Administrative Core

ABSTRACT Core A, the Administrative Core, will serve the proposed U19 project “Genetic variant-based drug discovery targeting conserved pathways of aging”, comprised of four projects and one research resource Core (Core B). The PIs are Dr. Jan Vijg, Chairman of the Department of Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, an expert in aging and DNA damage repair, Dr. Paul Robbins, Co-Director of the Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism (iBAM) at the University of Minnesota, an expert in cellular senescence and drug development, and Dr. Nir Barzilai, Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a geroscientist recruiting and phenotyping aging humans and expert in the genetics of exceptional longevity. These complementary and synergistic qualifications make Drs. Vijg, Robbins and Barzilai well-qualified to co-direct this U19. Having established the feasibility of using the genetics of human centenarians to identify genes and pathways as candidates for potential drug targets for promoting human healthspan, the focus of the renewal application will be to expand the program through whole exome analysis of our own and other, additional genetic resources, further gene functionalization, developing additional mouse models and expanding our pipeline of candidate interventions. To accomplish these goals, we propose an interdisciplinary approach, making full use of the latest advances in cellular genomics, high-throughput functional screening, stem cell biology, mouse and human genetics and drug screening. The overall goals of the Administrative Core will be to ensure this approach is working effectively by providing general scientific, programmatic and fiscal leadership, facilitate lines of communication between the different researchers involved in the U19, maintain coherence in the U19's overall and long-range goals, and ensure that resources resulting from the research will benefit the scientific community. In the context of the above, the tasks of this Core include effective coordination of activities by the four Research Projects and the one Research Resource Core (Core B). This should promote and expand the effective use of the human centenarian cohorts to obtain genetic information critical for developing targets for drugs promoting human healthspan, for example, by increasing resilience, the mobilization of new technology and tools that can help us accomplish our tasks more quickly and efficiently and providing access by the scientific community to the resources, information and technologies produced.