Dr Suresh Rattan PhD DSc
Laboratory of Cellular Ageing, Danish Centre for Molecular Gerontology, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Academic Qualifications
Dr. scient. (D.Sc.) 1995, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Ph.D. 1982, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, UK.
M.Phil.1979, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
M.Sc. 1977, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India.
Research areas and expertise
Ageing (biogerontology, molecular gerontology); Anti-ageing; Stress response and hormesis. Committed to research, guidance, communication, consultancy and advice on ageing intervention, prevention and therapies.

Causes of Ageing, Age-Related Diseases and Principles of Anti-Ageing
Scientific approaches to ageing intervention, prevention and therapy are based on knowledge gained through more than fifty years of research in biogerontology. The phenomenon of ageing has been well described at the level of species, individuals, organs, tissues, cells and molecules. Biologically, ageing is considered to occur during the survival period which is beyond the naturally required essential lifespan. Most importantly, there are no specific genes for ageing – gerontogenes – and ageing occurs mainly due to the progressive failure of maintenance and repair pathways. Such changes in defence mechanisms lead to an overall impairment of the physiological functions throughout the body, and result in the appearance of one or more of age-related dysfunctions and diseases. An absence of gerontogenes makes it possible to slow down ageing and to achieve a healthy old age by life style modulations. Antioxidants, hormones and other nutritional supplements are used to modulate ageing. However, there is a lot to understand about the mode of action of such treatments in order to make best use of them. Recently, highly effective small molecules such as kinetin, zeatin, resveratrol and others have been discovered which have a range of beneficial health protecting effects.. Collectively, such molecules can be termed as “protectins”, which protect the cells and organisms from age-related accumulation of molecular damage. Another approach in ageing prevention is that of hormesis, which refers to the beneficial effects of mild stress - physical, chemical, biological and mental. Application of hormesis in ageing research and therapies holds a significant promise. Although immortality and eternal youth may never be possible, achieving a healthy old age without major diseases is now a real possibility based on scientific principles.
Objectives of the presentation:
1. To give an overview of the state-of-art information about the biological basis of ageing and age-related diseases in various anatomic parts of the body.
2. To critically evaluate various anti-ageing approaches which either are already in practice or are in research and development.