Defining the Genetics of Exceptional Human Survival

描述（由申请人提供）：Bradley J. Willcox， MD, MSc，将在dr。位于夏威夷檀香山的太平洋健康研究所（PHRI）的John Grove和J. David Curb说。克鲁兹博士是PacGen研究的首席研究员，该研究包括檀香山心脏计划（HHP）家庭研究，该研究将为威尔考克斯博士提供研究数据库。威尔科克斯博士之前的研究涉及与健康老龄化相关的环境因素，特别是日裔加拿大老年人的饮食。他在日本冲绳作为冲绳百岁老人研究（OCS）的共同研究者进一步开展了这项工作。随后，他在梅奥诊所接受内科培训，毕业时因对日本老年人心血管危险因素的创新研究获得卡尔加里奖。他在哈佛医学院完成了他的老年医学奖学金，在那里他开始与新英格兰百岁老人研究（NECS）合作，研究特殊生存（ES）的遗传学。他目前得到了NIA关于冲绳百岁老人ES基因的试点研究的支持。他的职业目标是了解基因-基因和基因-环境的相互作用，这些相互作用导致了异常长寿个体的表型变异。特别令人感兴趣的是具有最小疾病负担或“成功衰老”的ES。Willcox博士将通过正式的课程、实习、研讨会和实践指导研究接受培训。在导师的帮助下，威尔考克斯博士将提出一项R01提案，将日本冲绳的一个国际站点添加到目前基于PHRI的美国遗传流行病学网络PacGen network中。这项拟议的研究有三个具体目标；1)帮助定义成功的衰老表型；2)对成功衰老表型的病因因素进行假设；3)建立另一个PacGen队列，用于未来对成功衰老的遗传和非遗传决定因素的跨国纵向研究。长期目标是比较冲绳日本人的跨国生存特征与其他特别长寿的男性和女性群体，特别是HHP，以确定成功衰老表型的重要病因因素。此外，他将在全国会议上做年度报告，并在5年内有10篇同行评审的第一作者和15-20篇合作期刊文章被接受发表。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Bradley J. Willcox, MD, MSc, will work under the mentorship of Drs. John Grove and J. David Curb at the Pacific Health Research Institute (PHRI) in Honolulu, HI. Dr. Curb is the Principal Investigator for the PacGen Study, which includes the Honolulu Heart Program (HHP) Family Studies, which will provide the research database for Dr. Willcox. Dr. Willcox's prior research involved work on environmental factors related to healthy aging, particularly diet, in elderly Japanese-Canadians. He pursued this work further in Okinawa, Japan, as a Co-Investigator of the Okinawa Centenarian Study (OCS). He subsequently trained in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, graduating with the Calgary Award for innovative research on cardiovascular risk factors in elderly Japanese. He completed his Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, where he began collaboration with the New England Centenarian Study (NECS) on the genetics of exceptional survival (ES). He is currently supported by a NIA pilot study on the genetics of ES in Okinawan centenarians. His career goal is to understand the gene-gene and gene-environment interactions that lead to phenotypic variations in exceptionally long-lived individuals. Of particular interest, is ES with minimal disease burden or "successful aging." Dr. Willcox will receive training via formal course work, practicum, seminars, and hands-on mentored research. With the assistance of his mentors, Dr. Willcox will develop an R01 proposal to add an international site in Okinawa, Japan, to a current U.S. genetic epidemiology network based at PHRI called the PacGen Network. This proposed study has three specific goals; 1) to help define the successful aging phenotype; 2) to generate hypotheses for etiological factors of the successful aging phenotype; and 3) the establishment of another PacGen cohort for future cross-national longitudinal studies of the genetic and non-genetic determinants of successful aging. The long-term goal is to compare cross-national survival characteristics of Okinawan-Japanese with other cohorts of exceptionally long-lived men and women, particularly the HHP in order to determine the etiological factors important for the successful aging phenotype. In addition, he will be expected to make annual presentations at national meetings as well as have 10 peer-reviewed, first author and 15-20 collaborative journal articles accepted for publication during the 5-year period.