Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in Basic Biology of Aging (P30 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

OVERALL – PROJECT SUMMARY We propose this renewal application for the University of Washington Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging (UW NSC). The UW NSC has been a leader in providing innovative resources and expertise to the geroscience community for over 30 years. The proposed center resources will continue this history of high impact through outreach to connect investigators in the biology of aging with our set of highly collaborative cores that offer state of the art technologies. These core services are centered around translating complex high dimensional datasets, including multi-omics, into mechanistic insights into the biology of aging. The Protein Phenotypes of Aging (Core C – Michael MacCoss and Judit Villen) provides advanced tools to quantify how changes in the proteome, including turnover and stability, post-translational modifications, and protein interactions, in addition to protein expression, drive aging biology. The Metabolic Phenotypes of Aging Core (Core D – Daniel Raftery and David Marcinek) uses advanced mass spectrometry, NMR, and mitochondrial assays to quantify changes in metabolism and signaling with age. Cores C and D provide tools for generating and testing mechanistic hypotheses, as well as support for development of biological aging clocks and biomarker analyses for clinical trials. The Invertebrate Models of Aging Core (Core E – Maitreya Dunham and Alex Mendenhall) offers unique high throughput phenotyping, gene editing, and chemostat technology to link high dimension data to whole organism (C. elegans) and cellular aging (S. cerevisiae). The Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) for Aging Core (Core F – Su-In Lee) provides a link between the three other resource cores by applying and enhancing Dr. Lee’s novel XAI technology to move beyond black box AI techniques to create biologically interpretable mechanistic insights from high dimensional and multi-omics data. The Research Development Core (Core B – Jessica Young and Mariya Sweetwyne) will connect external investigators and junior faculty to the UW NSC Resource Cores through support for traditional pilot projects (up to $30,000 each) and RFAs for integrative pilots that involve multiple Resource Cores (up to $50,000 each). Core B will also work to “build the bench” of new geroscientists by setting aside $10,000 to support 2-3 summer research projects in the basic biology of aging for undergraduates and high school students from under-represented groups. The Administration and Program Enrichment Core (Core A – David Marcinek and Jessica Young) will support the UW NSC with budget management, outreach and scientific direction through coordination of external advisory boards, symposia and external speakers, training workshops for the Resource Cores, and collaboration with other centers. Core A will also provide bioinformatic and statistical support for rigorous experimental design and analysis for all UW NSC projects. Core A will also support a new initiative to capitalize on the affiliations of the new UW NSC leadership to connect basic scientists to publicly available databases from large cohort studies to facilitate testing the translational potential of mechanistic insights from lab models to human aging.