Gerontology Research Group

Last updated

Gerontology Research Group (GRG)
Formation1990;33 years ago (1990) as LA-GRG (original chapter)
Founder
Founded at Los Angeles, California, United States
Type Nonprofit
PurposeGerontology research
HeadquartersLos Angeles. California, USA
Region served
Worldwide
ProductsRecordkeeping and analysis, meetings, website, online forum
ServicesRecording the Verified oldest people list, tracking supercentenarians, research in ageing
FieldsGerontology
OwnerJohn M Adams (known as Johnny) (director)
Key people
 L. Stephen Coles, Stephen M. Kay (founders)
Website grg.org https://www.grg-supercentenarians.org/
Mission: Slow and ultimately reverse age related decline

The Gerontology Research Group (GRG) based in Los Angeles, California, USA, is a global non-profit scientific organization of researchers in various fields of gerontology, primarily concerned with validating the ages of, recording and researching supercentenarians (people who are at least 110 years old). [1]

Contents

The group endeavors to further gerontology research with a goal of slowing and reversing aging. Many of its worldwide correspondents are respected scientists and PhD holders. [1] [2] [3]

History

The GRG was founded in 1990 by L. Stephen Coles and Stephen M. Kaye. [4] The original chapter of the LA-GRG holds meetings each month, though the organization has members worldwide who meet via online forums and video meetings. [5] [6]

The GRG's current director, upon the death of Dr L Stephen Coles, is John M Adams, known as Johnny. Lead in supercentenarian research for the GRG is Robert Douglas Young.

The GRG validates the ages of supercentenarians (people at least 110 years old or older) by finding proof-of-age documents. [1] People that have attained supercentenarian status are required to supply the organization documents that prove the persons birth date, change of name (if applicable), and date of death (if applicable), along with another piece of official government identification. [5] Researchers from the GRG then verify that these documents are true and correct and if they are, the claimant is included in the GRG's official tables of validated supercentenarians. [1]

The GRG also conducts research on aging by interviewing supercentenarians and collecting blood and DNA samples. [1] [7]

To 2015, the Gerontology Research Group found proofs of supercentenarian age for more than 2,000 people. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

A supercentenarian is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases until shortly before the maximum human lifespan is reached.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emiliano Mercado del Toro</span> Puerto Rican supercentenarian (1891–2007)

Emiliano Mercado del Toro was a Puerto Rican supercentenarian and military veteran who was, at age 115, the world's oldest person following the death of 116-year-old Elizabeth Bolden on December 11, 2006, and the world's oldest man from November 19, 2004 until his own death on January 24, 2007.

Longevity claims are unsubstantiated cases of asserted human longevity. Those asserting lifespans of 110 years or more are referred to as supercentenarians. Many have either no official verification or are backed only by partial evidence. Cases where longevity has been fully verified, according to modern standards of longevity research, are reflected in an established list of supercentenarians based on the work of organizations such as the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) or Guinness World Records. This article lists living claims greater than that of the oldest living person whose age has been independently verified, Spanish woman Maria Branyas, aged 116 years, 286 days, and deceased claims greater than that of the oldest person ever whose age has been verified, French woman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 years and 164 days. The upper limit for both lists is 130 years.

This is a list of tables of the oldest people in the world in ordinal ranks. To avoid including false or unconfirmed claims of old age, names here are restricted to those people whose ages have been validated by an international body dealing in longevity research, such as the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) or Guinness World Records (GWR), and others who have otherwise been reliably sourced.

Leslie Stephen Coles was an American biogerontologist who was the co-founder and executive director of the Gerontology Research Group where he conducted research on supercentenarians and aging. He was also a visiting scholar in the computer science department at the University of California, Los Angeles and an assistant researcher in the Department of Surgery, at the David Geffen School of Medicine.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nuwer, Rachel (4 July 2014). "Keeping Track of the Oldest People in the World". Smithsonian . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. ↑ White, Gayle (8 February 2006). "Supercentenarians giving researchers clues on longevity". Chicago Tribune. Cox News Service. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Longevity gene keeps mind sharp". BBC News . 26 December 2006.
  4. ↑ Glaser, Vicki (June 2013). "Interview with L. Stephen Coles, MD, PhD". Rejuvenation Research. 15 (3): 250–253. doi:10.1089/rej.2013.1444. PMID   23651414.
  5. 1 2 Schneck, Andrea (4 March 2010). "Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine performs autopsy on 115-year-old woman to aid research". Daily Bruin . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Inouye, Emily (10 June 2004). "Research group tracks oldest-living people". Daily Bruin . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  7. ↑ Chawkins, Steve (5 December 2014). "L. Stephen Coles dies at 73; studied extreme aging in humans". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Table B - Verified Supercentenarians (Ranked By Age) as of January 1, 2015". Gerontology Research Group. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.