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V O L . X X I I N O. X V I I J U LY 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 16 New training lab Another positive is a 6,720-square-foot, two- story training lab in the works on campus that can accommodate more students for IDeA (Institutional Development Awards) Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, or INBRE, courses. INBRE is a federal training program that in Maine involves three research institutions and 10 colleges and universities. IDeA is aimed at building Maine's research capacity. e funding totals $118 million since 2001, with another $89 million secured as a result of research funded by the program. More than 205 new jobs were created in Maine from the program. Another key program for the lab is the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, a $13 million federal grant for regenerative biology and medicine research that is up for renewal in 2018. Strange says the lab must show progress since it received the grant in September 2013 to get a renewal. Training, including the recent two-week aging and model organism course for visiting postdoctoral students, is a key part of the lab's work. A $500M bet; cleaning up body garbage At the end of long days of seminars, the visiting scien- tists and the public are treated to two visiting lecturers. Steve Austad, a University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher, made a case for his belief that the fi rst person who could live to age 150 was already born by 2000. And he has a lot on the line. In 2000, he made a $150 bet with S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Chicago, who thinks Austad is wrong. e payoff for the combined $300, which is in an investment account until 2150, is an estimated $500 million at historical market growth rates over the 150-year period, according to Austad. e downside: neither scientist will likely be alive to collect the money, which will go to one of their descendants or to a designated university. e one caveat is that the 150-year-old person has to be cognitively intact and able to hold a com- petent conversation. Austad asks the audience of scientists and local resi- dents how many of them would take a pill that would allow them to live till 150. Only half raise their hands. Austad says that's because many worry about their quality of life and cognitive function at that age. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far Aging kills and debilitates far more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other more people than any other cause because it underlies all of them," he says. "There's no reason to think we can't go after all these diseases [at once] — Steve Austad, Researcher at University of Alabama at Birmingham

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