Fireside Science Meeting Will Talk About Healthcare for the Aging

A series of Fireside Science meetings are being held at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor to help educate folks about what they do there. Thursday, February 28th, the topic of conversation is the future of healthcare as it relates to aging.

I spoke with one of the guest speakers this week, Dr. Gareth Howell about what he'll be covering at the gathering. The topics will include Alzheimer's Disease, non-Alzheimer's dementia, and glaucoma. He says worldwide about 35 million people suffer from Alzheimer's and because of its complex nature it's very difficult to study it using human genes alone. At the Jackson Laboratory, they are using mice to help further the study and learn more about the genetics behind it.

Dr. Howell says the Jackson Laboratory is a world-renowned facility and yet many people in Maine don't really understand what goes on there. That's where the idea for the Fireside Science meetings came from. There will be a series of meetings this year, including one that will discuss the correlation between science and music.

The next Fireside Science Meeting will be held at Jackson Laboratory on Main Street in Bar Harbor on Thursday, February 28th from 4:30 to 6pm.  The event is free and open to the public. For more information or to pre-register online, just log onto the Jackson Lab's website.