Save the Dog Aging Project!

In 2014, Matt co-founded the Dog Aging Project, an ambitious, large-scale study of canine health and longevity aimed at understanding how dogs—and, eventually, humans—age. The project has two broad goals: to help us understand the biology of aging, and to enable us to do something about it. A third goal that often goes unmentioned, but is (to some) no less important, is to give us more time with furry friends who often become part of the family.

Dogs are some of the best animals we can use to study longevity. While many of the model organisms such as yeast, worms, mice, and rats that we commonly use to study aging have certainly helped us unearth interesting insights, they typically live in highly controlled laboratory conditions that do not replicate the diverse environmental factors that humans experience. Researchers also often use inbred strains of these animals due to their genetic uniformity, a practice that offers experimental advantages but also introduces issues such as limited generalizability and undetected gene-environment interactions. Meanwhile, dogs share our environments in every way, develop the same age-related diseases as do humans, exhibit high genetic diversity, and age rapidly enough that we do not have to wait decades to observe the effects of interventions on dog life- and healthspan.

The Dog Aging Project has grown to become the world's largest study of aging. Over 50,000 dogs are currently enrolled in the project, enabling researchers to create an immense dataset comprising over 36 million data points and a biobank containing more than 10,000 samples that will be invaluable to helping us answer key questions about the biology of aging. Data from the project has contributed to the publication of over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers. As this is a citizen science project that harnesses the collective power of volunteers to contribute to scientific research, the Dog Aging Project will make all data publicly available free of charge to academics and nonprofit institutions to facilitate the blooming of as much useful research as possible.

The Dog Aging Project needs your help. Federal funding to the project unfortunately stopped in 2023, and the project needs financial backing to support its veterinary and computational infrastructure as well as to complete a clinical trial of rapamycin in dogs. The project hopes to decrease its reliance on federal funding and thus hopes to encourage philanthropic funding as far possible. Top donors stand to receive a full Optispan Trailblazer concierge clinic experience and lunch with Matt, and other donors may receive Optispan swag.

Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a difference. We hope you will consider donating!

Check out the links below for further information and/or reading about some of the things we discussed in this podcast episode. Note that we do not necessarily endorse or agree with the content of these readings, but present them as supplementary material that may deepen your understanding of the topic after you listen to our podcast. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it’s a good start!

The Dog Aging Project - Funding required to continue the study

Here is where you can donate to the Dog Aging Project. Potential prizes include a full Optispan Trailblazer Gateway Day (a full-day longevity medical experience that includes the Optispan Trailblazer bloodwork panel, multiple biological age tests, an oral health screening, a DEXA scan, point-of-care ultrasound, continuous glucose monitoring, liquid biopsy cancer screening, VO2 max assessment, and more), a meal with Matt, Optispan swag, signed Peter Attia books, and more. You can also contribute prizes for donors!

The Dog Aging Institute

And here's another place to donate. The Dog Aging Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that Dog Aging Project cofounders Matt, Daniel Promislow, and Kate Creevy created to support research initiatives that enhance companion animal health. One of its initiatives is to help maintain the Dog Aging Project, but donations to this nonprofit may go to other projects as well.

Dog Aging Project

Learn all about the Dog Aging Project from this website. You'll get a high-level overview of the project's mission, a searchable list of publications that have come out of Dog Aging Project research, concise breakdowns of some of these scientific discoveries, a list of key Dog Aging Project staff and supporters, and more. You can also donate to the project or enroll your dog for participation on this website.

An open science study of ageing in companion dogs

The Dog Aging Project team published this paper in the scientific journal Nature to lay out the Dog Aging Project's mission, structural design, and data collection methodology.

Reproductive Capability Is Associated with Lifespan and Cause of Death in Companion Dogs

This is one of many examples of research that has benefited from Dog Aging Project data. The study, whose co-authors include Kate Creevy and Daniel Promislow, examines the impact of reproduction on longevity in dogs—a question that researchers are also actively investigating in humans. According to the paper, sterilizing male and female dogs increases their lifespan by 13.8 and 26.3 percent respectively, but also increases cancer risk.