National Institutes of Health awards the University of Southern California $7,5 million to establish a center for research on differences in aging between women and men
National Institutes of Health awards the University of Southern California $7,5 million to establish a center for research on differences in aging between women and men
On August 5, the University of Southern California's gerontology school received a five-year grant to establish GeroSCORE, a center that will integrate research ranging from laboratory models to data from large human populations. Its initial projects will examine menopause and the brain, Alzheimer's disease risk, and the effects of genetic, environmental, and social factors on aging.
Women live longer than men on average, but they are more likely to experience frailty and poor health later in life. Age-related diseases also develop differently in women and men. A review in eLife links these differences to sex chromosomes, hormones, living conditions, and the environment. Data averaged across all adults can therefore conceal distinct patterns in the development of age-related diseases.
The USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology is establishing GeroSCORE, the first specialized NIH center at the University of Southern California dedicated to differences in aging between women and men. The five-year grant will support shared analytical methods, pilot projects, researcher training, and collaboration with the NIH network of centers.
One of the center's directors, Jennifer Ailshire, describes its purpose as follows:
“We know that women and men age differently. Our task is to understand why. GeroSCORE will bring together knowledge that has traditionally remained fragmented and help determine how biology, the environment, and life experience jointly shape aging.”
Bérénice Benayoun will study how menopause affects brain aging using a new animal model that more accurately reproduces the human menopausal transition. Thil Eich will compare brain imaging, cognitive tests, hormone measurements, and other indicators of physiological condition. She will use these data to examine how biological and neuroendocrine aging, which involves interactions between the brain and hormones, relates to Alzheimer's disease risk. Eric Klopack will use data from large population studies to investigate how genetic, environmental, and social factors shape health and aging across the life course.
The program's three research areas span the path from hormonal changes and brain function to people's life experiences. The center will develop shared methods and scientific resources so that findings from these studies can be compared.