On May 17, 2016, The New York Times featured a cover study on the groundbreaking Dog Aging Project and its implications for extending the years humans live healthier as we age. The project is spearheaded by two AFAR grantees, and several AFAR awardees and board leaders were asked to lend insights in the piece.
The two-page story spotlighted the Dog Aging Project, led by University of Washington Medicine’s Matt Kaeberlein, PhD, (2006 AFAR Research Grant for Junior Faculty and 2007 Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology Award) and Daniel Promislow, PhD, (1996 AFAR Research Grant for Junior Faculty and 2010 Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology Award). Now in its second phase, the Dog Aging Project seeks to look at the effects of the drug rapamycin as a potential intervention for canine – and human – aging, and to gather data allowing scientists and veterinarians to better understand how dogs age.
By studying and improving healthy lifespan for our canine companions in their homes, the team hopes to translate results to gain a better understanding of human healthspan. The article states, “[Dog Aging] trial also represents a new frontier in testing a proposition for improving human health: Rather than only seeking treatments for the individual maladies that come with age, we might do better to target the biology that underlies aging itself.”
Several AFAR experts were asked to lend insight on the project’s potential, including: AFAR Scientific Director, Steven Austad, PhD; Board Member and 2012 AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology Award recipient James Kirkland, MD, PhD; 2003 Ellison Post-Doc Award recipient Coleen Murphy, PhD; and 2010 Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research winner Andrew Dillin, PhD.
Recently, AFAR co-hosted a research briefing on The Dog Aging Project, where Doctors Kaeberlein and Promislow spoke to leaders from aging and canine health organizations about the growing momentum of this unique study.
Read the full New York Times story online here.
