| Leonard
Hayflick, Ph.D., is Professor of
Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco. He has served
on the editorial boards of more than 10 professional journals and was
editor-in-chief of the international journal Experimental Gerontology
for 13 years. He was a founding member of the Council of the National
Institute on Aging and a consultant to the National Cancer Institute
and the World Health Organization. He now serves as a member of several
scientific advisory boards, including the Board of Directors of the
American Federation for Aging Research. Dr. Hayflick is best known for
his research in cell biology and mycoplasmology, having discovered in
1962 that, contrary to accepted belief, cultured normal human and animal
cells have a limited capacity for replication. This phenomenon, known
as “The Hayflick Limit,” overturned a dogma that existed since early
in the 20th century and focused attention on the cell as the fundamental
location of age changes. Also in 1962, Dr. Hayflick discovered that
the etiological agent of primary atypical pneumonia (“walking pneumonia”)
was a mycoplasma (Mycoplasma pneumoniae), the smallest free-living
microorganism. In 1968, Dr. Hayflick was appointed Professor of Medical
Microbiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. In 1982,
he moved to the University of Florida, Gainesville, where he became
Director of the Center for Gerontological Studies, Professor of Zoology,
and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Hayflick demonstrated
for the first time that mortal and immortal mammalian cells existed,
and this distinction is the basis for much modern cancer research. He
determined the existence and nuclear location of a counting mechanism
in normal human cells now known to be telomere shortening. Dr. Hayflick
developed WI-38, the first normal human diploid cell strain for studies
on human aging and for research use throughout the world wherever a
normal human cell is required; it is now used for the manufacture of
most of the world’s human virus vaccines. Dr. Hayflick is the recipient
of more than 25 major awards, including the $20,000 Brookdale Award
and the Kleemeier Award from the Gerontological Society of America.
In 1997, he was elected Academician and Foreign Member of the Ukrainian
Academy of Medical Sciences. In 1998, he was elected corresponding member
of the Société de Biologie of France. In 1999, he was presented with
the van Weezel Award by the European Society for Animal Cell Technology
and the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead Medal by the British Society for Research
on Aging. Dr. Hayflick is author of the popular book, How and Why
We Age (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994), now translated into 10
foreign languages. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, an Honorary Member of the Tissue Culture Association,
and is one of the 1,000 most cited contemporary scientists in the world.
Day 1: Morning Presentation
|
