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Aging is the single largest risk factor for most chronic diseases, and thus possesses large socioeconomic interest to continuously aging societies. Consequently, the field of aging research is expanding alongside a growing focus from the industry and investors in aging research. This year's 8th Annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery (ARDD) meeting was organized as a hybrid meeting from August 30th to September 3rd 2021 with more than 130 attendees participating on-site at the Ceremonial Hall at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and 1800 engaging online. The conference comprised of presentations from 75 speakers focusing on new research in topics including mechanisms of aging and how these can be modulated as well as the use of AI and new standards of practices within aging research. This year, a longevity workshop was included to build stronger connections with the clinical community., Aging, 14 (2), ISSN:1945-4589

Several interventions have recently emerged that were proposed to reverse rather than just attenuate aging, but the criteria for what it takes to achieve rejuvenation remain controversial. Distinguishing potential rejuvenation therapies from other longevity interventions, such as those that slow down aging, is challenging, and these anti‐aging strategies are often referred to interchangeably. We suggest that the prerequisite for a rejuvenation intervention is a robust, sustained, and systemic reduction in biological age, which can be assessed by biomarkers of aging, such as epigenetic clocks. We discuss known and putative rejuvenation interventions and comparatively analyze them to explore underlying mechanisms., Emerging interventions have suggested that biological aging can be reversed rather than just attenuated, but the criteria for what it takes to achieve rejuvenation remain controversial. In this review, we discuss known and putative rejuvenation interventions, exploring their connections within the context of aging biomarkers. We suggest that the prerequisite for classifying an intervention as rejuvenating is a robust and reproducible reduction in biological age, which can be assessed by high‐dimensional trackers of aging such as epigenetic clocks.

SUMMARYNaked mole-rats are the longest-lived rodents endowed with resistance to cancer and age-related diseases, yet their stem cell characteristics remain enigmatic. We profiled the naked mole-rat hematopoietic system down to single-cell resolution, and identified several unique features likely contributing to longevity. In adult naked mole-rats red blood cells are formed in spleen and marrow, a neotenic feature beneficial for hypoxic environments and to prevent anemia. Platelet numbers are lower compared to short-lived mice, which may preclude age-related platelet increase and thrombosis. T cells mature in thymus and lymph nodes, providing a supply of T cells after age-related thymus involution. The pool of quiescent stem cells is higher than in mice, and HSCs overexpress an oxidative phosphorylation signature, revealing a new paradigm of stem cell metabolism to benefit longevity and oppose oncogenesis. Our work provides a platform to study immunology and stem cell biology in an animal model of healthy aging.HIGHLIGHTSFlow cytometry labelling panel to purify viable naked mole-rat HSPCsThe spleen as the major site of erythropoiesis in the naked mole-ratNaked mole-rats show extrathymic T-cell development under homeostatic conditionsNaked mole-rat hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have high OXPHOS activity