Aging and the end of life: from flies to human beings

This webinar will present a re-conceptualization of aging and the end of life developed from animal models.

Michael RERA will present in 35 minutes the general issues involved in defining aging, the discovery of Smurfs in Drosophila and how this end-of-life phenotype has enabled the re-conceptualization of aging as a discontinuous phenomenon, which his team has validated in nematodes, zebrafish and mice. He will explain what this re-conceptualization implies for understanding human aging.

His colleague Clément DUBOST will present the BlueRéa clinical trial, which started in January 2025 and aims to validate the aging model.

Speakers:

• Michael RERA, DR CNRS, HDR, Functional and Adaptive Biology Unit (BFA), Université Paris Cité and CNRS.
  Since 2005, he has been working to understand aging: its causes, consequences and evolution. He has developed a two-phase model of aging since the first description of the Smurf phenotype in Drosophila (Drosophila melanogaster) and founded his "Understanding the end of life" (UTELife) research group in 2018. His research project is resolutely transdisciplinary, at the crossroads of fundamental biology, genetics, physiology, bioinformatics and mathematical modeling.
• Clément DUBOST : head of the intensive care unit at Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Bégin. With his team, he is interested in the objective and reproducible quantification of consciousness disorders, whether induced (general anaesthesia) or in intensive care patients.