20319 Aging
Credits: 3 advanced credits in Life Sciences
Prerequisites: Students must fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.
Required: Cell Structure and Function (single-semester format or year-long format), Biochemistry I, General Biology II or Human Physiology
Recommended: Genetics,1 Mammalian Reproduction, Immunology
Authors: Amiela Globerson, Avinoam Adam, Gad Yagil
The course focuses on the biological aspects of gerontology the relatively young multidisciplinary field that deals with aging. The achievements of modern medicine have extended the average life expectancy of humans; however, the maximal life span until 120 has not changed. Parallel to research into the serious social, medical and economic problems that accompany the aging of individuals and populations, accelerated effort is being devoted to the study of the factors and basic biological processes responsible for widely different life expectancies among living organisms and for the fact that proximity to the maximum age is characterized by an increasing decline in most physiological abilities.
Topics: Observations, research methods and findings of major experiments relating to aging processes and their causes in living organisms, particularly humans, on all levels the species, population and individual; major anatomical and physiological systems; cells; molecules; theories of aging.
1or the previous version of the course, From Mendelism to Genetic Engineering.