Viruses and Chronic Aging: Building a Research Community
11-14, 15:35–15:50 (Asia/Bangkok), Breakout 3

Did you know that mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, and cognitive decline are directly accelerated by viruses? In fact, the viruses that infect us over a lifetime are technically not even alive, and therefore must “hack” our human cellular metabolism machinery to do anything at all. This talk will overview the first-ever global collaborative network studying & treating chronic viruses as drivers of aging, including how certain lifespan-promoting drugs may help combat viral activity.

Dr. Proal is a microbiologist and President/CEO of PolyBio Research Foundation: a non-profit working to study and treat infection’s chronic consequences across conditions including long COVID, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and even human aging. Dr. Proal also serves as Research Director for the Mount Sinai Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness, the world’s first open-source long COVID clinic with a decentralized model enabling community co-design.