Scripps Florida lands $10.6 million grant to study aging

The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter has been awarded a $10.6 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to study the root causes of aging.

Scripps Florida professor Paul Robbins will be principal investigator for the five-year study, the research institute said Thursday. Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California-Riverside will also participate in the study. The aging institute is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

?Any time you get a long project grant from the NIH, it?s exciting. But with all the cutbacks, it?s pretty competitive. It means your peers in the field think you?re doing very good science,? Robbins said.

About six staff members are being hired to conduct the project and related studies at Scripps, he said.

Robbins said he hopes to develop ways to slow down the aging process and make people feel healthier as they age.

?Aging is thought to be caused by cellular damage triggered by things we are exposed to and produce as part of normal metabolism,? Robbins said. ?But it is how the cells respond to that damage over time that we believe drives aging.?

?If we could control those cells, we could improve health,? he said.

Robbins joined Scripps Florida in 2012 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he was a professor with the departments of molecular genetics and biochemistry and orthopedic surgery.

Max Guo, project officer for the National Institute of Aging, said Scripps scored well in a peer review process to receive the grant.

?The review is very rigorous,? said Guo, who said the selection process is based in part on the contribution of the principal investigator, the scientific environment, and the innovative approach to the research.

The grant is larger than most handed out by the Institute of Aging because it supports collaborative research from scientists who have different expertise, Guo said.

Scripps Florida has received more than $300 million in research grants since it opened in 2004.

Breakthroughs by Scripps Florida scientists include advances in developing a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer?s disease, discovery of a compound that may protect brain cells from Parkinson?s disease, and identification of a pathway in the brain that regulates vulnerability to nicotine addiction.

Several years ago, Scripps Florida associate professor Laura Niedernhofer demonstrated that taking away a cell?s ability to repair DNA damage causes rapid aging in humans. Niedernhofer will be a co-investigator on the new study.

Robbins said he will also be identifying potential drug development as he conducts the research.

?The ultimate goal isn?t to allow people to live longer, but to help them maintain good health as they age,? he said.

mpounds@tribune.com or 561-243-6650

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