Judd M. Aiken Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences
The aging research in Dr. Aiken´s laboratory centers on involvement of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) abnormalities in aging processes. Current studies seek to determine the ability of caloric restriction to ameliorate age-associated molecular declines as well as microarray analysis to further delineate the causal mechanisms.

Sanjay Asthana Department of Medicine
The major focus of Dr. Asthana´s research program is to evaluate the potential role of estrogen and related gonadal steroids on cognitive function and physical function skills of healthy older women as well as those with Alzheimer´s disease. His studies are designed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of estrogen and raloxifene for Alzheimer´s disease. He is also conducting research to determine if estrogen can improve cognitive changes associated with healthy aging.

Alan D. Attie Department of Biochemistry
Dr. Attie’s lab has three areas of research. His lab has been analyzing murine gene loci and changes in gene expression that contribute to obesity and diabetes. He is examining the regulation of lipoprotein degradation and trafficking by the LDL receptor. He is also studying defects in cholesterol transport that lead to HDL deficiency and premature heart disease.

Mary Behan Department of Comparative Biosciences
Dr. Behan has two major research interests using rodent models: gender-specific alterations in the neural control of respiration with increasing age that may lead to a variety of breathing disorders and the effects of acute changes in light and darkness on sleep-wake behaviors.

Neil C. Binkley Department of Medicine
Dr. Binkley´s work focuses on osteoporosis prevention and treatment. To better understand the pathogenesis of osteoporosis, the role of subclinical vitamin K insufficiency and approaches to widespread vitamin D inadequacy are being evaluated. Ongoing clinical studies include pharmaceutical trials, bone loss prevention regimens, and evaluation of diagnostic technology.

Christopher L. Coe Department of Psychology
Dr. Coe’s research focuses on the biological correlates of psychosocial processes and uses a life span perspective in animal models and human projects. Studies investigate developmental brain and immune trajectories in the immature baby, as well as similar types of age-related changes in the elderly individual. His lab also serves as the BioCore for the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) study, overseeing the assessment of hormone and immune measures. Dr. Coe also collaborates on the benefits of calorie restriction for delaying age-related illness and mortality.

Marc Drezner Department of Medicine
Dr. Drezner´s research in the pathogenesis of the vitamin D refractory diseases of man could lead to novel therapies for bone and kidney diseases. This work plus ongoing pharmaceutical intervention studies will contribute to the development of new treatment protocols for the mangement of osteoporosis.

Richard S. Eisenstein Department of Nutritional Sciences
Dr. Eisenstein´s research focuses on regulation of iron metabolism in mammals, particularly how cellular iron status is sensed and then how iron homeostasis is maintained by modulation of gene expression. There is a particular interest in the role of iron-regulated RNA binding proteins, the iron regulatory proteins (IRP), in controlling the synthesis of iron transport and storage proteins.

Anna Huttenlocher Department of Pharmacology
Dr. Huttenlocher´s research focuses on the basic mechanisms that regulate cell migration in processes such as tumor invasion and metastasis and the development of chronic inflammation. Her research team intends to identify novel regulators of these processes and define the relationships between these molecules and cell migration.

David F. Jarrard Departments of Surgery and Molecular and Environmental Toxicology
Dr. Jarrard´s laboratory research is focused on the role of imprinting, or allele-specific expression, in aging and prostate cancer susceptibility. Mechanisms being examined for modulating the growth factor IGF-II imprint include DNA methylation. Models being utilized include human prostate cells and in a mouse model of aging.

Sterling C. Johnson Department of Medicine
Dr. Johnson´s research employs functional neuroimaging techniques (such as fMRI and PET) and neuropsychological assessment to study the neurobiological and psychological processes that affect memory. A major focus of research is on people with genetic or cognitive risk factors for Alzheimer Disease to determine whether preclinical brain changes can be observed.

Patricia Keely Department of Pharmacology
Dr. Keely´s research focuses on the interactions of cells with extracellular matrix components and their alteration during pathological cell migrations in cancer metastasis or atherosclerosis. Dr. Keely is particularly interested in the mediation of adhesion to collagen by integrins, and how they transmit signals to cells that lead to normal or migratory cellular behavior.

Joseph W. Kemnitz Department of Physiology, Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Nutritional Sciences
Research in this laboratory is directed toward the neurobehavioral and hormonal mechanisms that control food intake and energy expenditure, and the consequences of caloric imbalances on physiological well-being. They are investigating the causes and consequences of obesity and the relationship between energy balance and processes of aging in rhesus monkeys.

