Basic Mechanisms in Aging and Age Related Disease

巴克年龄研究所（Buck Institute for Age Research）是美国唯一一家专门从事衰老生物学和年龄相关疾病基础研究的独立研究所。其密集的、跨学科的、机构范围内的老龄化研究方法代表了一种新的模式，与传统的以大学为基础的方法不同，在传统的方法中，老龄化研究是众多学科之一，遍布整个机构，并与其他学科争夺稀缺的科学资源。在巴克研究所开始运作的五年中，它在老龄化研究方面进行了大量的投资和承诺。在此过程中，巴克研究所的研究人员在衰老生物学和年龄相关疾病的研究方面做出了重要贡献，包括阿尔茨海默病、帕金森病、中风和癌症，研究所已成为一个主要的衰老研究中心。我们相信巴克研究所非常适合实现纳森·肖克老龄基础生物学卓越中心项目的目标——通过以下方式，提高在老龄基础研究方面拥有完善研究项目的机构的能力，利用最先进的研究资源，并为开展老龄研究提供最强的环境：(a)提高老龄化基础生物学的研究质量；(b)促进老龄化研究活动的规划和协调；(c)为新从事老龄化研究的研究者提供支持和适宜的环境；(d)发展潜在的区域或国家资源中心。为了实现这些目标，我们建议在巴克研究所建立一个具有以下核心的冲击中心：提供动物护理和程序以及转基因/基因敲除生产的动物/转基因核心，现有形态学资源将补充功能性成像技术的成像核心，生产cDNA和寡核苷酸微阵列芯片并提供微阵列分析服务的基因组学核心，以及一个蛋白质组学核心，使用质谱法和新的化学方法来识别与衰老和年龄相关疾病相关的翻译后修饰和蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用网络。最后，研究发展核心将通过博士后培训计划、研究发展研究研讨会、向初级研究者和新进入老龄化领域的研究者颁发试点项目奖，以及为来自少数族裔背景的高中生和大学生提供暑期学者计划，促进老龄化研究的研究者和项目的发展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Buck Institute for Age Research is the only free-standing institute in the United States that is devoted exclusively to basic research on the biology of aging and age-related diseases. Its intensive, interdisciplinary, institution-wide approach to aging research represents a new model, distinct from the traditional university-based approach in which the study of aging is one of numerous disciplines, spread throughout an institution, and competing with other disciplines for scarce scientific resources. In the five years since the Buck Institute began operation, it has made a substantial investment in and commitment to aging research. In the process, Buck Institute investigators have made important contributions to research on the biology of aging and age-related diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and cancer, and the Institute has established itself as a major aging research center. We believe that the Buck Institute is ideally suited to fulfill the goal of the Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in Basic Biology of Aging program - to enhance the ability of institutions with well-developed research programs in basic research on aging to utilize state-of-the-art research resources and provide the strongest environment for the conduct of research on aging by: (a) enhancing the quality of research in the basic biology of aging (b) facilitating the planning and coordination of aging research activities (c) providing support and a suitable environment for investigators new to aging research and (d) developing potential regional or national resource centers. To achieve these objectives, we propose to establish a Shock Center at the Buck Institute with the following Cores: An Animal/Transgenics Core offering animal care and procedures and transgenic/knockout production, an Imaging Core in which existing morphology resources will be supplemented with functional imaging technology, a Genomics Core that will produce cDNA and oligo microarray chips and offer microarray analysis services, and a Proteomics Core using mass spectrometry and new chemical methods to identify posttranslational modifications and protein-protein interaction networks associated with aging and age-related diseases. Finally, a Research Development Core will foster the development of investigators and projects in aging research through postdoctoral training programs, Research Development Research Seminars, Pilot Project awards to junior investigators and investigators new to the aging field, and a Summer Scholars program for high school and college students from underrepresented minority backgrounds.