Abstract
Studies of the basic biology of aging have identified several genetic and pharmacological interventions that appear to modulate the rate of aging in laboratory model organisms, but a barrier to further progress has been the challenge of moving beyond these laboratory discoveries to impact health and quality of life for people. The domestic dog, Canis familiaris, offers a unique opportunity for surmounting this barrier in the near future. In particular, companion dogs share our environment and play an important role in improving the quality of life for millions of people. Here, we present a rationale for increasing the role of companion dogs as an animal model for both basic and clinical geroscience and describe complementary approaches and ongoing projects aimed at achieving this goal.
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This work is supported by a grant from the University of Washington Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging (NIH P30AG013280) to MK and NIH Grant R24AG044284 to DP and KC.
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Kaeberlein, M., Creevy, K.E. & Promislow, D.E.L. The dog aging project: translational geroscience in companion animals. Mamm Genome 27, 279–288 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00335-016-9638-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00335-016-9638-7