Laura Kiessling Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dr. Kiessling´s laboratory is developing and testing compounds that may inhibit or break up aggregation of the beta amyloid deposits implicated in Alzheimer´s disease. They use biophysical and cellular assays to investigate amyloid aggregation, and Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode, as a model to investigate the consequences of beta amyloid aggregation in an organism.

Barbara E.K. Klein Departments of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
Dr. Klein’s research focuses on the cause and prevention of vision loss due to cataracts, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. Risk factors for many age-related eye disorders have been identified but in many cases the strongest risk factor is having a family member with the same condition. A longitudinal population-based study, the Beaver Dam Eye Study, is currently being conducted in an effort to shed light on some of these factors.

James S. Malter Department of Pathology
Dr. Malter´s laboratory is focused on the posttranscriptional regulation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) mRNA, the precursor for beta-amyloid, the cause of Alzheimer´s Disease. The trainees in this laboratory have participated in the identification of APP mRNA regions responsible for normal regulation, the cloning of RNA binding proteins, and developed assays to examine APP mRNA stability in vitro.

Terry D. Oberley Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Dr. Oberley´s research studies the role of oxidative and nitrosative stress in physiologic and pathologic processes. These questions are examined through expression of antioxidant enzymes in selected subcellular locations and in transgenic and knockout mice, and localization of oxidative and nitrosative damage products in tissues.

Tomas A. Prolla Departments of Genetics and Medical Genetics
Dr. Prolla´s laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular basis of the aging process and common age-related human diseases through the use of large-scale gene expression analysis. This work has developed hundreds of biomarkers to measure the aging process in genetically altered mice.

Luigi Puglielli Department of Medicine (Geriatrics and Gerontology)
The main focus of Dr. Puglielli´s research is the role that lipid metabolism plays in the regulation of Ab (amyloid b-peptide) generation and synaptogenesis during both normal aging of the brain and the Alzheimer-type of neurodegeneration. Dr. Puglielli´s laboratory uses a wide combination of biochemical, genetic, and molecular approaches spanning on different areas of biomedical research, from cell signaling to transcriptional regulation and post-translational modifications of nascent proteins.

JoAnne Robbins Department of Medicine
Dr. Robbins directs the UW/VA Swallowing Research Laboratory and studies the influences of aging on swallowing. Her research group has focused on swallowing dysfunction as an outcome of stroke. Future work will focus on treatment and prevention of dysphagia, and identifying the most effective management of liquid aspiration in dysphagic geriatric patients.

Dale A. Schoeller Department of Nutritional Sciences
Dr. Schoeller´s research is directed toward understanding the regulation of energy balance and how excessive weight gain contributes to the development of the chronic diseases associated with aging. He is also interested in the development and use of stable isotope techniques for the assessment of nutritional status.

Darryl G. Thelen Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Thelen’s laboratory (Neuromuscular Biomechanics) is interested in the effects of age, functional status and injury on the neuromusculoskeletal system. A current study is using coupled motion analysis and computer simulation techniques to identify biomechanical factors that limit walking speed in older adults. The long term goal is to identify specific functional limitations to mobility that might be amendable by targeted intervention programs.

Richard Weindruch Department of Medicine
Dr. Weindruch´s laboratory is investigating two main questions: 1) How does caloric restriction (CR) retard aging and diseases in mice and rats? 2) Does CR retard aging in monkeys? Recent gene expression data strengthens the idea that CR may slow aging by reducing oxidative damage to tissues.

George Wilding Department of Clinical Oncology
Dr. Wilding´s laboratory has shown that androgens induce oxidative stress in human prostate epithelial cells and hypothesize that this contributes to the development of prostate cancer. Their research examines the mechanisms by which androgens lead to the production of reactive oxygen species and investigates ways to intervene in this process to prevent prostate cancer.

Jerry C.P. Yin Departments of Genetics and Psychiatry

Dr. Yin´s laboratory studies the molecular and cellular events underlying memory formation. Drosophila can be trained with single cycle, repetitive massed or repetitive spaced training, and each of these produces a genetically distinct type of memory that persists for different amounts of time. Molecules that participate in each of these phases of memory formation are prime candidates for aging-dependent decreases in memory formation. The transcription factor dCREB2 has been shown to reside in mitochondria, the cytoplasm and the nucleus, and to show neurodegenerative effects (longevity, cognitive effects, sensitivity to various mitochondrial insults) when activity is compromised. Its possible role as a cellular thermostat may explain its ability to suppress various neurodegenerative conditions, eg. Huntington´s disease. Experiments are underway to test its ability to suppress a wide variety of other neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer´s disease. Recently, great progress has been made in investigating the role of sleep, and its likely role in memory formation. It is anticipated that aging-related declines in sleep will also contribute to aging-dependent decreases in cognitive function.