Noted Biologist, Aging Expert To Speak In Bullen Lecture Series Event, September 20
MIT Professor Leonard Guarente, Ph.D., to serve as Iona's first lecturer of 2018-19
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Iona College is proud to announce its first speaker for the 2018-19 Thomas G. Bullen, Ph.D., CFC, Memorial Lecture Series in Science and Technology. Iona welcomes noted biology professor historian Leonard Guarente, Ph.D., to the Christopher J. Murphy Auditorium on Thursday, September 20, at noon. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Dr. Guarente's lecture will discuss progress in aging research over the past 30 years. Sirtuins are a class of proteins that has been shown to slow aging in organisms ranging from yeast to humans. These proteins normally are activated by a low-calorie diet termed "calorie restriction". It is now possible to activate these proteins with small molecules that behave as calorie restriction mimetics. These include the class of natural compounds termed polyphenols and precursors of the sirtuin cofactor, NAD+. In preclinical studies, these compounds protect against numerous diseases and can increase the life span of animals.
In February, TIME Magazine published an article featuring Dr. Guarente called "Is an Anti-Aging Pill on the Horizon?". Former doctoral student David Sinclair is also mentioned in the article and is a previous Bullen lecturer at Iona College, in April 2009.
Leonard Guarente is the Novartis Professor of Biology, director of the Glenn Center for Aging Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an affiliate of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. His lab discovered the role of sirtuins, a family of proteins, in aging and disease and the function of the proteins as NAD+ dependent protein deacetylases. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of the AFAR highest achievement award for aging research. He is currently analyzing aging of the human brain and how it relates to neurodegenerative diseases. He is on the editorial boards of Cell, Cell Metabolism, Trends in Genetics, EMBO Reports, Aging, and Experimental Gerontology. He is a founder of Elysium Health and Galilei BioSciences, and on the scientific advisory boards of Segterra, and Sebelius.
The Bullen Lecture Series began as Scientific and Technological Lecture Series and founded in 1989 by Victor Stanionis, Ph.D., professor of physics at Iona College. Its purpose was to instill a measure of scientific awareness in Iona’s science, liberal arts, business students and the public so they may confront scientific issues as informed citizens. A secondary purpose of the series was to bring them into contact with scientists who have achieved at the highest levels in their fields. The series was renamed to honor Br. Thomas G. Bullen, Ph.D., who was a legend in the Science departments at Iona College, and it became known as the Thomas G. Bullen, CFC, Ph.D., Memorial Lecture Series in Science and Technology. Presently the series is sponsored by the Josephine Lawrence Hopkins Foundation.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2025 national list of “The Best 390 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.