Biological aging across the lifespan through a national high school-to-adult study
Official title: Biological Aging Across the Lifespan in the Monitoring the Future Longitudinal Panel Study
Funded at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor · NIH-11623183 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant uses a long-running national study of students and adults to collect saliva biomarkers of aging, alongside surveys, to understand how aging markers relate to health and life experiences.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ann Arbor, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2026 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $1,115,480 |
| NIH project number | 3R01DA016575-24S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11623183 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates include (and are not limited to) individuals in the MTF cohort who are currently or have been followed since adolescence and who can provide saliva samples for epigenetic analysis.
✕Less likely to help
Some participants may not directly benefit from the biomarker data, but their data contribute to broader understanding of aging.
What this research studies
This project will build on the Monitoring the Future study, following cohorts from high school into adulthood. Researchers will collect saliva samples to measure epigenetic aging and add cognitive assessments to track how aging markers relate to health, behavior, and exposures over time. The aim is to harmonize data across many years and use shared lab methods to compare aging patterns in a large, nationally representative group. Participants could be students just entering adulthood up to older ages, with procedures designed to minimize burden and improve our understanding of aging in the life course.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could improve our understanding of how biological aging develops over time and how lifestyle and exposures influence aging trajectories.
How similar studies have gone: Similar longitudinal studies have shown meaningful links between epigenetic aging markers and health outcomes, supporting the potential for new insights in this large national sample.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Patrick, Megan E. — University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- Study coordinator: Patrick, Megan E.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.