# Primary Cells, Tissues, and Animals Core

> **NIH NIH P01** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2024 · $602,074

## Abstract

SUMMARY: Primary Cells, Tissues, and Animals Core (Core B) is responsible for providing investigators of the
Program Project (PPG) with animal models, tissues, and primary cells necessary to achieve their specific aims.
Experiments of this PPG focus on identifying mechanisms responsible for the differences in longevity and
Alzheimer’s disease susceptibility between species of mammals. Mammals offer a unique opportunity for
comparative studies of longevity because of the over 100-fold differences in lifespans between species. For
example, short-lived mammals, such as shrews, live a maximum 2 years, while long-lived mammals, such as
Bowhead whales have maximum lifespans over 200 years. To enable the study of molecular mechanisms of
longevity in these animals, it is essential to provide access to biological materials from multiple mammalian
species. Core B maintains and replenishes, as needed, the collection of tissues and primary cells from 58 species
of mammals. The Core provides project investigators with tissues, cells, DNA and RNA. In addition, Core B
maintains aging colonies of mice, naked mole rats, Damaraland mole rat, degu, and African spiny mice for the
use by project investigators and will perform stress treatments on these animals as required for the projects.
Core B will monitor and identify degus with cognitive impairment as part of pre-screening them for molecular
studies of Alzheimer’s disease pathology by the Projects. Considering the effort needed to collect and establish
cell cultures from non-standard organisms that are not commercially available, this centralized resource saves
time and effort, and reduces costs. Core B will also maintain and breed mouse models with interventions
engineered based on the longevity mechanisms discovered by project investigators in long-lived mammalian
species. This includes mice overexpressing human, beaver, and Bowhead whale versions of SIRT6, bowhead
whale CIRBP, naked mole rat hyaluronan synthase 2 gene (nmrHAS2 mice), and mice treated with
hyaluronidase inhibitors or inhibitors of epigenetic enzymes. These mouse models will also be bred to
Alzheimer's disease mouse models MAPT and 5xFAD. Core B will perform longevity studies with these mice
and analyze the effect of interventions on health and Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Maintaining the centralized
collection standardizes culture conditions, quality control and biological samples for use across PPG projects,
improves reproducibility of results, and allows analysis of the same individual animals by several assays and
projects to minimize animal use.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10848564
- **Project number:** 2P01AG047200-11
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Andrei Seluanov
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $602,074
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2014-05-01 → 2029-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10848564

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10848564, Primary Cells, Tissues, and Animals Core (2P01AG047200-11). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10848564. Licensed CC0.

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