Core B: METABOLITE PHENOTYPES OF AGING

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

CORE B: METABOLITE PHENOTYPES OF AGING - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Geroscientists have made dramatic advances in molecular genetic studies of aging. However, the links between genotype and phenotype are far from complete, with significant barriers remaining in our ability to fully understand the causal mechanisms that give rise to aging, that explain how certain interventions slow aging, and that account for variation in longevity within and between populations. One promising avenue to overcome these barriers is the analysis of comprehensive metabolite profiles. The metabolome consists of the thousands of unique small molecules that make up the building blocks of all organisms, and its analysis has the potential to greatly enhance our ability to identify and understand the functional pathways that underlie senescence. The primary goal of Core B is to obtain accurate and comprehensive metabolite profiles from samples provided by its users, and to aid researchers in linking these high-dimensional data to biologically meaningful outcomes. This Core will work closely with Core A (Protein Phenotypes of Aging), which will be housed in the same facility, and with Core C (Invertebrate Longevity and Healthspan). The resources offered here include methods that can be applied to a wide range of non-model species, including humans. Core B will also play a key role in collaborative efforts between the University of Washington NSC and other NSCs throughout the country. Numerous collaborative studies are already underway or planned for the near future, including a jointly-funded effort between the UW and the University of Michigan, as well as a collaboration on analysis of diet restriction data in flies between Core B and the NSC at the Buck Institute, and analysis of diet restriction data in mice between Core B and the NSC at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. This core will devote considerable effort to hardware and software development, ensuring that we are constantly pushing the scientific boundaries in this field. In this vein, the core will also serve as a central repository for aging-related metabolomic data. In the long term, Core B will help to make comprehensive, age-specific metabolite phenotypes an essential and invaluable component of any study of aging phenotypes. The core will have a major impact on biogerontology at the broadest level, enabling our collaborators to identify new mechanistic pathways linking genes with aging, including pathways that have the potential to reveal new drug targets. Moreover, these capabilities will lead to resources of value being made available not just to collaborating Nathan Shock Centers but to many others in the biogerontology community.