Healthy Aging Initiative Announces Pilot Grant Recipients
Last spring, Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s Healthy Aging Initiative (CHAI) hosted a Healthspan Extension Summit that brought together researchers from across the medical center to present findings in basic science, clinical medicine, and public health, and to discuss how these fields can ensure healthier long lives. To foster innovative, interdisciplinary research collaborations in healthy aging, at the end of the Summit, Katrina Armstrong, now Columbia University Interim President, announced $240,000 in pilot awards thanks to generous contributions from CUIMC’s Four Deans Fund. The ensuing request for proposals resulted in 22 competitive aging research projects.
On November 18, the CHAI Steering Committee, chaired by Dean Linda P. Fried, announced four interdisciplinary teams that will receive the healthy longevity pilot awards. Dean Fried acknowledged the hard work of the selection committee and its co-chairs Ian M. Kronish, Florence Irving Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health; and Muredach P. Reilly, director, Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research.
The four research teams are comprised of investigators across the medical center who will explore topics from measures of biological aging to healthy aging in mothers, targeting the brain’s biological clock to prevent dementia, and the mechanisms behind wound-related epithelial dysfunction. Each of the projects aims to uncover therapeutic targets to prolong longevity and health span—defined as the years of life lived free of disease and disability. The projects are all also designed to be a springboard to larger studies that align with National Institute on Aging goals.
“I am thrilled to announce funding for these four exciting pilot projects, all of which get to the heart of the CHAI mission of catalyzing new discoveries across the spectrum of healthy aging research, and united in their aspirations to advance health equity and unleash the potential of our longer lives,” says Dean Fried.
A Cost-Effective Measure of Biological Aging
Daniel Belsky, associate professor of epidemiology in the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center
Vivek Moitra, Allen I. Hyman, M.D. Professor of Critical Care Anesthesiology at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Daniel Belsky, Vivek Moitra, and the team are pioneering the use of electronic health records (EHRs) to measure biological aging. The pilot study will leverage lab data to calculate biological age—potentially, a more precise predictor of health risks than chronological age. By applying the team’s BioAge software to pre- and post-operative EHR data from ICU patients, the project will test whether biological age measures can better predict survival and discharge outcomes compared to traditional risk assessments. The approach promises to be both a scalable and cost-effective tool to improve risk stratification, care planning, and patient outcomes.
Repairing the Body Clock to Prevent Age-Related Disease
Jae-eun Kang Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Jae-eun Kang Miller and co-PI Yueqing Peng, assistant professor of pathology and cell biology at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, are launching an ambitious project to combat aging by resetting the body’s internal clock. They will explore whether restoring circadian rhythms in aging brains can improve sleep and reduce the risk of age-related diseases like dementia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Using an animal model, the team will employ cutting-edge neuroscience techniques to directly boost the activity of specialized neurons in the hypothalamus that synchronize the body’s circadian rhythms. If successful, the findings could pave the way for next-generation treatments to extend the health span.
Levering Longitudinal Data to Understand Healthy Aging
Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz, associate professor of environmental health sciences
Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz and co-PIs Rebecca Kehm, assistant professor of epidemiology, and Sarah Tom, assistant professor of epidemiology in Neurology and in the Sergievsky Center, will establish a multidisciplinary, community-engaged consortium to identify early drivers of healthy aging and longevity in mothers. They and their team will leverage existing longitudinal cohorts at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH), that have tracked environmental exposures and social determinants in communities of color in New York City. Their work aims to identify key drivers of health disparities, and to develop interventions to mitigate these health risks and bolster resiliencies that lead to healthier aging.
Preventing Age-Related Epithelial Dysfunction
Yvon Woappi, assistant professor of physiology and cellular biophysics, and the Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Dermatology
Yvon Woappi and co-PI Cathy Mendelsohn, professor of urological sciences in Urology and pathology & cell biology and genetics & development in the CUIMC Institute of Human Nutrition, will investigate the role of maladaptive wound healing in aging-related epithelial dysfunction. By examining skin and epithelial tissue, the team will explore how chronic inflammation induces epigenetic and transcriptional changes in aged tissues, making them more susceptible to cancer and other disorders. The research seeks to uncover molecular insights into aging and tissue repair, with potential implications for improving epithelial homeostasis and longevity, including new therapeutic pathways.