More about the Dog Aging Project: https://dogagingproject.org/

Enroll your dog in the Dog Aging Project: https://redcap.dogagingproject.org/su...

The Dog Aging Institute: dogaginginstitute.org

Save the Dog Aging Project!

In 2014, Matt co-founded the Dog Aging Project, an ambitious, large-scale study of canine health and longevity aimed at understanding how dogs—and, eventually, humans—age. The project has two broad goals: to help us understand the biology of aging, and to enable us to do something about it. A third goal that often goes unmentioned, but is (to some) no less important, is to give us more time with furry friends who often become part of the family.

Dogs are some of the best animals we can use to study longevity. While many of the model organisms such as yeast, worms, mice, and rats that we commonly use to study aging have certainly helped us unearth interesting insights, they typically live in highly controlled laboratory conditions that do not replicate the diverse environmental factors that humans experience. Researchers also often use inbred strains of these animals due to their genetic uniformity, a practice that offers experimental advantages but also introduces issues such as limited generalizability and undetected gene-environment interactions. Meanwhile, dogs share our environments in every way, develop the same age-related diseases as do humans, exhibit high genetic diversity, and age rapidly enough that we do not have to wait decades to observe the effects of interventions on dog life- and healthspan.

The Dog Aging Project has grown to become the world's largest study of aging. Over 50,000 dogs are currently enrolled in the project, enabling researchers to create an immense dataset comprising over 36 million data points and a biobank containing more than 10,000 samples that will be invaluable to helping us answer key questions about the biology of aging. Data from the project has contributed to the publication of over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers. As this is a citizen science project that harnesses the collective power of volunteers to contribute to scientific research, the Dog Aging Project will make all data publicly available free of charge to academics and nonprofit institutions to facilitate the blooming of as much useful research as possible.

The Dog Aging Project needs your help. Federal funding to the project has recently been withdrawn, and the project needs financial backing to support its veterinary and computational infrastructure as well as to complete a clinical trial of rapamycin in dogs. The project hopes to decrease its reliance on federal funding and thus hopes to encourage philanthropic funding as far possible. Top donors stand to receive a full Optispan Trailblazer concierge clinic experience and lunch with Matt, and other donors may receive Optispan swag.

Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a difference. We hope you will consider donating!