On the Gerontology Research Group
The Texarkana Gazette takes a look at the Gerontology Research Group, an affiliation of scientists that has come to be something of a hub for connections in the modern biogerontology community. "The first way the group hopes to learn more about longevity is by getting permission to conduct autopsies on people who are more than 110 to find out how they survived the diseases that often mean death, such as heart disease and cancer. The second is by raising money through the Supercentenarian Research Foundation to fund research on the people who are still living at 110-plus. ... What has been a common finding in these people is the presence of amyloids - a starch-like protein that can cause blockages. ... amyloid fibers are sticky and can infiltrate all organs in the body. ... It can almost be described as an invisible barrier that is waiting in the wings to take out every person living this long. These people are escapers - they escaped from heart disease, they escaped from diabetes, escaped from stroke - they have escaped all disease but they die from amyloidosis."
Link: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/articles/2006/11/30/local_news/features/features03.txt