Speaker: Professor Ana Maria Cuervo, MD PhD, The Robert and Renee Belfer Chair for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Professor in Departments of Developmental and Molecular Biology and Medicine of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Co-director of Einstein Institute for Aging Studies

All the cells in our body depend on very efficient surveillance systems to identify defective components and break them apart to avoid accumulation and toxicity. This “quality control” is essential to guarantee proper functioning of all the organs in the body. However, as we get old, the surveillance/cleaning mechanisms become less efficient, thus leading to accumulation of toxic products inside our cells. Failure of these cleaning systems, that occurs gradually with age, is rapidly accelerated in conditions that affect our elders, such as metabolic diseases, for example diabetes, or common brain disorders (Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease). This lecture will provide a summary of the recent efforts to understand how those surveillance mechanisms normally function, the reasons why they malfunction in aging and age-related diseases, and ongoing strategies to restore normal activity of the cellular cleaning systems as a possible anti-aging intervention.