# C. elegans testing program expansion:  Healthspan focus

> **NIH NIH U01** · RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIV OF N.J. · 2020 · $533,459

## Abstract

Project Summary
Health challenges linked to human aging take a tremendous toll on our 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, and thus struggle with debilitating
disease is a common health burden for the aging population. Without question, the promotion of healthy
aging with extended resistance to decline should be a major objective of current medical research.
To investigate healthy aging, simple animals models such as the nematode C. elegans have been used
to provide molecular insights into the genes and chemical compound interventions that can modulate
conserved aging processes 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 drugs 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 efficacious in
higher organisms and will be suggested as priority interventions for testing in pre-clinical mouse studies
and possibly future human trials.
The emphasis of this specific proposal is the screening of test compounds for the capacity to promote a
range of indicators of strong health in older age. We will focus on measures with parallels to human
aging: locomotory decline, diminished resistance to stress, deterioration of cardiac-like muscle function,
disruption of intestinal barrier function, and accumulation of age-related pigments in non-dividing cells.
Our findings will be integrated with parallel evaluation of the same compound interventions on longevity,
so that we can define treatments that promote the quality and functionality of older age life, rather than
those that simply extend life.
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:** 9952285
- **Project number:** 5U01AG045864-07
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIV OF N.J.
- **Principal Investigator:** MONICA A. DRISCOLL
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $533,459
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-08-15 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9952285

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9952285, C. elegans testing program expansion:  Healthspan focus (5U01AG045864-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9952285. Licensed CC0.

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