Division of Aging Biology

This webpage provides contact information for a network of NIA grantees willing to share resources that support comparative biology of aging studies. Interested parties should contact the individual investigator(s) regarding sharing arrangements and availability of resources.

University of Michigan

The Comparative Biogerontology Core of the Nathan Shock Center for the Biology of Aging at the University of Michigan has developed fibroblast cell lines from approximately 15 species of rodents, 50 species of birds, and 5 species of bats, which can be used for comparative studies of the cell biology of aging. We have primate cells from about 25 species; we can provide lysates from all of these, but because of legal constraints can only provide live cells from a subset of the species. We also have cell lines from over 50 dogs of various breeds and from mixed-breed dogs of various sizes.Contact: Richard A. Miller at millerr@umich.edu .

Drexel University

We have a panel of mammalian cells from a span of species chosen for their lifespan and body size variation that were grown under very standard conditions that we can make available. Contact Christian Sell at Christian.Sell@drexelmed.edu .

UT – Southwestern Medical Center

Our lab has obtained approximately 50 cultures of different species covering all of the major mammalian phylogenetic orders. Many of these have been immortalized by expressing telomerase. See the supplemental online material of “Comparative biology of mammalian telomeres: hypotheses on ancestral states and the roles of telomeres in longevity determination”, Aging Cell DOI 10.1111/j.1474-9726.2011.00718.x for the characterization of each of the cell cultures. One may need an MTA from the San Diego Zoo before we can provide many of these cultures, but we will be happy to provide them if permission is obtained. Contact woodring.wright@utsouthwestern.edu for questions.