UNM team gets extended grant to study aging in chimps
June 23, 2022 - Mary Beth King
The world’s population is aging rapidly, presenting an urgency to address the health problems of the aged. Critical insights on these problems can be gained by examining how the aging process has been shaped over evolutionary time, and how it is influenced by different environments and lifestyles. One University of New Mexico researcher and her team are studying chimpanzees to try to learn more about the aging process in humans.
UNM associate professor of Anthropology and co-director of the Comparative Human and Primate Physiology Center Melissa Emery Thompson and her team of colleagues recently received an award of more than $3 million over five years for their ongoing research on chimpanzee aging entitled Cumulative Life Course Effects on Aging and Health in a Long-Lived Primate Model. UNM collaborators include associate professor of Computer Science Abdullah Mueen and Anthropology professor Martin Muller.
In awarding the renewed funding, the National Advisory Council on Aging selected Dr. Emery Thompson for a Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award "in recognition of your outstanding record of scientific achievements as a principal investigator on National Institute on Aging (NIA) research projects. In selecting your application for the MERIT Award, the NIA is recognizing your sustained contribution to aging and your leadership and commitment to the field. At the same time, the NIA is expressing its conviction that you will continue to make significant advances in aging research for many years to come."
Read more at UNM Newsroom.
