Doctoral Dissertation Research: Aging phenotypes and the senescence associated secretory phenotype in primates

Aging is associated with biological, physiological, and functional changes that reflect evolutionary trade-offs in energy allocation across the lifespan. This project uses a non-human primate model to examine age-associated gene expression changes and to investigate the relationship between these changes and age-related phenotypic decline. This doctoral dissertation project advances knowledge about senescence and life history in primates and has the potential to aid in the development of novel life-extending therapies by identifying alterations in organ-specific gene expression that occur across the lifespan, not just in old age.

The project supports a female graduate student in laboratory, bioinformatic, and statistical training. She also serves as an educator through her continued involvement in high school programs that provide students from underserved communities with mentoring and research opportunities.

Life history theory posits that evolved trade-offs between early-life growth and reproduction and later-life somatic maintenance are responsible for the timing of life history events. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these evolved trade-offs are not fully understood. Cellular senescence and the proteins secreted by senescent cells (the senescence associated secretory phenotype, SASP) are predicted to be responsible for modulating these life history trade-offs on a molecular level.

This project tests the hypothesis that SASP factor expression changes with age and is associated with aging phenotypes in non-human primates. The investigator will generate cross-sectional, tissue-specific transcriptomic data that will be used to characterize changes in SASP expression with age, sex, and tissue type. The researchers will then calculate measures of age-related phenotypic decline to evaluate whether changes in SASP expression are associated with aging phenotypes.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.