Danica Chen , University of California, Berkeley, USA presents at the 10th Aging Research and Drug Discovery conference: Mitochondrial regulation of stem cell aging.
This was a super interesting talk. I don't have enough background to follow it in detail, but my take away is that stem cells are pretty fragile and that any disturbances in metabolic balance could accelerate aging, deplete regenerative capacity, and/or lead to disease states. I found it particularly interesting how mitochondrial fusion and fission determine the state of the stem cell. From my other reading I gather that not much is known about all of the the factors that influence mitochondria fusion and fission. I have recently read of insulin sensitivity being implicated in mitochondrial behavior as well as nutrients such as dietary steric acid signaling mitochondria to fuse.
