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Science

Scientists Scramble To Keep Dog Aging Project Alive (nytimes.com) 42

Posted by BeauHD from the cut-short dept.
Emily Anthes reports via the New York Times: In late 2019, scientists began searching for 10,000 Americans willing to enroll their pets in an ambitious new study of health and longevity in dogs. The researchers planned to track the dogs over the course of their lives, collecting detailed information about their bodies, lifestyles and home environments. Over time, the scientists hoped to identify the biological and environmental factors that kept some dogs healthy in their golden years -- and uncover insights about aging that could help both dogs and humans lead longer, healthier lives. Today, the Dog Aging Project has enrolled 47,000 canines and counting, and the data are starting to stream in. The scientists say that they are just getting started. "We think of the Dog Aging Project as a forever project, so recruitment is ongoing," said Daniel Promislow, a biogerontologist at the University of Washington and a co-director of the project. "There will always be new questions to ask. We want to always have dogs of all ages participating."

But Dr. Promislow and his colleagues are now facing the prospect that the Dog Aging Project might have its own life cut short. About 90 percent of the study's funding comes from the National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health, which has provided more than $28 million since 2018. But that money will run out in June, and the institute does not seem likely to approve the researchers' recent application for a five-year grant renewal, the scientists say. "We have been told informally that the grant is not going to be funded," said Matt Kaeberlein, the other director of the Dog Aging Project and a former biogerontology researcher at the University of Washington. (Dr. Kaeberlein is now the chief executive of Optispan, a health technology company.) The N.I.A. could still choose to provide more funding for the Dog Aging Project at some point, but if the researchers don't bring in more money in the coming months, they will have to pause or pare back the study. "It's almost an emergency," said Stephanie Lederman, the executive director of the nonprofit American Federation for Aging Research. "It's one of the most important projects in the field right now." [...]

The institute's immediate priority is to raise enough money to keep the Dog Aging Project afloat. It would take about $7 million to conduct the research the team had planned to do over the next year, but $2 million would be enough to "keep the lights on," Dr. Promislow said. The institute is still awaiting its official tax exempt status but is already seeking donations. "We haven't yet identified a dog-loving billionaire interested in supporting aging research," Dr. Promislow said. "But we're certainly going to try."
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Scientists Scramble To Keep Dog Aging Project Alive More

Scientists Scramble To Keep Dog Aging Project Alive

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  • Neu5Gc (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Neu5Gc might be one of the factors.

    Most "western" dog breeds don't have this Neu5Gc ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/... [sciencedirect.com] ) .

    Dogs are divided into two categories based on the presence or absence of Neu5Gc. In contrast to Asian dogs (except Japanese Hokkaido dogs), western dogs do not express Neu5Gc [87,88]

    But Neu5Gc is present in red meat like beef, lamb, pork. But not in chicken.

    So the dogs eat red meat, get a bit more inflammation and a higher chance of cancer, and thus die earlier than otherwise.

    It's not everything of course. There's not going to be a single cure for aging. The animal needs new cells to continue living. New cells are produced by splitting a cell. In this process error

  • It would take about $7 million to conduct the research the team had planned to do over the next year, but $2 million would be enough to "keep the lights on," National Institutes of Health, which has provided more than $28 million since 2018. Holy Cow !!! And what have they accomplished so far besides a free ride ?

    • Re:Golden goose about to run out... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday January 12, 2024 @07:09AM (#64152273)

      And what have they accomplished so far besides a free ride ?

      Good question. Next time your wife is cooking some chicken, stop her half way through and just eat it half raw. Then ask her what has she accomplished for her efforts so far.

      When you wake up in hospital you may realise how fucking stupid it is to judge something that is only able to present results at its conclusion half way through.

      • Is that $2 million chicken?

      • to judge something that is only able to present results at its conclusion half way through.

        According to TFA, it is an ongoing "forever project" that will have no conclusion.

        Since they're burning through my tax dollars, they dang well better be able to show some results. If they can't, the funding should go elsewhere.

        • Sounds like the Framingham Study?

          Data gathering isn't ignoble.

        • According to TFA, it is an ongoing "forever project" that will have no conclusion.

          No one is judging about it being forever, we're judging about its ability to give results in a time frame that it is statistically impossible to generate results. Do try and pay attention.

          Since they're burning through my tax dollars, they dang well better be able to show some results.

          Go eat that half raw chicken. If you like dangerously false science because you are too impatient to get results then honestly you get what you deserve. Why do I get the feeling you were one of the people who ran out and ate a mountain of horse dewormer during COVID.

    • This is not a liberal study. This study is vital to keep elderly and senile voters living longer so that they can continue to vote for the GOP.

  • You know you have problems if you're taking research money and are having trouble maintaining your tax exempt status. Things have to be super fucked up to have your tax exempt status in question.

  • Depressing (Score:3)

    by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 ) on Friday January 12, 2024 @06:47AM (#64152253)

    This is small change for a lot of rich people. Actually it's has substantial human health implications, so its difficulty getting funding is annoying. Longitudinal studies are too rare; let's hope it does get the funding it needs.

    • Nothing gets funded unless it produces a drug you have to take regularly. So many of those drugs are funded with government research money it makes me crazy. Whatever happened to curing disease? Oh yes, not profitable.

    • I have to agree, but I also wonder how much value we'll get from it. Canines have been notoriously subject to selective breeding for life-shortening traits by us humans for thousands of years. The study might have greater value if it were conducted with wolves, or at least excluded to breeds already known to be generally healthy and inherently long-lived. There is, among other things, a strong correlation between dog size and life with larger breeds having the shortest average life spans.

      Is the researc

  • What have they been able to achieve in getting max Updog?

  • Are they really not aware of Jeff Bezos? What rock have they been hiding under? There's a reason all of Amazon's 404 pages have dogs on them, and Amazon offices have always been open to well-behaved dogs.

    https://www.aboutamazon.com/wo... [aboutamazon.com]

    https://www.aboutamazon.com/ne... [aboutamazon.com]

    https://www.aboutamazon.com/ne... [aboutamazon.com]

  • Where can we read more details about these lights ?
    I mean seriously, if someone asked me for funding and says they need at minimum 2M$ id ask for a detailed list of what that is for.

    • You can go to the website (the link is right there in the summary) and see their research, papers that have been published and even request access to the data.

  • If they're looking for something we don't know, aside from identifying cancer clusters it's going to be a very weak signal, so I'm not sure this is the most interesting research going on in this area.

    IIRC there's another Harvard startup called Rejuvenate Bio that is researching outright life extension. It's ultimately for people but they're using dogs first so they can go faster.
  • The NIH review process goes in two stages. First the science of the proposal is evaluated and all proposal are ranked. The NIH decides which proposal to fund based on their evaluations, the available funds, and any other considerations or priorities they may have. Usually the scientific evaluation is the factor that hold most weight. The people from the Dog Aging Project have seen their evaluations and realized they are not that good. What they are doing now is put pressure on NIH before the final decision
  • I haven't waded deep into the trial's methods but it's essentially a trial of rapamycin, which is the best prospect for a drug to slow aging. But keep in mind that aging is many things (not even counting age-associated diseases, just talking about aging) and rapamycin just affects one mechanism.

    A New Path to Longevity https://www.scientificamerican... [scientificamerican.com]

    Does Aging Have an Off Switch? https://www.scientificamerican... [scientificamerican.com]

    [LOL, I've been on Slashdot since the mid 1800s but have never figured out line feeds.]

  • You'd figure one of the SV billionaires getting infusions of young person blood and other ridiculous stuff could step up to fund something that might actually pay off.

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