WashU Medicine receives 80 million to study exceptional longevity

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received an $80 million grant to continue research into the mysteries of exceptional longevity. The grant renews support for the Long Life Family Study, a long-running, international investigation of multiple generations of families with unusually high numbers of individuals who have lived much longer than statistical models predict, including some to age 100 and beyond.

Launched in 2004, the Long Life Family Study has built on WashU Medicine's long history of global leadership in genetics and genomics. One of the largest contributors to the Human Genome Project, the international effort that first sequenced the entire human genome, WashU Medicine has led the field in DNA sequencing, including in analyzing the whole genomes of all participants in the long life study to seek genetic clues to longevity. In the two decades since the study began, it has revealed important insights into features of healthy aging, notably that most long-lived families have better cardiovascular health than the average population does, including healthier blood pressures and lower rates of diabetes.

Around the world, populations are aging and with that comes an increasing number of people projected to develop chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Studies estimate that the number of people over age 50 with at least one such condition could double by 2050.

According to Michael A. Province, PhD, the Long Life Family Study's principal investigator and a professor in the Department of Genetics at WashU Medicine, research into the genetics of families with exceptional longevity could shed light on how long-lived individuals avoid or delay the onset of common diseases of aging and guide the development of treatments and prevention strategies that could help anyone live a longer, healthier life.