies worth the potential drawbacks?  Certainly there are some very important questions which need to be asked and addressed no matter which perspective one holds.

An opportunity to contemplate and discuss some of these questions is provided  in a head-to-head discussion between two renowned opponents on the subject of extending of extending human lifespan.   Questions of the allocation of resources, overpopulation and the overall ethics of keeping people alive longer than what we currently experience as a maximum lifespan will be examined in what is sure to be a controversial session and and we encourage the audience to participate with their own thoughts.

The biomedical science oriented sessions focus on the types of damage that accumulate with age, both what is known or can be done at present to slow or repair them, and what we might see in terms of  future therapies.  As a general guide, but by no means a rule, the first talk within each of these damage categories is intended to be introductory in nature, highlighting the presenter's work while at the same time providing some background to make the subsequent sessions more accessible to the non-expert.  The following session(s) provide insight into the mind-boggling future possibilities of emerging technologies that are just beginning to show their potential.

Of course all of the thinking that will be going on needs to be balanced by discussion over good food and drink as well as opportunities to relax and enjoy some Alberta hospitality.  I hope you will  join us in welcoming these internationally renowned and respected researcher's whose work promises to afford us an intriguing and thought provoking gathering, and perhaps herald the beginning of a new "Alberta Advantage".