Early life trauma and aging using a long-lived animal model

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Training: My research over the past eight years has focused primarily on elephant endocrinology, health, and aging. The work has shown that there are many similarities between elephants and humans (e.g., morbidities, life history, socialness, emotional complexity), and that leveraging information gathered by studying elephants may improve human health and aging. The proposed K01 career development training plan builds on that experience but identifies three areas that require additional training: (1) develop expertise in psychobiology and behavior, (2) enhance skills in aging science and methods, and (3) build skills in designing and implementing randomized experiments. Accordingly, we propose intensive topical mentorship, focused coursework, and contextual learning through the proposed research. This K01 will provide protected time to receive the needed training to enhance my expertise in these three areas and will propel me to becoming an independent research scientist focusing on healthy aging. Research: People who have endured adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have increased risk of developing physical and psychological diseases later in life. They are 1.6 to 2.4 times more likely to develop obesity, cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes as adults, and life expectancy is reduced by up to 20 years. Understanding how ACEs lead to disease in adulthood is important for developing interventions to interrupt disease progression. The proposed K01 attempts to address this need through the following objectives: to demonstrate the value of using the elephant as a model for human aging, and elucidating how early-life trauma influences an individual’s biological and social trajectory. Like humans, calves are highly reliant and bonded to their mother, and can suffer post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing her killing. The poaching of random elephants for their tusks has provided a natural experiment to compare highly traumatized orphaned elephants with non-orphaned elephants in regard to their allostatic load, biological age, cognition, and disease susceptibility. This will be the first study that we are aware of that uses the elephant to understand the implications of early-life trauma, while also implementing a randomized experiment. The proposed K01 will not only demonstrate the value of the elephant to further understand human aging, but it will elucidate how early-life trauma influences an individual’s biological and social trajectory. Summary: Findings from this study will inform an R01 grant application to expand the study of early-life trauma and aging using the elephant. This K01 will develop my new expertise in psychobiology, aging, and randomized experiments. At the end of this award, I will be a leading independent scientist conducing innovative research in the field of aging.