Geroscience
Geroscience is an interdisciplinary field of biomedical research that studies the biological mechanisms of aging and their relationship to chronic disease, age-related conditions, functional decline, and healthspan.[1][2]
The field is based on the geroscience hypothesis, which proposes that biological processes of aging contribute to multiple age-related diseases and that studying these shared mechanisms may support approaches to extending healthy years of life rather than addressing each age-related disease separately.[1][3]
History and institutional development
[edit]Research connecting aging biology with age-related disease gained institutional attention in the early 21st century. In 2007, Nature reported on research efforts examining whether aging and disease could be studied through a shared biological framework.[4]
In 2008, Senate Report 110-527 described the Interdisciplinary Research Consortium in Geroscience as an NIH-supported effort intended to foster collaboration among researchers from multiple fields. The report stated that the consortium would connect research on the fundamental mechanisms of aging with research on age-associated diseases and technologies of value to the geroscience community.[5]
The trans-NIH Geroscience Interest Group (GSIG) was launched within the National Institutes of Health in 2012 to encourage collaboration across NIH institutes and centers on the relationship between aging biology and disease biology.[1]
In 2013, the trans-NIH GeroScience Interest Group hosted the summit Advances in Geroscience: Impact on Healthspan and Chronic Disease. The meeting was organized to promote collaboration between the aging and chronic disease research communities and to identify research directions related to healthspan and chronic disease burden.[6]
Relationship to related fields
[edit]Geroscience overlaps with, but is not identical to gerontology, geriatrics, and biogerontology. Gerontology is the broader study of aging across biological, cognitive, cultural, psychological, and social dimensions. Geriatrics is a medical specialty focused on health care and disease treatment in older adults. Biogerontology focuses on the biological processes of aging.[7]
Geroscience is more specifically concerned with the mechanisms by which aging biology contributes to age-related disease and functional decline. It has been described as operating at the interface of biogerontology and geriatrics because it connects basic aging biology with disease-oriented and translational research.[7]
The similarly named GeroScience is a scientific journal focused on the biology of aging and the pathophysiology of age-related diseases. It is distinct from geroscience as a field of research.[8]
Research focus
[edit]Geroscience research examines shared biological processes associated with aging. These processes are often discussed in relation to the hallmarks or pillars of aging, including genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, disabled macroautophagy, deregulated nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, altered intercellular communication, chronic inflammation, and dysbiosis.[9]
The geroscience approach differs from disease-by-disease research by focusing on common aging-related biological pathways that may influence multiple chronic diseases or age-related conditions. In translational research, geroscience has been described as an effort to define and modify aging-related biological pathways with the goals of slowing age-related disability, preventing age-related diseases, and increasing disability-free survival.[2][3]
Companion dogs
[edit]Pet dogs have been proposed as a complement to laboratory animals in geroscience: they share the human environment and receive medical care, they develop many of the same age-related diseases as their owners, and their shorter life expectancy allows lifespan outcomes to be measured within years rather than decades.[10][11] A paired-feeding study in 48 Labrador Retrievers found that restricting food intake by 25% from eight weeks of age significantly extended median lifespan, by 1.8 years, and delayed the onset of chronic disease, echoing dietary-restriction results in rodents.[12][13] Dog breeds span a several-fold range in body size and lifespan, and a single IGF1 allele accounts for much of the size variation, which makes the species a natural experiment on the relationship between size and longevity.[14] The Dog Aging Project, a longitudinal study of tens of thousands of pet dogs in the United States,[15] runs the Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs (TRIAD), a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial of rapamycin in healthy middle-aged dogs with lifespan and healthspan endpoints, which its investigators describe as the first such test of a drug against biological aging conducted outside the laboratory in any species.[10] Epigenetic clocks that estimate age from DNA methylation have been built jointly for dogs and humans.[16] In 2025 and 2026 the Center for Veterinary Medicine of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted the effectiveness and target-animal-safety sections of a conditional-approval application for LOY-002, a drug intended to extend the healthy lifespan of senior dogs, from the biotechnology company Loyal, which reported a 1,300-dog pivotal trial at about 70 veterinary clinics.[17]
Clinical translation and limitations
[edit]Geroscience has attracted interest because many chronic diseases and conditions, including stroke, heart failure, dementia, many cancers, coronary artery disease, and physical disability, increase with age. A 2025 review in JAMA described geroscience as a relatively new discipline focused on defining and modifying aging-related biological pathways.[2]
The clinical translation of geroscience remains an active area of research. A 2025 article in Nature Aging noted that, while geroscience has potential for identifying approaches to improve healthspan, challenges include long research timelines, uncertainty around surrogate biomarkers of aging, and possible biological trade-offs from interventions.[18]
Academic centers studying geroscience
[edit]| Name | Academic Affiliation | Website URL |
|---|---|---|
| Institute for Geroscience | Albert Einstein College of Medicine / Montefiore | Website |
| Oklahoma Center for Geroscience and Healthy Brain Aging | University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center / OU Health | Website |
| Center for Translational Geroscience | Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University | Website |
| Centre for Geroscience and Geromedicine | Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University | Website |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Sierra, Felipe; Kohanski, Ron (2017-02-01). "Geroscience and the trans-NIH Geroscience Interest Group, GSIG". GeroScience. 39 (1): 1–5. doi:10.1007/s11357-016-9954-6. ISSN 2509-2723. PMC 5352582. PMID 28299635.
