2008 Vincent J. Cristofalo, PhD
Annual Lectureship
This endowed Lectureship is an annual tribute to Dr. Vincent Cristofalo, an expert in cellular aging, a cherished mentor, and the founder of the Center for the Study of Aging, now the Institute on Aging at Penn.
The Second Vincent J. Cristofalo, PhD, Annual Lectureship took place on:
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
3:30 - 5:30pm
BRB 2/3 Auditorium -
421 Curie Boulevard
The 2008 Crisofalo Lecturer
Judith Campisi, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor at the Buck Institute for Age Research, will serve as the 2008 Cristofalo Lecturer.
Her lecture title was "Cellular Senescence Links the Rival Demons of Cancer and Aging."
About Dr. Campisi
Dr. Judith Campisi is internationally known for her work on the role of cellular senescence in aging and cancer. Her laboratory in Berkeley studies the evolutionary, cellular and molecular relationships between aging, tumor suppressor mechanisms and the development of cancer, as well as nuclear structures such as telomeres, and nuclear processes such as DNA repair and transcription, to understand how genetic and epigenetic damage leads to aging and cancer phenotypes. She is also working to identify links between mitochondrial function and cellular responses that can affect the development of aging phenotypes and age-related diseases in tissues and organisms.
Dr. Campisi considers the cellular responses of senescence and apoptosis as possible examples of an evolutionary trade-off between tumor suppression and aging (antagonistic pleiotropy). Her laboratory's current research interests include the regulation and function of the p53 and pRB tumor suppressor pathways, the structure and function of telomeres (chromosome stabilizing "caps"), and the role of DNA repair mechanisms in suppressing genomic instability and assuring organismal longevity. Dr. Campisi and her laboratory also study human premature aging and cancer-prone disorders such as the Werner and Bloom syndromes, and the role of adaptive responses in protecting cells and organisms from genotoxic and other stresses, including mitochondrially-derived oxidative stress.
Recent important discoveries made by the Campisi laboratory include the deleterious of senescent cells, including their ability to disrupt normal tissue structure and function and drive cancer progression; the striking difference between human and mouse cells in sensitivity to oxidative stress, which may explain the higher rate of aging and increased frequency of cancer in mice; the reversal of the senescent state in cultured cells (long thought to be impossible); the dualistic nature of telomeres, which can protect against senescence and cell death under certain stressful conditions but sensitize cells to oxidative and other stresses under other conditions.
Giving to the Cristofalo Annual Lectureship Fund
If you would like to make a contribution to the Vincent J. Cristofalo, PhD, Annual Lectureship Fund, please contact Irene Lukoff,
Director of Development
Healthy Brain Aging & Neurodegenerative Diseases, for the IOA. Ms. Lukoff may be reached directly at 215-573-0187. Or, you may send a private email to at ilukoff@ben.dev.upenn.edu.
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