Can old dogs teach us new tricks? Scientists are looking for 10,000 pets for the largest-ever study of aging in canines. They hope to shed light on human longevity too.
The Dog Aging Project will collect a pile of pooch data: vet records, DNA samples, gut microbes, and information on food and walks. Five hundred dogs will test a pill that the scientists believe could slow the aging process.
“What we learn will potentially be good for dogs and has great potential to translate to human health,” says Daniel Promislow. He is the project’s co-director and a biogerontologist (scientist who studies aging) at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
If scientists find a genetic marker for a type of cancer in dogs, for instance, that could be explored in humans as well.
For the study, all those thousands of “good boys” and “good girls” will live at home and follow their usual routines. All ages and sizes, purebreds and mutts are welcome.
Owners will complete periodic online surveys and take their dogs to the vet once a year. There may be extra tests occasionally that require additional visits.
The five-year study launched last Thursday at a science meeting in Austin, Texas. The National Institute on Aging is paying for the $23 million project. It chose to monitor dogs because humans and their canine pals share the same environment and often get the same diseases. Dogs’ shorter lifespans allow quicker research results, says deputy director Dr. Marie Bernard.
Leslie Lambert of Parkville, Maryland, enrolled her 11-year-old rescue dog, Oscar. “I would selfishly like to have him around forever,” says the 33-year-old veterinarian. “Unfortunately, he ages much, much faster than I do.”
But she’s torn by the prospect of an anti-aging pill. That’s because so many abandoned dogs go without care. If beloved pets live longer, will anyone ever open their homes to those in need?
Larger dogs have relatively short lifespans—often only 10 years or less. So large dogs will be the focus of the longevity pill experiment. Pooches over 40 pounds will be eligible for a rapamycin prescription. The drug is used by humans to prevent rejection of transplanted kidneys. But it has extended lifespan in mice. Could it do the same thing for man’s best friend? And what about for mankind as well?
(In this Monday, November 11, 2019, photo, University of Washington School of Medicine researcher Daniel Promislow rubs the head of his elderly dog Frisbee. Scientists are looking for 10,000 pet dogs for the largest-ever study of healthy aging in canines. AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
