? RESOURCE CORE (RC) 1 To support the goal of the San Antonio (SA) Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) to develop interventions that will promote healthy aging in people, we propose a Core that provides expertise, resources, and services to evaluate effects of putative aging-modulating interventions on the lifespan and healthspan of a non-human primate (common marmoset). These translational studies will set the stage for assessing the potential of these interventions to extend healthy aging in humans. This Core will aid and accelerate transition through the T0-T1 spectrum of translational research. Interventional lifespan studies in healthy humans are not feasible under existing funding programs, including the OAIC, and current regulatory guidelines. Thus, because of its relatively short lifespan and small size, the marmoset is an excellent non- human primate model for rapid screening of interventions identified in other species. At about 7 to 10 years of age, marmosets manifest a wide array of age-associated traits and pathologies that mirror those seen in humans. The Barshop Institute has developed the resources and expertise required to provide the OAIC with an outstanding environment for testing aging-modulating interventions in this model. Through this Core, the OAIC will ensure enhanced and timely access to this key pre-clinical resource by the OAIC community.
The Specific Aims of the Pre-clinical Research and Analytical Pharmacology Core (RC1) are to: 1) Characterize, prioritize, and coordinate the use of a colony of aging marmosets available to OAIC investigators for translational aging research; 2) Assist investigators who seek to use the marmoset model in study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, and preparation of material for publications and future grants. Resources include measurements/assays of mobility, cognition/memory, metabolism, cardiovascular function, inflammation, and histopathological assessments; 3) Provide analytical pharmacology services to evaluate pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of therapeutic interventions; 4) Develop and/or adapt new technologies and approaches for using marmosets to study aging, e.g., testing stem cell and gene transfer therapies in marmosets; 5) Support the educational and training mission of the OAIC by assisting early-stage investigators or those new to aging research to test potential aging-modulating interventions; and 6) Maintain a bank of blood/tissues from young and aged marmosets, and ensure availability of samples to the scientific community to address relevant questions related to lifespan and healthspan. This Core will synergize with other Cores towards achieving key OAIC goals, including the training of a new generation of translational scientists in aging, accelerating transformative aging research through pilot and exploratory studies, optimizing study design and assisting with data analyses and interpretation, ensuring the compatibility of studies conducted by the preclinical and clinical Cores, and facilitating the flow of findings from the marmoset model into human studies.
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