Photo Credit: Manu Vega, Getty Images | Article Credit: Zahrah Patel - National Institute of Aging 
Major Study on Dog Aging Faces Potential Funding Loss
Scientists involved in aging research are expressing their dismay about the potential termination of a significant study in the field — the Dog Aging Project. This project has been examining both the mental and physical aspects of aging in approximately 50,000 dogs, as well as running a clinical trial for a drug that might enhance the lifespan of the animals. However, as reported by Science, the project’s organizers are worried about the likelihood of losing funding this year from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The NIA has been providing at least 90% of the project’s yearly budget, currently around $7 million.
“It is a big loss if this project in dogs does not continue,” said João Pedro de Magalhães, a gerontologist at the University of Birmingham. He asserts that large, long-living animal models offer important information about human aging. Biogerontologist Steve Austad from the University of Alabama at Birmingham reinforces this by saying that this study could have been the most enlightening study of aging outside of humans. Neither Magalhães nor Austad are part of the research. However, Austad’s 2-year-old Dachshund is a participant in the project.
Organizers fight to sustain dog aging study
As per The New York Times, the project’s organizers are concerned about the continuation of its funding, following mediocre scores on last year’s late grant renewal application. They are currently working on gathering funds from various sources. Moreover, they have initiated a petition to urge the director of the National Institutes of Health to restore the funding. Daniel Promislow, the project’s co-director and an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Washington (UW), stated, “I’m doing everything possible to keep [the project] going in its current form.”
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