unraveling the mechanisms that lead from DNA damage to premature as well as normal aging testing the role of DNA maintenance and repair as a pro-longevity system in humans developing sets of blood-based biomarkers that indicate premature aging in mouse models, and validate these biomarkers in normally aging mice and in humans developing new, experimental interventions that neutralize symptoms of premature aging in the short-lived mice

The NIH program project grant has funded five groups of scientists who are working on interrelated parts of the project's four research areas. In addition to Dr. Vijg's group, another Einstein team is headed by Yousin Suh, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, and of genetics.

Dr. Suh will take advantage of a unique Einstein resource: tissue samples from Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians - living to age 100 and beyond. Using this relatively homogeneous population, brought together by her Einstein collaborator, Nir Barzilai, M.D., Dr. Suh will look for gene variations that are associated with longevity. Her team will test these "longevity genes" by inserting them into otherwise ordinary human cells and then observing whether the inserted genes improve cellular function.

Source: Albert Einstein College of Medicine