LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- With life expectancies in the U.S. continuing to rise into the next century, a primary concern of most people will be a longer life accompanied by better health attained by disease prevention.

Dr. James E. Riggs (left) of Lambertville, associate professor of biology at Rider University, is on paid research leave this semester as a visiting associate research scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health to study how the immune system of humans exhibits aging (or senescence) during the last quarter of the average span.

"Little is known concerning the mechanistic connections between immune senescence and other components of the aging process," he said. "Thymus-derived lymphocytes and the hormones they produce play a central role in the generation and regulation of immune responses."

A primary objective of his research leave while working in the laboratory of Dr. Monte Hobbs in the Department of Epidemiology is to acquire the laboratory skills necessary to measure the production of these hormones. He also hopes to develop a research model to test aging effects on the immune system.

"Considering the increasing elderly population and the tremendous costs for hospitalization and treatment for established diseases," Dr. Riggs said, "it is imperative to gain a better insight into the biological processes that occur during aging. With an understanding of the role that the immune system plays in aging, age-specific preventive and treatments may be employed to extend both life span and quality of life."

This research complements Dr Riggs' work in his Rider laboratory for which he has received more than $200,000 in grants from such agencies the National Institutes of Health and the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research to support study on the immune system and AIDS. Biology majors assist him in his research.

Before coming to Rider in 1991, he served as a NIH postdoctoral fellow at the Medical Biology Institute in La Jolla, CA, as an adjunct instructor of biology at Grossmont-Cuayamaca College in El Cajon, CA, and a consultant for Pharmingen in San Diego, CA.

He earned his Ph.D. in immunology and his M.A. degree in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He received a B.S. degree magna cum laude from Delaware Valley College.

Rider University is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian institution with a 353-acre campus in Lawrenceville, NJ, and a 23-acre campus in Princeton, NJ. The University offers 58 undergraduates programs and 15 graduate programs in business, liberal arts, science, education, and music. Ninety-five percent of Rider's faculty members hold doctoral or other appropriate terminal degrees. U.S. News and World Report has again ranked Rider in the top tier of northern universities based on the quality of its programs.