Research Resources

This webpage describes a network of NIA grantees willing to share resources that support comparative biology of aging studies.

NIA supports studies of human aging that have collections of biospecimens available for sharing. The Virtual Repository is a website that provides a central portal to these studies, with introductory information on participating studies.

The NIA sponsors the Investigational New Drug (IND) Toxicology program to identify compounds for use in symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other aging-related diseases. The program provides toxicology services to academic and small business investigators who believe they have promising compounds for the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, but lack the resources to perform the required toxicology studies. NIA will give investigators access to toxicological evaluations required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as part of requests for IND designations for clinical studies. NIA hopes this preclinical drug-development program will expand the potential range of drug therapies for Alzheimer’s and other aging-related diseases by making these resources available to a larger and more diverse group of investigators.

SRI International provides services for this program in four general categories:

1. analytical chemistry,
2. pharmacokinetics and bioavailability,
3. preliminary toxicity screens, and
4. IND-directed toxicology studies, including safety pharmacology.

The program LCRSimulationAnalysis was created by Alexander Maltsev at the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science at the National Institute of Aging, National Institutes of Health. The program detects and analyses complex Local Ca Releases in numerical simulations of intracellular Ca dynamics in cardiac pacemaker cells (sinoatrial node cells) using Stern et al. model published in 2014 in Journal of General Physiology 2014 May;143(5):577-604.

The CALERIE (Comprehensive Assessment of Long Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy) was a two phases trial focused on testing the effects of caloric restriction (CR) in humans. Preliminary evidence suggests that caloric CR might increase lifespan and delay or slow the progression of a wide variety of age-related morbidities and chronic conditions. The goal of CALERIE Phase I was to retrieve information to assess feasibility and safety of a longer study. CALERIE Phase 2 was a three-site randomized controlled trial in young and middle-aged non-obese, healthy men and women to assess the effects of a two-year 25% CR regimen vs. an ad libitum diet control group. In CALERIE Phase 2, CR group participants achieved 12% CR and sustained 10% weight loss over two years. Research questions addressed posed particular emphasis on the adaptive responses thought to be involved in slowing aging and protecting against age-related disease processes. A further aim was to identify potential adverse effects of CR in humans. The CALERIE database contains physiological and immune functions, physical performance, psychological outcomes, dietary records, disease risk factors, blood chemistry and hematology.

The biospecimen repository includes serum, plasma, urine, buffy coat, muscle (vastus lateralis), and fat (subcutaneous abdominal).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides a wide range of public information and opportunities for discussion with sponsors of geroscience-related drug development programs. There has been increasing research attention to the concept of geroscience, which focuses on the role of aging mechanisms in age-related diseases. A central geroscience premise is that drugs or other interventions targeted at such mechanisms have the potential to prevent or treat multiple aging-related conditions. In early stages of planning and development of potential drug development programs, sponsors’ consideration of pertinent FDA Guidances and other public information may be useful. Learn about FDA policies and practices that may relate to geroscience-related drug development.

The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) is a longitudinal study that collects multidisciplinary data from a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and older. The survey data are designed to be used for the investigation of a broad set of topics relevant to understanding the aging process. Both objective and subjective data are collected covering themes such as: health trajectories, disability and healthy life expectancy, the determinants of economic position in older age; the links between economic position, physical health, cognition, and mental health; the nature and timing of retirement and post-retirement labor market activity; household and family structure, social networks and social supports; patterns, determinants, and consequences of social, civic, and cultural participation and predictors of well-being. ELSA is led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot and is jointly run by teams at University College London (UCL), the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), National Centre for Social Research, and the University of Manchester.

The Gateway to Global Aging is a platform for population survey data on aging around the world. You can access data from 11 longitudinal studies on aging through this site, which is hosted by the University of Southern California’s Program on Global Aging, Health, and Policy. The project’s goal is to provide the resources to support cross-national research on aging: a comprehensive digital library of survey questions, a search engine that finds concordance information across surveys, and a set of harmonized or identically defined variables for analysis. You can also use a data manipulation tool on the website.

The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a longitudinal panel study that surveys a representative sample of more than 20,000 Americans over the age of 50 every two years. Supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and the Social Security Administration, the HRS explores the changes in labor force participation and the health transitions that individuals undergo toward the end of their work lives and in the years that follow. Since its launch in 1992, the study has collected information about income, work, assets, pension plans, health insurance, disability, physical health and functioning, cognitive functioning, and health care expenditures. Through its unique and in-depth interviews, the HRS provides an invaluable and growing body of multidisciplinary data that researchers can use to address important questions about the challenges and opportunities of aging.

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS), funded by NIA and the Social Security Administration, has become the model for a growing network of longitudinal aging studies around the world. Learn more about HRS international sister studies: https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/about/international-sister-studies