Aging is a prospect we all face. As we age, we change in body and mind in diverse ways.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the U.S. population aged 65 and over, reached 55.8 million, a 38.6 % increase in just ten years.
Adam Salmon, PhD, thinks a lot about the biology of aging. He’s an associate director of the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at UT Health San Antonio.
“Imagine a place where we can … live as long as we would live, right? We know people can live a little bit over 100 years,” said Salmon. “If we could live that period of time completely healthy, until the day you die … that would be amazing, and it would be revolutionary in the way that we understand healthcare.”
Associate Director, Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity & Aging Studies
Professor, Molecular Medicine
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Salmon studies aging in marmosets. He and his team recently concluded that an immunosuppressant called rapamycin extended the lifespan of marmosets.
Salmon and his team believe this is a momentous discovery.
“This is now the first non-human primate study showing a drug intervention-increased lifespan,” he said.
These marmosets are living longer lives. If they are staying relatively healthy as they age, much can be learned from the ways they die.
“So these animals are living longer,” said Salmon. “They're staying relatively healthy, and when they die, we're now doing full pathology to look and see what is the distribution of diseases that they got with old age, and how did that change with rapamycin administration?”
Salmon’s ultimate goal is to help ensure that patients can be healthier, even as they age.
For Salmon and his team, patients shouldn’t be at risk of disease just because they are getting older. “I think also understanding this concept of the biology of aging,” said Salmon, “we can develop new treatments for those that do get these diseases.”
For Salmon, prevention is the ultimate cure; however, aging comes with its share of health issues. Even so, Salmon’s research gives him hope: “Maybe we can improve outcomes so that our entire population is healthier, longer.”
Science & Medicine is a collaboration between TPR and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio that explores how scientific discovery in San Antonio advances the way medicine is practiced everywhere.
