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James Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D. |
The focus of Dr. Kirkland’s research is on the impact of cellular aging, also called senescence, on age-related chronic diseases such as dementia, atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes and arthritis.
Read the Wall Street Journal story “Scientists’ New Goal: Growing Old Without Disease,” featuring Dr. Kirkland, here.
The goal of his work is to find a way to remove these cells to delay, prevent, alleviate or partially reverse age-related chronic diseases.
Dr. Kirkland’s lecture, titled, “Aging, Cellular Senescence and Clinical Translation: Opportunities and Challenges,” will explore the role senescent cells play in contributing to chronic age-related diseases and potential new drug therapies his research has uncovered.
Senescent cells originally evolved as a mechanism to defend against cancer and are often seen around cancer tumors. These cells don’t divide, are resistant to dying and produce a toxin that does damage to any cell around them. They also are found in the plaque that causes Alzheimer’s and in the fat tissue that accumulates around the pancreas in patients with diabetes.
Through research Dr. Kirkland has discovered a drug therapy that effectively shuts down the pathway that keeps senescent cells from dying and destroys them.
“Our goal is to remove these cells to delay, prevent, alleviate or partially reverse age-related chronic diseases as a group and extend the health span of people,” Dr. Kirkland said.
Dr. Kirkland currently serves as the Noaber Foundation Professor of Aging Research, and director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Currently, Dr. Kirkland serves as chair of the biological sciences section of the Gerontological Society of America. He also is a member of the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Aging Committee.