Overcoming ovarian failure to extend women's health and lifespan
Why do women live longer than men? This trend doesn't just hold true across human societies, but it extends across the entire evolutionary tree of life, even in species that do not use the same chromosome system as mammals. In many respects, the fundamental biology of aging differs between males and females, meaning that interventions to improve late-life health will most likely be tailored according to sex. In humans, ovarian decline results in menopause and a host of age-related disease including osteoporosis, heart disease and changes in metabolism - in addition to the onset of female infertility, which is a pressing issue for society. Dr. Wu's group previously discovered that increasing levels of a vitamin co-factor called NAD+ could restore female fertility in mice which were older than the normal age of reproduction. Aside from addressing infertility, improving ovarian function could be important to improving the health of older women, lowering their risk of osteoporosis and other diseases. In this project, Dr. Wu will explore new strategies for altering cell metabolism in the ovary to improve women's health in their older years, with an additional focus on improving the health of female cancer survivors, who are at risk of accelerated age-related disease due to chemotherapy treatment.
