Home » Daily News

April 28 - UCSD Receives $2 Million Research Grant to Slow Aging Process

A grant of nearly $2 million from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation will offer researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) the opportunity to forge ahead in their quest to better understand the process of aging and discover new ways of minimizing its effects. Physicians and researchers of the newly created division of geriatrics at the UCSD School of Medicine will work collaboratively to determine how processes such as cellular damage, inflammation, and gene activity may be linked to the aging process and disorders which often accompany advanced age.

The Larry L. Hillblom Foundation was created through a bequest from Larry L. Hillblom, a respected international businessman who was one of three founders of DHL Worldwide Express. The foundation provides support primarily to medical research targeting the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of age-related chronic or degenerative disorders of the brain or vision, as well as diabetes and its complications.

Based on U.S. Census Bureau projections, it is anticipated that by 2030, the entry of baby boomers into retirement age will bring the number of persons over the age of 65 to more than 76 million, or 25% of the population. As a result, more individuals will be living with chronic and debilitating conditions such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s. It has been suggested, however, that if the basic aging process itself could be slowed by 5% to 10%, this would have dramatic affects on the health of older adults and significantly decrease the number of individuals living with disease and disability.

The four-year research project, led by Laura Dugan, MD, holder of the Larry L. Hillblom Chair in geriatric medicine and head of the geriatrics division, is aimed at understanding the basic biology of aging in humans, which might lead to dramatic and far-reaching benefits to human health.

“This research should provide important insight into some of the most fundamental questions related to the process of aging,” says Dugan. “The primary objective of the research is to identify the underlying problems of aging and to develop interventions to overcome them."

The study will delve into how antioxidants may assist in rescuing memory loss and decreased cognitive function common to advanced age, which inflammation pathways cause derangement in the neural circuits critical to normal brain function and the relationship between diabetes and the aging process. Researchers will also utilize imaging technology to map when and where the processes associated with aging occur in the brain. The conclusions drawn from the imaging may lead to methods which would allow physicians to better diagnose diseases associated with advanced age.

Source: University of California, San Diego

(View the Daily News Archive)