The population of older Americans is expanding rapidly and is expected to double by 2060. While people are living longer than ever, many are also living with chronic health problems that impact their quality of life and ability to live independently.
Since 2015, scientists at the San Antonio Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center have pursued translational geroscience and geriatrics research to improve the health and functional independence of older adults. In September, the center received a $6.5 million infrastructure grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging to continue this work for an additional five years.
“San Antonio is a major wheelhouse for aging research,” said Elena Volpi, MD, PhD, FGSA, director of the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies (Barshop Institute), director of the San Antonio Pepper Center and professor in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Medicine at the Health Science Center. “We are one of the largest centers for aging research in the country and the world. Our Pepper Center aims to improve the health and independence of all older adults with a strong focus on our local South Texas population.”
A legacy of leadership in aging research
The center is co-directed by Randy Strong, PhD, director of the NIA Aging Interventions Testing Center, co-director of the Nathan Shock Center, associate director for translational research at the Barshop Institute and professor of pharmacology and Rebeca Wong, PhD, director of the Center for Hispanic Healthy Aging and professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences.
The National Institute on Aging’s Pepper Center program began in the 1990s in honor of Claude D. Pepper, a Florida congressman who championed aging research and believed that aging did not have to mean physical or cognitive dependence. Today, there are 15 Pepper Centers across the United States, including two in Texas — at the Health Science Center and at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Unlike most aging research, which focuses heavily on Alzheimer’s disease, Pepper Centers emphasize physical independence. “Physical and functional dependence affects up to 50% of older adults in the later years of life,” Volpi said. “The focus of the Pepper Center is to stimulate research that allows older adults to maintain or recover physical function.”
Housed in the Barshop Institute — one of the nation’s premier geroscience research centers — the San Antonio Pepper Center serves as a bridge between basic science studies on aging, such as those supported by the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging and the NIH Interventions Testing Program, and interventions in human populations.
“The Pepper Center is about translational geroscience, meaning we’re exploring the basic mechanisms of aging, identifying potential therapeutic targets and interventions, and translating these discoveries into human beings to improve the health span of older people,” Volpi said.
Expanding research with new cores
One unique feature of the San Antonio center is its Pre-Clinical Trial Research Core, which studies non-human primate models of aging and is led by Adam Salmon, PhD, associate director of the Barshop Institute, deputy director for the Basic Sciences and professor of molecular medicine; Corinna Ross, PhD, associate professor; and Juan Pablo Palavicini, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine. The core serves as a critical link between mouse studies and human clinical trials, ensuring treatments are both effective and safe before clinical testing.
For the new funding cycle, the Center will expand from six to seven cores, each with a leader, co-leader, and associate leader to strengthen succession planning. The Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core led by Kelly Reveles, PharmD, PhD, associate professor; Strong; and Lisa Kilpela, PhD, associate professor of Medicine, supports proof of concept and innovative research. The Clinical Research Core led by Volpi; Dean Kellogg, MD, PhD, professor in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Medicine; and Tiffany Cortes, MD, assistant professor/clinical in the Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, supports clinical trials. A new Molecular Phenotyping Core led by Blake Rasmussen, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology; Xianlin Han, PhD, professor; Yuji Ikeno, MD, PhD, professor; and Lu Wang, PhD, assistant professor, will use multi-omic assays to uncover mechanisms of aging and identify effective interventions.
“We decided to add the Molecular Phenotyping Core because this is one of our great strengths at the Health Science Center and the Barshop Institute — understanding the molecular mechanisms of aging and how interventions can affect and impact those mechanisms,” said Volpi.
Breakthroughs and research highlights
The San Antonio Pepper Center’s research impact is evident:
- Rapamycin research: The Center has become a hub for studies on the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin, first identified as a potential anti-aging intervention by Strong. Clinical trials are underway.
- Senolytics: Supported the first-in-human trial of dasatinib and quercetin for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, building on previous research showing dasatinib’s effects on biomarkers in early Alzheimer’s disease.
- Exercise: Served as an adult clinical center for the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), the NIH’s largest study of how physical activity impacts health.
- Eating disorders in older women: Supported work by Kilpela on body image interventions, leading to new NIH funding for a large clinical trial on this understudied condition.
Training the next generation of scientists
The center also maintains a strong focus on training the next generation of scientists. Its Research Education Component, co-led by Robert Clark, MD, assistant vice president for clinical research in the office of the VPR; Peter Hornsby, PhD, professor; Wong; and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly, MD, chief of the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Medicine in the Department of Medicine and professor of medicine, has trained 22 scholars to date, 90% of whom have gone on to secure external funding.
“Having a Pepper Center promotes the development of even more research proposals,” said Wong. “It is an amazing resource to have not just a Pepper Center, but also a Shock Center, a center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Population Health and Social Studies at the Barshop Institute, along with all the other aging research centers at this institution.”
An unparalleled network for aging research
UT San Antonio is the only U.S. institution to have an NIA-funded Pepper Center, Shock Center, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Center for Population Health and Social Studies, National Center for Advancing Translational Science-funded Clinical and Translational Science Awards program, Veterans Affairs Geriatric Research Center, Education and Clinical Center, and a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center. The integrated aging research network at the Health Science Center receives more than $100 million annually. There is no other place in the country that has all these federally funded programs together.
“We’re living longer, but live longer in a disabled manner,” Volpi said. “What we want to do is improve health span so we can compress the disablement process to the very end of life through our novel interventions.”