Life Sciences Coffee and Conversation: The Evolution of Ageing

Life Sciences Coffee and Conversation: The Evolution of Ageing

Categories: Lectures and Seminars | Intended for ,

Friday, September 20, 2019

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM | Add to calendar

608 Robertson Hall

1125 Colonel By Dr, Ottawa, ON

Contact Information

Kim Hellemans, 6135202600, kim.hellemans@carleton.ca

Registration

No registration required.

Cost

Free

About this Event

Host Organization: Faculty of Science
More Information: Please click here for additional details.

The Evolution of Ageing
Presented by Prof. Tom Sherratt, Department of Biology

ABSTRACT

We are all familiar with the gradual breakdown of our bodies as we get older. In humans, this deterioration results in an exponential increase in the probability of dying with chronological age. It is not just well-protected humans and our pets that show signs of ageing either: although it was once believed that wild animals do not live long enough to exhibit senescence, it has now been reported in a wide variety of taxa including short-lived insects and even bacteria. This raises an important problem: surely any set of genes that enhanced an individual’s longevity would be promoted by natural selection? While gerontologists have long tackled how we age from a mechanistic point of view, in this conversation Tom will consider the more fundamental problem of why we age at all. Calling on a range of experimental data and mathematical models, he will tackle a variety of questions including whether ageing is programmed and why some vital organs fail at a far greater rate than others.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Life Sciences Coffee and Conversation is a new monthly series at Carleton University devoted to bringing together faculty, staff and graduate students from the life sciences disciplines to share their research and cultivate existing or future collaborations. Participating units include Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Health Sciences, Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, and Neuroscience. The Life Sciences Coffee and Conversation series is geared towards a general sciences audience and is designed to engage, inspire and inform.

At each session a faculty member from a participating unit will deliver a 45-minute talk on a topic related to their research. A lively discussion will follow the talk to round out the hour.
If you have interests in life sciences and enjoy a good cup of joe, we hope you’ll join us at an upcoming talk — the coffee and treats are on us!