Research Network on Animal Models to Understand Social Dimensions of Aging

Project Summary As the population of the United States ages, the health burden imposed by diseases of aging is expected to increase concomitantly. Social factors, including low socioeconomic status, social isolation, and low social support, are among the best predictors of susceptibility to diseases of aging, as well as lifespan itself. Nevertheless, key questions about the causal relationship and the biological mechanisms that link social experiences to health and aging remain unanswered. Animal models are a powerful tool to address these questions. Like humans, other social mammals exhibit strong associations between social adversity, health, and mortality. Unlike humans, though, they experience less complex environments, have shorter generation times, and can be subjected to experimental manipulation in controlled environments. However, the use of animal models to identify mechanisms underlying social determinants of aging and aging-associated diseases is still limited. To grow and support the relevant research community, in 2020 we founded an R24 High-Priority Behavioral and Social Research Network on Animal Models for the Social Dimensions of Health and Aging (SDoHA). In less than four years, we have successfully grown the Network by supporting career development fellowships, and pilot grants as well as organizing meetings and scientific publications. These successes highlight three areas central to accelerating research on animal models for SDoHA, which together inform the Aims for this renewal application. Specifically, we will: Aim 1. Grow the animal models for SDoHA Network and support members at crucial career stages. Aim 2. Diversify the animal taxa used in the study of SDoHA. Aim 3. Support the development of animal models for translational geroscience and foster collaborations with researchers studying social gradients in humans. The renewal of our Network will continue to transform a weakly connected community into a self-sustaining field of researchers equipped to conduct impactful research on the social dimensions of aging. Together, this work will lay the foundation for establishing models and experimental approaches that directly inform our understanding the social determinants of health and lifespan in animals and humans, and are expected to have direct translational application to human health and well-being during aging.