Armand M. Leroi *, Andrzej Bartke , Giovanna De Benedictis , Claudio Franceschi , Anton Gartner , Efstathios S. Gonos , Martin E. Fedei , Toomas Kivisild , Sylvia Lee , Nesrin Kartaf-Ozer , Michael Schumacher , Ewa Sikora , Eline Slagboom , Mark Tatar , Anatoli I. Yashin , Jan Vijg , Bas Zwaan q a Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berks SL5-7PY, UK b Department of Physiology and Internal Medicine, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, 80 N. Rutledge, Room 4389, Springfield, IL 62794, USA c Department of Cell Biology, University of Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci 4C, 87036 Arcavacata, Rende, Italy d Direzione Scientifica, Instituto INRCA Via Birarelli 8, Ancona, Italy e Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18a, Martinsried, Germany f National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF), 48 Vas Constantinou Avenue, Athens, Greece g Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 1027 E 57th Street, Chicago, USA h Estonian Biocenter, Riia 23, Tartu, Estonia i 339 Biotechnology Building, Cornell University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Ithaca, NY, USA j Mramra University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Haydarpasa, 34668 Istanbul, Turkey k INSERM U488, 80 Rue du General Leclerc, Kremlin-Bicetre, France l Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Pasteur Street, Warsaw, Poland m Section Molecular Epidemiology, Sylvius Laboratory, Leiden University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9503, Leiden, Netherlands n Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Brown University, Providence, USA o Max-Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Dobernaner Strasse 114, Rostock, Germany p University of Texas Health Science Center, Department of Physiology, STCBM Building, Suite 2.200, 15355 Lambda Drive, San Antonio, TX 78245, USA q Section of Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, P.O. Box 9516, Leiden, Netherlands