The Biology of Healthy Aging research program was founded in 2006 to facilitate the development of biological and translational research around frailty and late-life decline.  The long-term goal of this program is to identify molecular etiologies that make older individuals more vulnerable to chronic disease states and functional decline.  As these etiologies are identified, program members develop clinical translational interventions that ultimately aim to improve the quality of life for all older adults.

Faculty members of this group have overlapping interests in immunology, skeletal muscle decline, anemia of inflammation, mitochondria biology, and the renin-angiotensin system as detailed below.  This highly integrated program uses state-of-the-art molecular physiological and clinical approaches and collaborative development to answer important questions related to the biology of late-life decline.

Our faculty works closely with basic and clinical scientists from across the Johns Hopkins medical institutions in order to facilitate the highest level of scientific discovery. There are a number of training opportunities available to undergraduate, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.  Please click here for specific training opportunites.

Major themes of research and involved program investigators within these programs include:

• Anemia in Older Adults (Cindy Roy)
• Chronic Inflammation and Late Life Decline (All)
• Genetic Determinants of Aging Phenotypes (Jeremy Walston)
• Immune Senescence (George Wang, Sean Leng)
• Mitochondrial Biology:  The Cell's Powerhouse (Peter Abadir, Neal Fedarko, Jeremy Walston)
• Muscle and Bone Biology in Frailty (Neal Fedarko, Jeremy Walston)
• The Aging Renin Angiotensin System (Peter Abadir, Jeremy Walston)

For additional information on programmatic research, click on one of the following faculty for bios and contact information:

Peter Abadir, MD

Neal Fedarko, PhD

Sean X. Leng, MD, PhD

Cindy Roy, PhD

Jeremy Walston, MD

George C. Wang, MD