Three veteran Miller School faculty have been elected to leadership roles with the Florida affiliate of the American Federation for Aging, while two UM scientists have each earned one of the start-up grants the national organization awards to early-career researchers interested in the advancement of healthy aging.
Bruce Troen, M.D., professor of medicine, director of the Molecular Gerontology Program, Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, and an investigator with the Miami VA's Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), was elected president of the newly created Scientific Advisory Board of the American Federation for Aging Research Florida (AFAR Florida).
Troen and Bernard Roos, M.D., professor of medicine, director of the Stein Gerontological Institute, director of GRECC, and immediate past chairman of AFAR Florida, were re-elected and Joshua Hare, M.D., Louis Lemberg Professor of Medicine and director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, was elected to the AFAR Florida board of directors. In addition, researchers Lina A. Shehadeh, Ph.D., research assistant professor of medicine, and Noël Marysa Ziebarth, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, claimed the grants the national organization awarded and the Florida affiliate funded in Florida. In all, 22 researchers from Florida competed for AFAR grants.
Both Troen, one of the founding directors of AFAR Florida, and Hare are previous winners of AFAR grants, which are aimed at seeding the work of young investigators so they can compete on the national stage and continue advancing the knowledge of aging and mechanisms of age-related disease.
Shehadeh, a research assistant professor of medicine, and a member of the Vascular Biology Institute and the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, will focus on vascular disease, in which aging is an independent risk factor, in her proposed study, "Role of miR-30e in the Collagen-Osteogenic Transition in Senescent Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells."
She hypothesizes that age-associated downregulation of miR-30e in smooth muscle induces vascular senescence and calcification in smooth muscle and mesenchymal stem cells. Her research addresses the potential cause for the age-associated dysfunction of these cells, which has implications for new therapeutic targets.
Ziebarth's proposed study, "Atomic Force Microscopy to Elucidate Age-Related Changes in Structure and Mechanics of the Ocular Lens," has tremendous implications for researchers who are developing techniques for the restoration of accommodation, the process by which the eye increases its power to enable clear near vision, and the prevention of cataracts, the leading cause of visual loss and blindness in the United States.
She suggests that the success of surgery to restore accommodation and halt cataract development requires a more complete understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind these debilitating eye diseases. Using state-of-the-art Atomic Force Microscopy techniques, she will investigate age-related changes in lens mechanics.
Since its founding in 1981, AFAR has granted $124 million to nearly 2,600 scientists, many of whom have made discoveries pivotal to the understanding and practice of medicine. The Florida affiliate was established in 2008 to expand the national AFAR's efforts by fostering excellent regional research into aging and raising money to support that research.
