The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), a nonprofit biomedical research institution, and Calico, a company focused on aging research and therapeutics, today announced a multi-year collaboration focused on applying mouse genetics to the study of aging.
Under the agreement, JAX and Calico will jointly develop and Calico will fund research projects that utilize the unique resources and expertise of JAX to study the genetics of health and longevity. These studies may identify genes that associate with healthy aging. Calico has the option to obtain exclusive rights to discoveries made in these collaborative projects.
“Aging is the most fundamental unsolved problem in biology, with tremendous implications for the health and well being of humans,” Gary Churchill, JAX professor and Karl Gunnar Johansson Chair, said. “In partnership with Calico, we are bringing a genetic approach to discovering the mechanisms of aging, with the goal of identifying interventions that can increase maximal life span and improve health in late life.
Jackson Laboratory President and CEO Edison Liu, M.D., noted, “Aging is a key factor in most deadly diseases, including cancer, heart disease, kidney disease and Alzheimer’s. A better understanding of the basic biology of aging will contribute to research in many fields. Calico is a premier organization dedicated to understanding the aging process. We are most excited about this collaboration.”
“The Jackson Laboratory is the world’s premier institution for conducting sophisticated mouse genetic studies and therefore the ideal collaborator for the advanced studies we have designed together,” commented David Botstein, Chief Scientific Officer of Calico and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. “We are excited about the prospects for learning about mouse healthspan and lifespan in models potentially applicable to human aging.”
About the Jackson Laboratory
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a National Aging Institute-designated Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging and National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, a facility in Sacramento, Calif., and a genomic medicine institute in Farmington, Conn. It employs 1,700 staff, and its mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health. To learn more about The Jackson Laboratory, visit www.jax.org.
About Calico
Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is a Google-funded research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls lifespan. Calico will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. To learn more about Calico, visit www.calicolabs.com.