Augusta University President Brooks A. Keel, PhD, announced the formation of this new transdisciplinary faculty research cluster in “inflammaging” and brain aging, which will be the focus of a three-year recruitment effort to grow the university’s research footprint.
As people get older, they experience a low-level of inflammation, described as “inflammaging,” driven by an increase in molecules in the blood called cytokines. This age-related inflammation has been linked to serious chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, type II diabetes and cancer. The main feature of the aging process is chronic and progressive inflammation, which is a significant risk factor in morbidity and mortality. While most age-related diseases include inflammation, its potential cause and role in adverse health outcomes is still widely unknown.
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Augusta University is initiating cluster recruitment for faculty research positions to study age-related diseases. Two positions will be added to the Medical College of Georgia and one each to the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences, The Dental College of Georgia, and the colleges of Nursing, Allied Health Sciences and Science and Mathematics.
That number is expected to grow in years two and three with the anticipated recruitment of two additional faculty positions within MCG and one additional position in the other participating colleges each year.
It is a $15 million investment over three years and it will be recruiting up to 15 to 20 new faculty members. Many of the new researchers will be on the fourth floor of the university’s new College of Science and Mathematics building on the Health Sciences Campus.
Building upon existing strengths in Precision Medicine, Personalized Nutraceuticals, Neuroscience, Inflammation and Bioinformatics including Artificial Intelligence, Augusta University is hiring 15-20 new faculty members.
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Led by Dr. Babak Baban, an immunologist and associate dean for research at The Dental College of Georgia, and Dr. Mark Hamrick, a bone and muscle biologist and senior associate dean for research in the Medical College of Georgia.
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Dr. Yanbin Dong just received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to perform detailed analysis of inflammatory factors and genetic changes associated with aging to see if cocoa consumption reduces health problems.
Currently, an estimated 1.4 million Georgians are 65 and older, but that number is expected to jump significantly over the next decade. Augusta University is focused on a three-year recruitment effort to grow the university’s research footprint in “inflamm-aging” and brain aging.
In a normally reciprocal relationship that appears to go awry with age, sufficient tryptophan, which we consume in foods like milk, turkey, chicken and oats, helps keep our microbiota healthy. A healthy microbiota in turn helps ensure that tryptophan mainly results in good things for us like producing the neurotransmitter serotonin, which reduces depression risk, and melatonin, which aids a good night’s sleep.
As the name implies, induced pluripotent stem cells can become any type of cell in our body, and scientists have evidence that when they prompt them to become muscle progenitor cells they can help restore the sometimes debilitating muscle loss that happens with age.
