A proposal at an aging conference calls for a biobank of 200 mammal species to study mechanisms of longevity
A proposal at an aging conference calls for a biobank of 200 mammal species to study mechanisms of longevity
On October 2 at ARDD, a conference on the biology of aging, Thalion's scientific director Max Unfried presented a plan to compare animals across species and ages to identify traits associated with maximum lifespan.
In his talk at ARDD, Unfried treated maximum lifespan as a research question distinct from treating age-related diseases. He compared mice and humans: both species develop cancer, yet he estimated that their maximum lifespans differ by roughly a factor of 60. He used this comparison to frame a separate research question: which traits are associated with longevity across animal species?
“I would argue that even if we cured all diseases, we would probably leave maximum lifespan unchanged,” Unfried said.
The proposed biobank would include approximately 200 mammal species, with at least 60 samples per species from young, adult and old animals. For each sample, the team aims to use standardized protocols to collect tissue and measure gene expression, proteins and metabolites, alongside records of age and environmental conditions. Unfried estimates that this initial dataset would contain approximately 2,4 million individual measurements.
The sequence of the work is central to the proposal. The team plans to collect the samples first, then apply each new type of measurement to the entire collection. Standardized collection, storage and processing protocols would help distinguish biological differences between species from noise introduced by differences between laboratories and instruments.
Audience questions focused on these issues: small samples from individual species could introduce noise, and the standards chosen at the outset would shape the entire dataset. Unfried said the team is still deciding on biobank protocols, which measurements to collect and how to carry out the work. Under his plan, once these preparations are complete, computational models would look for associations between the data and each species' maximum lifespan.