Around 30 world-leading scientists, thinkers and opinion leaders, including five Nobel laureates, gathered in Seoul for an international forum on aging.

Under the theme of “The Age to Come,” the Nobel Prize Dialogue kicked off its three-day run at Seoul’s Coex on Monday.

Packed with lectures and panel discussions on issues surrounding aging, the event is part of the annual Nobel Week Dialogue organized by Nobel Media and the Nobel Center Foundation. The main one-day program is slated for Dec. 9 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Seoul forum is being held in partnership with the Korean Academy of Science and Technology.

At Monday’s morning session, Richard Roberts, awarded Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of split-genes in 1993, said genetically modified organisms are an essential tool to fight malnutrition in developing countries and, most importantly, to help boost life spans.

He said good quality foods are a great source of “good bacteria” that can boost health and prevent diseases.

“We have bacteria everywhere in our bodies. Most of them are good -- trying to protect us -- while some cause age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer. It would be worth spending time to discover to what extent the bacteria live with us and affect our aging,” Roberts said.

In support of GMOs, Roberts said, “There are many myths about GMOs in Western countries, yet they help fight against malnutrition and solve starvation issues especially in developing countries where people go hungry every day. Food is medicine, and good quality of food makes a huge difference in terms of how long you are going to live.”

In terms of the process of aging, Newcastle University professor emeritus Tom Kirkwood said the aging process can be altered by ways of our lives.

“Choices we make in our life styles have significant impacts on aging, and there are a lot of ways to slow it. But, sadly, some people have more disadvantages in life and experience aging faster. The process differs as there is a lot of disparity around the world in terms of the quality of lives,” he said.

Serge Haroche, who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics, said new technology and innovation should help connect people, not isolate them, in searching for ways to respond to aging.

“We are talking about different kinds of aging populations all around the world, and they all have different needs,” Haroche said. “Technological breakthrough should be able to address issues and needs from basic food supply to expensive, sophisticated living instruments, and help boost interaction within communities.”

Juleen Zierath of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, which chooses laureates, said in a joint interview with media outlets that one’s gender, ethnicity or race is not taken into account in deciding who wins the prize.

What the winners have in common is that “they were never afraid of overcoming challenges” that they faced in the course of their research, she said.

Other Nobel laureates in attendance were Ada Yonath, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, Finn Kydland for economics and Robert Huber from chemistry.

The forum, continuing through Wednesday, will also cover topics including the health care industry and new generations under the theme of “Science and Technology in Health Care” and “Next Revolution for Better Living.”

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)