The Dog Aging Project is a long-term biological study of

aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

in dogs, centered at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. Professors Daniel Promislow and

Matt Kaeberlein Matt Kaeberlein (born 1971) is an American biologist and biogerontologist best known for his research on evolutionarily conserved mechanisms of aging. He is currently a professor of pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle. Educatio ...

are the co-directors of the project. Together with Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Kate Creevy, the project primarily focuses on research to understand dog aging through the collection and analysis of

big data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...

through

citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...

. Additionally, there is a small component of the project that explores the use of

pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...

to potentially increase life span of dogs. The project has implications for improving the life spans of humans and is an example of

geroscience Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Greek , ''geron'', "old man" and , ''-logia'', "study of". The fiel ...

The project engages the general public to register their dogs in the studies, and therefore the project is an example of

. nearly 40,000 dogs have been registered with the project. The majority of the dogs will participate in a

longitudinal study A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of obs ...

of 10,000 dogs over a 10-year period conducted across the United States. Individual dogs are followed for the duration of their lives to understand the biological and environmental factors that influence dog longevity. A small subset of those dogs (approximately 500) will be enrolled in a

double-blind In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...

placebo-controlled study Placebo-controlled studies are a way of testing a medical therapy in which, in addition to a group of subjects that receives the treatment to be evaluated, a separate control group receives a sham "placebo" treatment which is specifically designed ...

of the pharmaceutical

rapamycin Sirolimus, also known as rapamycin and sold under the brand name Rapamune among others, is a macrolide compound that is used to coat coronary stents, prevent organ transplant rejection, treat a rare lung disease called lymphangioleiomyomatosis, ...

, which has shown signs of extending longevity in species such as mice. The Dog Aging Project is an open science initiative. The investigators have committed to releasing all anonymized research data to the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. The longitudinal study portion of the Dog Aging Project bears some similarity to the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study of the

Morris Animal Foundation Morris Animal Foundation is an animal health charity based in Colorado, United States. The Foundation advances veterinary medicine and funds veterinary research for companion animals, horses and wildlife. It was started, in 1948, by Mark L. Morr ...

although with much larger phenotypic diversity. The entire project also shares operational similarities to Darwin's Ark, a citizen science initiative of companion animals with more specific focus on

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

. The initiatives are each managed to ensure the data can be integrated into a powerful master data set. A premise of the project is that dogs may be a

sentinel species Sentinel species are organisms, often animals, used to detect risks to humans by providing advance warning of a danger. The terms primarily apply in the context of environmental hazards rather than those from other sources. Some animals can act ...

for humans since they live in the same environment as humans. The project may thereby help identify

risk factors In epidemiology, a risk factor or determinant is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. Due to a lack of harmonization across disciplines, determinant, in its more widely accepted scientific meaning, is often use ...

that influence human life span. Since dogs age significantly more rapidly than humans, data on aging can be generated much more rapidly using a dog model than in human studies. A further premise is that the longitudinal portion of the project seeks to understand the underlying biology of aging, as opposed to understanding individual age-related diseases. In this respect, if the aging process itself is addressed, then several age-related diseases could be delayed or avoided simultaneously. This is important because elderly individuals often have multiple

chronic disease A chronic condition is a health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that comes with time. The term ''chronic'' is often applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three mo ...

conditions. The Dog Aging Project was founded in 2014 and received a US $200,000 seed grant from the University of Washington. It has also received funding from small private donors, an example of

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

. In 2017 the project reported the results of a 10 week trial showing that a small number of dogs that received rapamycin had better heart function than a

control group In the design of experiments, hypotheses are applied to experimental units in a treatment group. In comparative experiments, members of a control group receive a standard treatment, a placebo, or no treatment at all. There may be more than one tr ...

. As of 2018, the

National Institute on Aging The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the ...

awarded the Dog Aging Project a five year grant to support further studies. Researchers from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences are also investigators in the study.

External links

Dog Aging Project website
* Th
Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute
of the University of Washington
Golden Retriever Lifetime Study

References

{{Reflist Epidemiological study projects Ageing processes Senescence in non-human organisms Dogs Longevity Crowdfunding