Women live longer than men in nearly every country in the world, yet they experience higher rates of disability, dementia and many other age-related conditions. Scientists have long noted these differences, but they still do not fully understand why they occur - or how that knowledge can be used to improve healthy aging. Understanding these differences could lead to more effective ways to prevent disease, maintain independence and extend healthy life for everyone.
A new $7.5 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health will establish the USC Geroscience Specialized Center of Research Excellence on Sex Differences in Aging (GeroSCORE) to address that challenge.
The award establishes USC's first NIH Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) and positions the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology as a national leader in advancing research on sex differences in aging.
Funded by the National Institute on Aging in partnership with the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, GeroSCORE brings together experts in aging biology, neuroscience, psychology, epidemiology, demography, sociology and data science to understand how biological sex interacts with genetics, hormones, behavior, and social and physical environments to shape aging across the lifespan.
"This center represents exactly the kind of bold, interdisciplinary science needed to address the most important challenges in aging," said Pinchas Cohen, dean of the USC Leonard Davis School. "For decades, USC has helped shape the field of geroscience. GeroSCORE builds on that foundation by bringing together outstanding scientists to answer fundamental questions about aging while creating new opportunities for collaboration, innovation and scientific leadership."
Building the future of aging research
Although research on sex differences has expanded rapidly in recent years, progress has been slowed by fragmented approaches and a lack of common methods and resources across disciplines.
GeroSCORE was created to help change that.
"We know that women and men age differently; the challenge is understanding why," said Professor Jennifer Ailshire, UPS Foundation Chair at USC Leonard Davis and one of the center's directors. "By bringing together expertise that has traditionally been separated, GeroSCORE will help uncover how biology, environment and life experiences combine to shape aging."
The center will conduct innovative research while also developing new tools, analytical methods and scientific resources that can be shared broadly. It will support pilot projects, train early-career investigators, convene national and international experts, and collaborate across the NIH SCORE network to accelerate discovery.
"The next generation of breakthroughs will come from connecting ideas across disciplines and creating better tools for researchers," said Teal Eich, associate professor of gerontology and co-director of the center. "Our goal is not only to answer important scientific questions but also to build the frameworks that allow the entire field to move forward."
The center's research spans the full spectrum of aging science, from laboratory models to human participants to large population studies:
- Bérénice Benayoun, associate professor of gerontology, will lead a project to investigate how menopause influences brain aging using a novel animal model that more closely reflects the human menopausal transition.
- Teal Eich will combine neuroimaging, cognitive assessments, hormone measures and other biomarkers to examine how biological and neuroendocrine aging contribute to Alzheimer's disease risk.
- Eric Klopack, adjunct assistant professor of gerontology and assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Indiana University, in collaboration with Ailshire and USC University Professor Eileen Crimmins, will use large population studies to investigate how genetic, environmental and social exposures interact to shape health and aging differently across the life course.
Together, these projects seek to identify the biological and environmental pathways that drive sex differences in aging and reveal new opportunities for prevention and intervention.
A national resource for discovery
Beyond its research program, GeroSCORE will serve as a national resource by developing shared tools, expanding scientific collaboration and training the next generation of researchers studying sex differences in aging.
"Scientific progress depends on more than individual discoveries," said Crimmins, AARP Chair in Gerontology and GeroSCORE co-director. "It comes from building the methods, collaborations and scientific community that make discovery possible. Our vision is for GeroSCORE to become a national hub that helps shape the future of research on sex differences in aging while improving health and quality of life for generations to come."
