# The aging stem cell niche

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2021 · $347,475

## Abstract

Abstract Project Summary
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Age-related stem cell dysfunction is thought to contribute to diminished heath, tissue
degeneration, and cancer. The stem cell niche is required to maintain stem cells, and
both the niche and stem cells age. To potentially reverse deleterious effects of stem cell
aging and to predict how regenerative medicine strategies such as stem cell
replacement will be influenced by an aged niche environment, we need to understand
how aging affects the entire unit, including the niche. Local stem cell niches physically
interact with and signal to stem cells, and aging can alter these niche-stem interactions.
Yet it is not well understood how these aspects of the aging niche combine to contribute
to age-related stem cell decline nor how they can be reversed to potentially rejuvenate
aged stem cells. This project uses a combination of imaging, molecular-genetic, and cell
biological approaches in C. elegans, an established model organism for aging biology
that has an anatomically well-defined and accessible niche that supports germline stem
cells. Thus the project has implications for reproductive aging as well. The project will
elucidate how aging impacts the niche and its responding stem cells, discover the
molecular mechanisms driving niche aging, and determine the potential of niche
manipulation to rejuvenate stem cells. In addition, it will address how this niche-stem
system integrates with a novel branch of the systemic insulin aging pathway that was
previously implicated in stem cell aging in this system.
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10259682
- **Project number:** 5R01AG065672-02
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** E. Jane Albert Hubbard
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $347,475
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10259682

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10259682, The aging stem cell niche (5R01AG065672-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10259682. Licensed CC0.

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