The Dog Aging Project: Understanding longevity in our canine companions

The Dog Aging Project is an innovative initiative that brings together a community of dogs, owners, veterinarians, researchers, and volunteers to carry out the most ambitious canine health study in the world. The goal of the Dog Aging Project is to understand how genes, lifestyle, and environment influence aging, and to use that information to help pets and people increase their healthspan, the period of life spent free from disease.  Co-directors Dr. Daniel Promislow and Dr. Matt Kaeberlein join the show to discuss the origins of the Dog Aging Project, the overall goals for their initiative, and why dogs are a particularly good model for human aging. They talk about their funding through the National Institutes of Health, the extensive scale of the Dog Aging Project, and its “Community Scientist” component, with canine participants still living at home with their owners. Professors Promislow and Kaeberlein explain their use of molecular biology measures to predict health outcomes for dogs, their commitment to making their data available to the scientific community as a whole, and the difference between how small dogs versus large dogs age, as well as what diseases or conditions different breeds age and die from. Today’s fascinating conversation also touches on the impact of living in a rural versus urban areas on aging, how veterinarians feel about participating in the Dog Aging Project, the test of rapamycin in aging dogs (TRIAD), and the intrinsic value of being able to increase the lifespan and healthspan of our pets. Professors Promislow and Kaeberlein share what drew them to the field of aging, and review the importance of putting safety first in their work with dogs. Finally, you’ll hear their exciting predictions for what we can expect to see in aging research over the coming decades. For more information on the Dog Aging Project, visit https://dogagingproject.org/ (DogAgingProject.org). Thank you for listening. Episode Highlights: Professors Daniel Promislow and Matt Kaeberlein are co-direc