In his youth, Joshua Akey admitted that he was not a big fan of dogs.

“We got a dog our first year of graduate school because my wife, who was raised around dogs, convinced me to do so. Since then, I’ve been a dog person, albeit reluctantly “Princeton University’s Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics faculty member Akey said.

As part of the Dog Aging Project, a national research effort that aims to help dogs live longer, Akey’s transformation as a dog lover is impressive.

His own 1-year-old purebred Labrador, Zoey, is also taking part in the competition.

The Dog Aging Project, which has 32,000 dogs in its “pack,” aims to discover why dogs age at different rates and why some breeds are more susceptible to certain illnesses.

According to University of Washington pathology professor Daniel Promislow: “Dogs vary enormously in how long they live, and in the spectrum of diseases they’re at risk of,”

“Some breeds are susceptible to cancer, while others aren’t, and some breeds have heart issues while others don’t. Our project’s main goal is to figure out why dogs age and live in such vastly different ways “Promislow, the project’s lead investigator, echoed these sentiments.

The researchers explained that “dog years” aren’t just seven human years multiplied by seven.

As a general rule, large dogs age much more quickly than smaller dogs. A small dog can live up to 20 years and have a “dog years” that is five times longer than a human year.

According to Promislow, the Dog Aging Project aims to enroll up to 100,000 dogs over the course of its ten-year lifespan. The project, which began in 2018, was recently described in detail in the journal Nature by researchers.

According to Promislow, “the more dogs we have, the more power we have to ask scientific questions and to answer them more effectively. The team hopes to open their massive dataset to researchers all over the world within the next few months.

10,000 dogs’ genomes are currently being sequenced by Akey.

An important resource for answering fundamental questions about the evolution and domestication of canines will be provided by this massive genetic data set, which Akey described as “This will be one of the largest genetics data sets ever produced for dogs, and it will be a powerful resource not only to understand the role of genetics in aging, but also to answer more fundamental questions about the evolutionary history and domestication of dogs,”

To better understand how domestication and artificial selection have shaped the canine genome, as well as to better treat dogs, the genetic data will be useful, according to Akey.

Dr. Jerry Klein, the American Kennel Club’s chief veterinary officer, said the study could benefit dog owners.

Researchers have always found it fascinating to study the effects of aging and long-term health on dog breeds and types because of their unique genetic programming. Research into long-lived breeds and their DNA could help us better understand how dogs age, which in turn could help us better understand how other animals, including humans, also age. “

According to Promislow, the project could also have a positive impact on human health.

‘If we can figure out what the biological or environmental risk factors are for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in dogs, that could help us figure out the same things in humans,’ said Dr. Promislow. “We can learn a lot faster about these factors in dogs than we can in humans because dogs age so much faster. In humans, it could take decades to learn about a subject, but in dogs, it only takes a few years.”

It’s simple to join the project — just go to dogagingproject.org and register your pet.

In order to maintain the privacy of individuals, Promislow promised to completely anonymize any data he shares with other researchers.

According to Promislow, most dog owners will be asked to participate in an annual survey to aid researchers in tracking their pet’s health and aging.

According to Akey, some dog owners will be asked to submit a cheek swab for DNA isolation and analysis by researchers. There may also be a need for veterinarians to collect samples of canine participants’ feces, urine, blood, or fur.

Promislow also mentioned that a drug called rapamycin is currently being tested in a clinical trial for its potential to be a rejuvenation drug for both dogs and humans.

According to Promislow, rapamycin has been approved for human use to aid in the prevention of organ rejection. Nevertheless, in the laboratory, the drug has been shown to slow down biological processes that contribute to aging.

In Promislow’s words, “It’s a pathway that’s important for regulating how organisms take in nutrients and use them for growth,” When that pathway is slowed down in the lab, it extends life span in a variety of organisms, including worms, fruit flies, and mice.