GERIATRIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMIC AWARD

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The aims of the Geriatric Leadership Award described in this application are directed at increasing the scope and effectiveness of our new Institute for Research on Aging by: 1. Promoting the development of our research program through initiation of six collaborative research plans with faculty members of other departments in the Medical school, as well as with members of basic science departments - Departments of Chemistry, Biology and Marine Biology of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography here at UCSD, and investigators at The Salk Institute. 2. To enhance the ability of the Principal Investigator to carry out his responsibilities as Director of the Institute for Research on Aging by a personal training program based on visits to other institutes and their directors and other leaders in research centers devoted to geriatrics or gerontology throughout the country. 3. Expanding our educational and training programs in geriatrics/gerontology in the School of Medicine, other departments of the University and the community. In order to accomplish these objectives, the Principal Investigator plans to build on the strengths developed in human genetics and in particular, molecular genetics among the faculty during the past fifteen years that he has been Director of the UCSD Human Biochemical Genetics Program. The program of research will thus concentrate on the identification of genetic factors involved in the aging process through studies of (a) in vitro senescence of human fibroblasts, and (b) identification of biochemical and genetic defects responsible for human hereditary diseases of accelerated aging, specifically progeria, (Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome), Werner's syndrome and Cockayne syndrome. They will also follow up biochemical leads that give promise of providing new insight into the development of degenerative diseases of later life, such as Alzheimer's disease. The startup funds provided through this grant will allow new collaborators to obtain the preliminary data required for more formal grant applications. Objective #3 will be facilitated by the Principal Investigator building on the knowledge and experience of other directors of geriatric and gerontology research centers that he will visit throughout the country as a part of objective #2. This grant will substantially accelerate the achievement of one of the Institute's long term goals - the identification of genetic factors that may well confer susceptibility to or against the development of degenerative diseases of later life.