# BLR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application

> **NIH VA IK6** · OKLAHOMA CITY VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: The overarching goal of Dr. Richardson’s research has been to identify the
molecular pathways that lead to aging with the purpose of generating therapies that retard aging, delay/prevent
age-related diseases, and improve the health of the elderly. His VA research has focused on the role oxidative
stress and damage play in aging that has led to his recently funded VA Merit grant, which studies the role of
inflammation in aging. Chronic, low-grade inflammation is a hallmark of aging and is a major risk factor for most
age-related diseases, e.g., cancer, health disease, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. Necroptosis is a recently identified
pathway of programmed necrosis that induces cell death through the lysis of cells, resulting in the release of
damage-associated molecular patterns, which are potent inducers of inflammation. Using genetical
manipulations that reduce necroptosis in mice, Dr. Richardson will determine if reducing necroptosis attenuates
the age-related increase in chronic inflammation and leads to increased lifespan, improved healthspan, and
reduced age-related pathology in the mice.
 Dr. Richardson also is PI on three NIH grants. His first NIH grant studies dietary Restriction (DR), which has
been shown to increase the lifespan of a wide variety of organisms ranging from invertebrates to rodents.
Therefore, DR has been viewed as a universal aging intervention. However, a study in 2010 reported that the
genotype of an animal was a major determinant in the ability of the animal to respond to DR, e.g., two-thirds of
the 41 recombinant inbred (RI) lines of mice studied either did not respond or showed reduced lifespan when
fed DR. The overall goal of his NIH grant is to explore the interaction between genotype and the level of DR
using four of the RI lines of mice reported to show a decrease in lifespan when fed a DR diet. The lifespan and
pathology associated with aging is being measured in male and female mice fed either ad libitum or 60% ad
libitum (DR). The current data indicate that in contrast to the previous report, DR increases the lifespan of the
RI lines of mice, supporting the view that DR is a universal aging intervention.
 Dr. Richardson’s second NIH grant is in response to an RFA to develop measures of resilience in mice that
can be surrogates for increased longevity and healthspan. He is developing four measures of resilience that are
relatively simple, inexpensive, non-invasive, and can be performed in mice in vivo. Currently, his laboratory is
studying the response of age, DR, and rapamycin on resilience to the following: treadmill exercise, recovery from
anesthesia, carrageenan-induced inflammation, and recovery from oxidative stress.
 In a recently funded third NIH grant, Dr. Richardson is studying the potential role epigenetics plays in the
anti-aging mechanism of DR. Recently, he showed that short-term DR induces changes in DNA methylation in
intestinal mucosa in the promoter of the Nts 1 gene. Th...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10451497
- **Project number:** 5IK6BX005238-03
- **Recipient organization:** OKLAHOMA CITY VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** ARLAN G. RICHARDSON
- **Activity code:** IK6 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10451497

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10451497, BLR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application (5IK6BX005238-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10451497. Licensed CC0.

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