How where you live, what you eat, and which friends you keep affect how you age is the focus of a new study from The University of Texas at Arlington.
Researchers are enrolling volunteers for the Arlington Study of Healthy Aging (ASHA), which will use advanced imaging, genetics, exercise science, neuroscience, and remote monitoring to investigate age-related health decline. The goal is to help individuals and health care practitioners better prevent the impact of disease on older adults.
"What's unique about our study is that we're focusing on the entire individual," said Michael Nelson, lead investigator and director of UTA's Center for Healthy Living and Longevity. He also oversees UTA's new Clinical Imaging Research Center (CIRC), where the imaging studies will be conducted. "Other studies tend to focus on very specific parts of the body, like the brain or the blood vessels. But we are taking a fully encompassing approach—looking across the entire body from head to toe."
The team aims to enroll 600 volunteers between the ages of 50 and 80 to participate in the program. Each person will participate in two days of testing at UTA. On the first day, they will receive a full-body MRI, including images of the brain, heart and skeletal muscle. On the second day, the team will study how the blood vessels are functioning, memory, and physical performance, and draw a small blood sample.
"We are so grateful for everyone who volunteers their time and effort," Dr. Nelson said. "In addition to helping to advance science, volunteering for a study like this is a great way to learn about your health and wellness."
The study also emphasizes community engagement.
"We are excited to have so many community members visit our campus and interact with our amazing students, faculty and staff," said Jon Weidanz, senior associate vice president for research and innovation at UTA and a co-investigator on the project. "We hope they are impressed with the many new additions to our campus, such as the CIRC that opened last year, the Smart Hospital built in 2021 that houses the Texas' largest social work and nursing programs, and the Science and Engineering Innovation and Research Building that opened in 2018."
It will take four years to enroll and evaluate all 600 participants. Afterwards, faculty, staff and students from across campus will begin reviewing the data, including using UTA's next-generation gene sequencer, the first of its kind in North Texas.
"What's really exciting about this project is that it provides a vehicle for cross-disciplinary collaboration," Dr. Weidanz said. "While our core investigative team is made up of members from multiple departments on campus, including kinesiology, psychology, social work, nursing and bioengineering, we expect broad participation from across UTA, with partnerships forming in fields like math, business, computer science and biology."
The study will generate thousands of anonymized data points, providing valuable insights for future researchers for decades to come.
"In addition to the volunteers who donate their time to the project, the long-term success of ASHA will be due to the hard work and dedication of all the co-investigators, research scientists, support staff, graduate students, and undergraduate research assistants," Nelson said. "It truly takes a village to put together a project of this scale."
