# Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program at Oregon

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF OREGON · 2024 · $590,910

## Abstract

Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program Renewal at Oregon—Project Summary
Health challenges linked to human aging take a tremendous toll on 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. Without question, the promotion of healthy aging with
extended resistance to decline and disease should be a major objective of current medical research.
Fortunately, tremendous progress has been made in the biology of aging field and the science is poised to be
translated into preclinical and clinical science.
Simple animal models such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have been at the heart of this success.
Many genes and chemical compound interventions that modulate aging processes are 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 their
ability to extend healthy aging and promote longevity in nematodes. A specific emphasis of this integrated
super-group is to test promising compound 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
effective in humans.
The emphasis of this specific proposal is to capitalize upon the very high temporal resolution provided by our
automated lifespan approach to expand upon our existing analytical framework to include an analysis of
variation in rates of aging using more general statistical models that allow for changes in the rate of mortality
over an individual’s lifespan. This approach provides a unique hypothesis testing framework that is particularly
well suited for compound interventions. In addition, we will build upon our translational capacity by using RNA-
seq to identify genetic pathways targeted by longevity-extending compounds and to understand which
molecular systems maintain early-life function later in life as a hallmark of healthy aging. Mapping these
changes onto known mammalian genetic regulatory systems will allow us to determine which interventions are
most likely to serve as targets for rapid translation.
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:** 10897187
- **Project number:** 5U01AG045829-11
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrick C. Phillips
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $590,910
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-08-15 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10897187

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10897187, Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program at Oregon (5U01AG045829-11). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10897187. Licensed CC0.

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