Author: Coleen T. Murphy in Conversation with Sam Wang

This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library in partnership with Labyrinth Books.

The author and Princeton University professor of genomics and molecular biology is joined by her Princeton colleague Sam Wang to discuss her recent book "How We Age: The Science of Longevity."

From the Publisher: All of us would like to live longer, or to slow the debilitating effects of age. In "How We Age," Coleen Murphy shows how recent research on longevity and aging may be bringing us closer to this goal. Murphy, a leading scholar of aging, explains that the study of model systems, particularly simple invertebrate animals, combined with breakthroughs in genomic methods, have allowed scientists to probe the molecular mechanisms of longevity and aging. Understanding the fundamental biological rules that govern aging in model systems provides clues about how we might slow human aging, which could lead in turn to new therapeutics and treatments for age-related disease.

Coleen T. Murphy is professor of genomics and molecular biology at Princeton University. She is director of Princeton’s Glenn Foundation for Research on Aging and director of the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity in the Aging Brain. Her research lab is focused on the process of aging, which remains one of the fundamental mysteries of biology.

Sam Wang is professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton University. His laboratory research focuses on learning from birth to adulthood, at levels ranging from single synapses to the whole brain. He is the author of two books about the brain: "Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys But Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life" and "Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College."

This event was recorded on February 1, 2024.