Welcome to Scientific and Educational Website on Human Longevity !
Unraveling  the  Secrets 
of  Human  Longevity

This scientific and educational website contains over a hundred of scientific and reference documents relevant to longevity and aging studies. It is receiving about 1000 visits per day from many prestigious organizations including the US Library of Congress, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and from the Royal Society - the UK National Academy of Science. This website is rated as the top # 1 website on longevity science topic in such major search engines as Google, Yahoo!, Alltheweb, etc. (when searching for longevity science term).


Breaking News:

Watch new video of our invited lecture in Canada 'Human Longevity and a New Vision of Aging', and read its media coverage by Journalism  and  PensionCalculator
 
Breaking News  in Aging and Longevity Research

Learn about new Discussion Blog on Longevity Science and submit your own ideas and thoughts there

See news coverage of our research findings by Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Telegraph, New ScientistLos Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-TimesThe Sun, Forbes, and Daily Mail


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We plan to develop this website further and to put new useful datasets here, making them publicly available to all researchers world-wide.   To do so, we are now looking for potential sponsors of this high visibility scientific website in order to support its further maintenance, improvement and development.   We would therefore greatly appreciate any advice or help in connecting us with potential sponsors for this website, promoting our understanding  of mechanisms of aging and longevity in order to extend healthy and productive human lifespan.   If you can help, please contact us at  <gavrilov(at)longevity-science.org>.  Thank you!



Who we are:
Dr. Leonid A. Gavrilov
Center on Aging
NORC at the University of Chicago
1155 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637-2745

E-mail: 
Brief Biographical Sketch,    NIH  Biosketch
Detailed Curriculum Vitae   Resume
Extended CV
Expertise Profile
See also: Who'sWho in America - 2002, 2003
Statement of Research Interests
Interview


 Dr. Natalia S. Gavrilova
 
Center on Aging
  NORC at the University of Chicago
  1155 East 60th Street
  Chicago, IL 60637-2745
  
  E-mail: 
 
Brief Biographical Sketch, NIH Biosketch
  Detailed  Curriculum Vitae    Resume
   Extended CV
  Expertise Profile
  Statement of Research Interests
 
 


Our collaborators in Russia are:
Galina N. Evdokushkina , M.Sc.,  and  Dr. Victoria G. Semyonova .

We also maintain close scientific contacts with
Dr. Bruce A. Carnes   at the University of Oklahoma.
Dr. Yulia Kushnareva at Burnham Institute, La Jolla, CA
 


What  we  have  found  and  published:
 
 

See our 10 scientific books published in coauthorship with other researchers here

The Most Intriguing of Our (About 100) Publications:

Download 
the Reprint (PDF) version of 
"Season of Birth and Human Longevity"


Our most important publications are:

 

Gavrilov L. A.  and  Gavrilova N. S.
"THE  BIOLOGY  OF  LIFE  SPAN"
NY: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991, 385 pages
Cited by Encyclopedia Britannica as recommended reference
Table of Contents
Subject Index
References
Citation Record
Reviews of this book

Available at:

Amazon,    AddALL,    Routledge                                       
NetStoreUSA.com,    OpenGroup,     Barnes&Noble       

eCampus.comBiggerBooks.com,  Fetchbook

 





 



 

 
SEASON OF BIRTH  AND  HUMAN LONGEVITY
Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, 1999, 2(4): 365-366.
To download full text click here
For Media coverage click here
HUMAN LONGEVITY  AND  PARENTAL AGE  AT CONCEPTION
In: Sex and Longevity . Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2000, pp.7-31.
To download full text click here
EPIDEMIOLOGY  OF  HUMAN LONGEVITY: 
THE  SEARCH  FOR  APPROPRIATE  METHODOLOGY

Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, 2001, 4(1): 13-30.
To download full text click here
BIODEMOGRAPHIC STUDY  OF  FAMILIAL DETERMINANTS  OF  HUMAN LONGEVITY
Population: An English Selection, 2001, 13(1): 197-222.
To download full text click here
WHEN  DOES  HUMAN LONGEVITY  START?:
DEMARCATION  OF  THE  BOUNDARIES  FOR  HUMAN LONGEVITY

Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, 2001, 4(2): 115-124. Abstract
To download full text click here

THE  RELIABILITY THEORY  OF  AGING  AND  LONGEVITY
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2001, 213(4): 527-545.  Abstract
To download full text click here
For Press Release click here
For Media Coverage click here

EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES  OF  AGING  AND  LONGEVITY
TheScientificWorldJOURNAL, 2002, 2: 339-356. 
To download full text in pdf format click  here
To download full text in HTML format click  here

THE  QUEST  FOR  A GENERAL  THEORY  OF  AGING AND  LONGEVITY
Science's SAGE KE (SCIENCE of  AGING KNOWLEDGE ENVIRONMENT )
for 16 July 2003; Vol. 2003, No. 28
http://sageke.sciencemag.org
To download full text as pdf file click here
Abstract, full text

EARLY-LIFE  PREDICTORS  OF  HUMAN  LONGEVITY:
ANALYSIS  OF  THE  19TH  CENTURY  BIRTH  COHORTS

Annales de Demographie Historique, 2003, 2: 177-198.
To download full text click  here

DOES  EXCEPTIONAL  HUMAN  LONGEVITY  COME  WITH HIGH  COST  OF  INFERTILITY?   TESTING  THE EVOLUTIONARY  THEORIES  OF  AGING
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2004, 1019: 513-517.
To download full text click  here

EARLY-LIFE  PROGRAMMING  OF  AGING  AND  LONGEVITY:  THE  IDEA  OF  HIGH  INITIAL  DAMAGE  LOAD  (THE  HIDL  HYPOTHESIS)
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2004, 1019: 496-501.
To download full text click  here

THE  RELIABILITY-ENGINEERING  APPROACH  TO  THE PROBLEM  OF  BIOLOGICAL  AGING
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2004, 1019: 509-512.
To download full text click  here

WHY  WE  FALL  APART.   ENGINEERING'S  RELIABILITY THEORY  EXPLAINS  HUMAN  AGING
IEEE Spectrum, 2004, 41(9): 30-35.
To download full text click  here


For more detailed list of our published findings please click here

For more publications available for downloading please click here


Who  supported  our  studies:
We would like to acknowledge the financial support for our research work provided by:


We would also like to acknowledge the important moral support for our research work (strong letters of recommendation, encouraging published reviews of our work, etc.) provided by:

and other researchers, mentioned here

Finally, we would like to acknowledge stimulating working environment at the Center on Aging , NORC/University of Chicago that allows us to conduct our research.  We are particularly grateful to Linda J. Waite and William L. Parish for their support of our studies at the Center on Aging.

If  you  would  like  to  support  our  studies,  please  contact  us  at:

gavrilov[at]longevity-science.org

Useful Links  and  Resources:
 

"Biodemography of Human Mortality and Longevity"

For syllabus of this course please click here .




Why  do  we  believe  that  the  scientific  breakthrough  in  longevity  studies  is  possible 

Short Answer:

Numerous studies demonstrate that many manifestations of aging can be postponed or even reversed, and that lifespan can be significantly extended in experimental animals.  Moreover, our own studies found remarkable plasticity of human longevity (see above), and suggest that there may be a significant potential for further extension of human lifespan.

Supporting citation from Nature (2000, vol.408, p.261):
"The field of ageing research has been completely transformed in the past decade. … When single genes are changed, animals that should be old stay young.  In humans, these mutants would be analogous to a ninety year old who looks and feels forty-five.  On this basis we begin to think of ageing as a disease that can be cured, or at least postponed. … The field of ageing is beginning to explode, because so many are so excited about the prospect of searching for -- and finding -- the causes of ageing, and maybe even the fountain of youth itself."
Cited from: Guarente, L., and Kenyon, C. (2000) Genetic pathways that regulate ageing in model organisms. Nature 408, 255-262.
 

More Detailed Answer: 

Read new scientific book 
"Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence:

Why Genuine Control of Aging May Be Foreseeable"
published by the  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2004, vol. 1019.

See also "Is Immortality Possible?"
 
We believe that the prospects for life extension depend on our own behavior by the mechanism of self-fulfilling prophecy.

For example, if we convince ourselves and the public that nothing could be done and/or should be done with aging ("tampering with aging"), the outcome is clear.  On the other hand, commitment of this nation already made possible several fantastic projects in the past (like the flight to the Moon), so why should we consider this generation less capable to great achievements?

We believe that the main challenge for accomplishing the life extension revolution is the mobilization of the nation and public support  for relevant research projects. From this perspective, the recent attempts to discredit anti-aging research efforts and to present them as a kind of scientific porn should be taken very seriously and, in our opinion, these attempts should not to be endorsed.  Moreover, we suggest to establish the Anti-Aging Science Award in order to stimulate legitimate anti-aging scientific studies and public support for them.