# Human tissue specific age-related gene expression changes, their genetic regulations and the link to human diseases

> **NIH NIH R01** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2020 · $370,700

## Abstract

Project Summary
Understanding human aging requires us to perform experiments directly with human. This can be challenging
due to ethical barriers, high cost, long human lifespan and several other factors. On the other hand, a deluge of
human genomic data have emerged and some of them have outstanding potentials to be repositioned for
aging research. Leveraging existing human data for aging research provides an economically efficient, time-
saving solution to overcome the many obstacles associated with human experiments. We propose to go deep
in analyzing a very unique and unprecedented large scale human genomic dataset for aging research. This
dataset as generated from GTEx (Genotype of Tissue Expression) project represents a rare opportunity for
studying human aging gene expressions and genetics at multi-tissue level. We propose to work on four specific
aims: first, we will define human aging gene expression signatures in more than 40 tissue types. For many
tissues, this is the first time to reveal their aging gene expression change patterns. We will also investigate
disease and sex influence on these aging gene expression and find conserved aging mechanisms from model
organisms to human. Second, early studies have shown that different parts of human body age at different
rates, but it is unknown if the biological ages of different tissues are under higher order coordination. Our work
is to investigate on this topic to confirm our previous finding on the coordinated aging among tissues. We will
also test if tissue co-aging correlates with disease comorbidity. Third, we will look into the genetic regulation on
age-related gene expression in various tissues. We will test if genetic variants associated with aging gene
expression could also be associated with human longevity or age-related diseases. Fourth, we will select top
variants and experimentally validate the causal regulation on gene expression. We believe all these questions
are important for human aging research; the answers to these questions will significantly help us to better
understand human aging and help translational research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9817673
- **Project number:** 5R01AG055501-03
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** Zhidong Tu
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $370,700
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9817673

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9817673, Human tissue specific age-related gene expression changes, their genetic regulations and the link to human diseases (5R01AG055501-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9817673. Licensed CC0.

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