Novato’s Buck Institute gets $3.8 million to study animals with genetic advantages

Oct. 4--The Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato has received a $3.8 million transformative research award from the National Institutes of Health to study animals that have developed remarkable regenerative capabilities during the course of evolution.

The award was established in 2009 to promote interdisciplinary research that could potentially challenge existing paradigms.

"Across the tree of life, organisms have acquired remarkable disease and stress resistance traits, some of which far outstrips the programs that are found in humans," said Buck professor Rachel Brem, the lead investigator on the grant.

For example, a population of Southeastern Asian mice has developed the enviable ability to regrow nerve fibers following brain injuries. The axolotl salamander, another example, is capable of regenerating its limbs, jaw, spine and even brain. And other mouse species has evolved advantages in longevity, immunity and susceptibility to cancer.

The goal is for researchers to pinpoint the genetic causality for these trait differences so they can be exploited to boost the lifespan or healthspan of humans. It's hoped the research will shed new light on routes to recovery following stroke and traumatic brain injury.

Previously, searches for the genetic basis of a trait could only be conducted between individuals of the same species. Brem, however, has developed a new method that illuminates genetic causality for trait differences between closely related species.

"We're motivated to understand how these natural characteristics have come to be and to be able to borrow their logic for ourselves," Brem said. "This is not science fiction -- our new method makes a lot of new experiments possible."

Brem's method, which involves mating two species to form a sterile hybrid, is also being used in other projects at the Buck involving evolutionary outliers -- wild animal species that have evolved unusual resistance to stress, disease, pathogens and the breakdown of tissues during aging.

"The potential return on investment of this grant is enormous," Brem said. "If we succeed, a new field will open up -- experimental genetics on far-flung, reproductively isolated animal species."

Buck Institute CEO Eric Verdin said, "The fact that only eight transformative research awards were granted across the country speaks to the game-changing power of Rachel's work and to the collaborative environment at the Buck, which will enable us to move the research forward."

Buck scientists will be working with the lab of Diana Bautista at the University of California, Berkeley on the research.

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