Building Physiological Resilience: From Evolution to Interventions

Audience

Attendees will include extramural academic researchers, geriatricians, NIH and NIA staff.

Dates

June 12, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., ET

June 13, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., ET

Location

This meeting will be held virtually.

This virtual workshop is for NIH staff and select investigators.

Purpose and Background

This workshop aims to explore the biological, physiological, and clinical dimensions of physiological resilience, with a particular emphasis on how understanding evolutionary biology can inform novel interventions to enhance resilience across the lifespan. While resilience research has traditionally focused on clinical and epidemiological markers, emerging insights from evolutionary biology provide a critical framework for understanding how organisms have adapted to stress over time — and how these adaptations might be leveraged for therapeutic interventions.

Evolutionary selection pressures have shaped fundamental biological mechanisms underlying resilience, such as stress response pathways, mitochondrial function, immune modulation, and metabolic flexibility. However, modern environmental and lifestyle factors — including changes in diet, physical activity, and medical interventions — may create novel challenges that mismatch these evolutionary adaptations, contributing to frailty, immune decline, and reduced physiological reserve in aging populations.

By integrating perspectives from evolutionary medicine, stress biology, and geroscience, this workshop will address key questions, including:

  • How do evolutionarily conserved mechanisms contribute to physiological resilience?
  • What can studies of hormesis, mitochondrial function, and metabolic flexibility teach us about improving resilience in clinical populations?
  • How can biomarkers of resilience be identified and applied in personalized medicine and clinical trials?
  • What interventions, such as gerotherapeutics, exercise, and nutritional strategies, hold the most promise for enhancing resilience in older adults?

Agenda

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time.

Day 1 | Thursday, June 12, 2025

10:00 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. | Welcome & Workshop Overview

10:10 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. | Mechanistic framework for the study of physiological resilience, Cathleen Colón-Emeric, M.D., M.H.S., Duke University School of Medicine

Session 1 | Mechanisms of evolutionary resilience

  • 10:25 a.m. Resilience and the evolution of aging, Daniel Promislow, Ph.D., Tufts University
  • 10:40 a.m. Hormesis: Non-linear Responses to stressors, Michael Ristow, M.D., Humboldt University Berlin and Charité University Medicine
  • 10:55 a.m. Perspectives on stress and metabolic adaptations: Implications for health and aging, Alessandro Bartolomucci, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
  • 11:10 a.m. Moderator recap and charge to groups: Group discussion, Moderator: Melissa Gerald, Ph.D., National Institute on Aging

12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. | LUNCH BREAK

Session 2 | Modern mechanisms of physiological resilience

  • 12:45 p.m. Neuroendocrine & psychological adaptation to 21st century stressors; Implications for aging, Elissa Epel, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco
  • 1:00 p.m. Musculoskeletal system and physiological resilience, Paul Coen, M.Sc., Ph.D., AdventHealth
  • 1:15 p.m. Mitochondrial dysfunction and resilience: The cellular powerhouse at risk, David Marcinek, Ph.D., University of Washington
  • 1:30 p.m. Microbial misalignment: The role of dysbiosis in compromised immune resilience, Julia Oh, Ph.D., Duke University School of Medicine
  • 1:45 p.m. Epigenetic /transcriptomic analyses of environmental enrichment may inform on the biology of resilience, Michael Meaney, Ph.D., McGill University
  • 2:00 p.m. Moderator recap and charge to groups: Group discussion, Moderator: Amanda Boyce, Ph.D., National Institute on Aging

2:50 p.m. – 3:05 p.m. | BREAK

3:05 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Day 1 Synthesis: All-Hands Discussion

3:30 p.m. | Adjourn Day 1

Day 2 | Friday, June 13, 2025

10:00 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. | Opening Remarks

Session 3 | Conducting clinical trials to improve physiological resilience

  • 10:10 a.m. Fueling immunity: The role of nutrition in building immune resilience, Philip Calder, Ph.D., D.Phil., University of Southampton
  • 10:25 a.m. Heterogeneity of exercise response in older adults: understanding the mechanisms of anabolic resistance, Ian Lanza, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic
  • 10:40 a.m. Gerotherapeutics and vaccine responses; Lessons from the past, visions for the future, Jenna Bartley, Ph.D., UConn Health
  • 10:55 a.m. Moderator recap and charge to groups: Group discussion, Moderator: Lyndon Joseph, Ph.D., National Institute on Aging

12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. | LUNCH BREAK

Session 4 | Translating resilience research to clinical trials

  • 12:45 p.m. Markers of reserve: Insights from EMR data, Juliessa Pavon, M.D., Duke University School of Medicine
  • 1:00 p.m. Wearable technology and continuous monitoring of static and dynamic predictor of resilience, Megan Huisigh-Scheetz, M.D., University of Chicago
  • 1:15 p.m. What matters most in patients with multiple chronic conditions: Implications for resilience, James Ralston, M.D., M.P.H., Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
  • 1:30 p.m. How social determinants of health affect recovery and physical resilience in older adults, Monique Pappadis, Ph.D., University of Texas Medical Branch
  • 1:45 p.m. Moderator recap and charge to groups: Group discussion, Moderator: Emily Hooker, Ph.D., National Institute on Aging

2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | BREAK

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Day 2 Synthesis and Wrap-Up Discussion: Recommendations and Priorities

3:30 p.m. | Adjourn Day 2

Contact Information

Please contact Monica Serra , NIA DGCG for questions you may have about the workshop.

Reasonable Accommodation

Reasonable Accommodation: If you need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event, please contact the meeting organizer listed under Contact Information. Please make your request no later than 1 week before the event.