# CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR GEROSCIENCE CoBRE

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2020 · $2,155,712

## Abstract

There have been impressive advances in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of aging,
including the discovery of manipulations that delay aging and increase healthspan. Importantly, these
interventions also reduce or prevent age-related diseases. These outcomes raise the possibility that multiple
human diseases arise from a common cause – aging. The premise of this CoBRE Phase 1 is that the
mechanisms of aging and the mechanisms of age-related diseases share common cellular and molecular
processes that underlie healthspan and lifespan. An important corollary to this concept is that pre-clinical and
clinical research on age-related diseases must incorporate an understanding of the cellular/molecular changes
that occur with age in order to adequately develop treatments for age-related diseases. Here, we propose a
multidisciplinary, inter-departmental, and inter-institutional CoBRE program focused on Cellular and Molecular
Geroscience. Geroscience is a new, interdisciplinary scientific field that addresses the cellular and molecular
events that dramatically increase the risk for disease with age, create a ‘permissive milieu’ and, as a result,
disease increases exponentially. Our program has exceptional institutional support. The program is highly
innovative in that it combines mentoring of promising junior investigators (PJIs) by outstanding scientific experts
who are currently studying mechanisms of aging and by faculty investigating age-related disease in a manner
that will increase both the quantity and quality of on-going disease-related research in the context of the aging
organism. These goals will be accomplished through the mentoring of PJIs, who have faculty appointments at
OUHSC; recruiting senior investigators to the OUHSC campus; and developing the necessary infrastructure for
support of the research program. The specific aims for the program are: 1. Develop and expand institutional
biomedical research in Geroscience through the mentoring of PJIs by highly experienced, dedicated senior
investigators. 2. Enhance the infrastructure critical for expanding Geroscience research in Oklahoma. 3. Foster
collegial and collaborative relationships between CoBRE investigators and other scientists. 4. Establish
milestones and expectations that ensure the success of the program and its participants. The outcome will be
a sustainable, interdisciplinary research structure on the OUHSC campus, which will produce a new generation
of collaborative Geroscience-trained researchers and establish OUHSC as a leader in Geroscience.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9857606
- **Project number:** 5P20GM125528-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** William Edmund Sonntag
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $2,155,712
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9857606

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9857606, CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR GEROSCIENCE CoBRE (5P20GM125528-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9857606. Licensed CC0.

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