The Networker

Abstract

Molecular biologist Brian Clark is one of a cadre of European scientists who've been fostering international research collaborations on the biology of aging. Director of the Danish Centre for Molecular Gerontology at the University of Aarhus, he wears many hats as a scientist and an administrator in Denmark and beyond. Clark launched his career in the 1960s with groundbreaking work on protein synthesis at the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, U.K., and later began using his connections in the worlds of biochemistry and molecular biology to promote biogerontology research. In the '90s, he coordinated Molgeron and Genage, transnational initiatives funded by the European Commission to support conferences and exchanges of ideas among scientists who studied the molecular basis of aging. Outside of science, Clark holds a fascination for buses and professional soccer, and he has been known to call for timeouts in scientific discussions to go check on Liverpool's latest scores.