- 1 2 3 Kritchevsky, Stephen B.; Cummings, Steven R. (2025-09-23). "Geroscience: A Translational Review". JAMA. 334 (12): 1094–1102. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.11289. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 40773213.
- 1 2 Kennedy, Brian K.; Berger, Shelley L.; Brunet, Anne; Campisi, Judith; Cuervo, Ana Maria; Epel, Elissa S.; Franceschi, Claudio; Lithgow, Gordon J.; Morimoto, Richard I.; Pessin, Jeffrey E.; Rando, Thomas A.; Richardson, Arlan; Schadt, Eric E.; Wyss-Coray, Tony; Sierra, Felipe (2014-11-06). "Geroscience: Linking Aging to Chronic Disease". Cell. 159 (4). Elsevier: 709–713. Bibcode:2014Cell..159..709K. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.039. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 4852871. PMID 25417146.
- ↑ Hayden, Erika Check (2007-11-01). "Age research: A new angle on 'old'". Nature. 450 (7170). Nature Publishing Group: 603–605. Bibcode:2007Natur.450..603H. doi:10.1038/450603a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 18046373.
- ↑ "Senate Report 110-527 - RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE IN AGING RESEARCH COMMITTEE REPORT". www.govinfo.gov. Retrieved 2026-08-27.
- ↑ Burch, John B.; Augustine, Alison Deckhut; Frieden, Leslie A.; Hadley, Evan; Howcroft, T. Kevin; Johnson, Ron; Khalsa, Partap S.; Kohanski, Ronald A.; Li, Xiao Ling; Macchiarini, Francesca; Niederehe, George; Oh, Young S.; Pawlyk, Aaron C.; Rodriguez, Henry; Rowland, Julia H. (2014-06-01). "Advances in Geroscience: Impact on Healthspan and Chronic Disease". The Journals of Gerontology: Series A. 69 (Suppl_1): S1–S3. doi:10.1093/gerona/glu041. ISSN 1079-5006. PMC 4036419. PMID 24833579.
- 1 2 Chmielewski, Piotr Paweł (2020-12-30). "From gerontology to geroscience: a synopsis on ageing". Anthropological Review. 83 (4): 419–437. doi:10.2478/anre-2020-0029. ISSN 2083-4594.
- ↑ "Client Challenge". link.springer.com. Retrieved 2026-08-27.
- ↑ López-Otín, Carlos; Blasco, Maria A.; Partridge, Linda; Serrano, Manuel; Kroemer, Guido (2023-01-19). "Hallmarks of aging: An expanding universe". Cell. 186 (2). Elsevier: 243–278. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.001. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 36599349.
- 1 2 "Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs (TRIAD): study design and rationale for a prospective, parallel-group, double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial of rapamycin in healthy middle-aged dogs from the Dog Aging Project". GeroScience. 2025. doi:10.1007/s11357-024-01484-7. PMC 12181551. PMID 39951177.
- ↑ "A randomized controlled trial to establish effects of short-term rapamycin treatment in 24 middle-aged companion dogs". GeroScience. 2017. doi:10.1007/s11357-017-9972-z. PMC 5411365. PMID 28374166.
- ↑ "Effects of diet restriction on life span and age-related changes in dogs". Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 2002. doi:10.2460/javma.2002.220.1315. PMID 11991408.
- ↑ "Diet restriction and ageing in the dog: major observations over two decades". British Journal of Nutrition. 2008. doi:10.1017/S0007114507871686. PMID 18062831.
- ↑ "A single IGF1 allele is a major determinant of small size in dogs". Science. 2007. doi:10.1126/science.1137045. PMC 2789551. PMID 17412960.
- ↑ "An open science study of ageing in companion dogs". Nature. 2022. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04282-9. PMC 8940555. PMID 35110758.
- ↑ "DNA methylation clocks for dogs and humans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2022. doi:10.1073/pnas.2120887119. PMC 9173771. PMID 35580182.
- ↑ "FDA clears safety step for Loyal's senior dog longevity drug". Longevity.Technology. 14 January 2026. Retrieved 30 September 2026.
- ↑ Cohen, Alan A.; Beard, John R.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Fülöp, Tamàs; Gladyshev, Vadim N.; Moqri, Mahdi; Olde Rikkert, Marcel G. M.; Picard, Martin (January 2025). "Balancing the promise and risks of geroscience interventions". Nature Aging. 5 (1). Nature Publishing Group: 4–8. doi:10.1038/s43587-024-00788-9. ISSN 2662-8465. PMID 39753893.