# Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program (CITP) at the University of Oregon

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF OREGON · 2021 · $550,719

## Abstract

Project Summary
Health challenges linked to human aging take a tremendous toll on our society. Physical and
cognitive decline limit the quality of life for the elderly and their caregivers. Aging is the major
risk factor for, and possible cause of cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disease, and thus
struggle with debilitating disease is a common health burden for the aging population. Without
question, the promotion of healthy aging with extended resistance to decline should be a major
objective of current medical research.
To investigate healthy aging, simple animals models such as the nematode C. elegans have
been studied, providing molecular insights into the genes and chemical compound interventions
that can modulate conserved aging processes likely to act similarly in humans. The goal of the
proposed work is to continue, and expand, efforts of a co-operative scientific group involving
three closely interacting laboratories who coordinately test pharmacological interventions for the
ability to extend healthy aging and promote longevity in nematodes. A specific emphasis of this
integrated super-group is to test promising drugs on a collection of natural variants of the
Caenorhabditis genus, which together represent the extensive genetic heterogeneity in the
human population. The idea is that treatments that confer positive outcomes across a diverse
population will have an increased chance of being efficacious in higher organisms and will be
suggested as priority interventions for testing in pre-clinical mouse studies and possibly future
human trials.
The emphasis of this proposal is to evaluate the diversity panel that the CITP has previously
established to investigate sources of within and between strain variation, including possible food
by compound interactions, and to use a panel of gene expression markers to identify genetic
pathways that serve as targets of action for compounds identified during the testing phase of the
project.
Overall, we will participate in a unique team project that has the power to define
pharmacological interventions that robustly promote strong healthspan across a varied
population, with implications for development of therapies that promote healthy human aging.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10144896
- **Project number:** 5U01AG045829-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrick C. Phillips
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $550,719
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-08-15 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10144896

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10144896, Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program (CITP) at the University of Oregon (5U01AG045829-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10144896. Licensed CC0.

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