# Integrative Biology Core (IBC)

> **NIH NIH P30** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $204,891

## Abstract

The WF OAIC Integrative Biology Core (IBC) plays an essential role in integrating biologic with neurologic,
psychosocial and behavioral factors to understand aging-related disability processes. The IBC helps translate
knowledge on biological aging from animal models, to discover and test biological contributors to human
functional decline as future targets for new therapies to prevent or treat disability. The IBC provides key
expertise and resources needed to test the contributions of both traditional and novel biological factors to
functional decline and disability. In the upcoming cycle, we will further expand a broad battery of relevant
biological assays and continue to refine these measures, as new signals and evidence emerge, to test novel
pathways, including translation to humans of knowledge from preclinical work on the basic biology of aging.
The premise behind the IBC's work is that (a) specific cellular, organ, and systemic processes combine in an
integrated manner to influence aging-related loss of function, and (b) therapeutic modification of these factors
will slow progression to disability. The Specific Aims of the IBC are to: 1) Advance understanding of
biological factors underlying aging-related decline in physical function, and determine whether specific
behavioral and pharmacological interventions modify these factors; 2) Offer a biospecimen resource as part of
the Integrated Aging Studies Databank and Repository to generate and test novel hypotheses; 3) Train
research fellows and OAIC-supported early-career faculty in methods and techniques used to study cellular,
tissue-level, and systemic biological factors; 4) Design and conduct Developmental Projects aimed
at
establishingnew Core methods/technologies that expand services for OAIC investigators;5) Offer educational
opportunities to foster translational research and communication of OAIC Core-supported research findings;
and 6) Provide resources for studies by early-career faculty and for OAIC-supported pilots. Drs. Nicklas and
Delbono will continue to lead the IBC, which uses the state-of-the-art cellular and molecular techniques of the
collective laboratories of IBC investigators and other WFSM Core laboratories, to support novel research in
line with the WF OAIC theme of “Integrating pathways affecting physical function for new approaches to
disability treatment and prevention”.
In its first year of support the IBC will support 2 pilots (1 led by an REC scholar), 11 externally-supported
projects designed to test this hypothesis, and 1 Research Development Project to develop a new resource to
measure autophagic flux to address novel hypotheses. We will provide the OAIC with cutting-edge scientific
expertise and methodologies required to accomplish our aims efficiently, and work closely with the other OAIC
cores.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9978684
- **Project number:** 5P30AG021332-18
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Barbara J Nicklas
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $204,891
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9978684

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9978684, Integrative Biology Core (IBC) (5P30AG021332-18). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9978684. Licensed CC0.

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