image: John Newman, MD, PhD and Brianna Stubbs, PhD
Credit: Buck Institute for Research on Aging
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging is proud to announce that a team of Buck scientists, in collaboration with colleagues at Hospital-University Institute HealthAge at the University of Toulouse, has been named a semifinalist for the 7-year, $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan. The global competition is intended to revolutionize how we approach human aging. Competing teams are tasked with developing and testing modalities that restore muscle, cognition, and immune function by a minimum of 10 years, with an ambitious goal of 20 years, in persons aged 50-80 years, in one year or less.
The Buck-Toulouse team is proposing a hybrid intervention that combines taking a daily ketone ester with a personalized intervention called ICOPE-INTENSE, which spans exercise, cognitive training, nutrition and more. ICOPE-INTENSE is the most robust non-drug intervention to date designed to improve Intrinsic Capacity, defined by the World Health Organization as the sum of six key functions that determine healthy aging: mobility, cognition, mental health, vision, hearing, and nutrition/vitality.
John Newman, MD, PhD, Buck Assistant Professor and Co-lead of the Buck team, is excited about the opportunity. “This will be the first deep aging biology study to test the effectiveness of a multicomponent lifestyle and medical intervention with the goal of restoring age-related muscle, brain and immune function,” he says. Brianna Stubbs, PhD, Buck Co-lead and Director of Translational Science, adds “Targeting Intrinsic Capacity is an innovative approach to improve health in aging. We look forward to the next stage of the competition as we continue to develop and refine our interventions.”
Newman and Stubbs are joined on the Buck team by David Furman, PhD, Associate Professor, and Eric Verdin, MD, Buck Professor, President and CEO. “While I’m definitely rooting for the Buck/Toulouse team to advance to the next level in the competition,” says Dr. Verdin, “the great thing about XPRIZE Healthspan is that no matter who ultimately ‘wins’ we all win because the prize will enable more healthy years of life for all of us.”
About the Buck Institute:
Our success will ultimately change healthcare. At the Buck, we aim to end the threat of age-related diseases for this and future generations by bringing together the most capable and passionate scientists from a broad range of disciplines to identify and impede the ways in which we age. An independent, nonprofit institution, our goal is to increase human healthspan, or the healthy years of life. Globally recognized as the pioneer and leader in efforts to target aging, the number one risk factor for serious diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, macular degeneration, heart disease, and diabetes, the Buck wants to help people live better longer. Learn more at: https://buckinstitute.org