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

项目概要/摘要 培训：在过去的八年里，我的研究主要集中在大象的内分泌学，健康， 衰老这项工作表明，大象和人类之间有许多相似之处（例如，发病率， 生活史，社会性，情感复杂性），并利用研究大象收集的信息， 可以改善人类健康和衰老。拟议的K 01职业发展培训计划建立在这一基础上 经验，但确定需要额外培训的三个领域：（1）发展心理生物学方面的专业知识， 行为，（2）提高衰老科学和方法的技能，（3）建立设计和实施的技能 随机实验因此，我们建议密集的专题辅导，重点课程， 通过所提出的研究进行情境学习。此K 01将提供受保护的时间来接收所需的 培训，以提高我在这三个领域的专业知识，并将推动我成为一个独立的研究 专注于健康老龄化的科学家研究：经历过不良童年经历的人 （ACE）增加了晚年患身体和心理疾病的风险。1.6到2.4 成年后患肥胖、癌症、心脏病、中风和糖尿病的可能性增加一倍， 最多能缩短20年了解ACE如何导致成年期疾病对于发展 干预措施，以阻止疾病进展。拟议的K 01试图通过以下方式满足这一需求： 以下目标：证明使用大象作为人类衰老模型的价值，并阐明 早期生活创伤如何影响个体的生物学和社会轨迹。像人类一样，幼鲸 他们依赖母亲，与母亲有着紧密的联系，在目睹母亲被杀后，他们可能会患上创伤后应激障碍。的 偷猎大象的象牙提供了一个自然的实验， 孤儿大象与非孤儿大象在非稳态负荷、生物年龄、认知和 疾病易感性这将是我们所知道的第一个使用大象来了解 早期生活创伤的影响，同时也实施了一项随机实验。建议的K 01不会 这只大象只是证明了进一步了解人类衰老的价值，但它将阐明早期生命是如何 创伤会影响一个人的生理和社会轨迹。摘要：这项研究的结果将为 一份R 01基金申请，用于扩大使用大象进行的早期创伤和衰老研究。K 01将 发展我在心理生物学、衰老和随机实验方面的新专长。在这个奖项的最后，我将 成为在老龄化领域进行创新研究的领先独立科学家。

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.