Steven Austad, Ph.D., and Tom Buford, Ph.D.The National Institutes of Health has renewed a five-year grant for $5.75 million for the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of only eight such centers in the nation.

Co-directors of the center, Steven Austad, Ph.D., professor of biology, and Tom Buford, Ph.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care, are excited about this grant’s renewal because it will position the United States as a key player in potentially changing how people think about “later life.”

“Aging underlies almost all serious threats to human health –– heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease included,” Buford said. “Our goal is to develop interventions to prolong human health by targeting the biology of aging as opposed to specific diseases’ processes.”

The Nathan Shock Center offers specialized services for aging research, as well as providing pilot grants for researchers to develop projects that support key discoveries in aging biology. Co-directors of the center consider aging research as the ultimate in preventive medicine.

“Targeting the biology of aging as opposed to diseases is a unique approach,” Austad said. “Because the biggest risk factor for most chronic diseases is aging, targeting the biology of aging has the promise of preventing or delaying a wide range of diseases as a group.”

The National Institute on Aging first awarded this grant to UAB when it was among only six such centers in nation in 2015. Successful innovations advancing aging research have led to the grant’s renewal.