Detecting early aging in people with schizophrenia
Official title: Towards Developing Biomarkers for Premature Aging in Schizophrenia
Funded at Brigham and Women's Hospital · NIH-11195241 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work looks for blood and brain markers that show early aging in people with schizophrenia.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2023 |
| Project end | December 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $249,000 |
| NIH project number | 4R00MH131850-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11195241 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates would be people diagnosed with schizophrenia, especially early in illness, who can provide blood samples and participate in cognitive testing and brain scans.
✕Less likely to help
People without schizophrenia or those unable or unwilling to undergo blood draws or MRI scans are unlikely to be included or benefit directly from this work.
What this research studies
Researchers will analyze existing clinical, cognitive, blood, and brain imaging data from people with schizophrenia and matched healthy volunteers across the lifespan. They will measure proteins linked to cellular aging (senescence-associated secretory phenotype, SASP) in blood and relate those levels to physical health, thinking skills, and brain structure using MRI and diffusion imaging. The initial phase uses data from 80 people with early schizophrenia and 80 matched healthy controls, with plans to extend the approach to larger datasets. The aim is to find measurable biomarkers that could help detect and monitor premature aging in people with schizophrenia.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead to tests that identify and track premature aging in people with schizophrenia and help guide treatments to protect brain and body health.
How similar studies have gone: Prior studies have reported signs of accelerated aging in schizophrenia, but linking blood SASP proteins to brain imaging and clinical measures is a relatively new approach with limited clinical validation so far.
Where this research is happening
-
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Seitz-Holland, Johanna — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Seitz-Holland, Johanna
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Identifying biological markers for early aging in people with schizophrenia
This study is looking at how schizophrenia might make people age faster by checking for certain proteins in their bodies, and it's for anyone with schizophrenia who wants to understand more about their health and how it relates to aging.
-
How social isolation affects aging health in schizophrenia
This project explores how being socially isolated may speed up health problems as people with schizophrenia age.
-
How Social Isolation Impacts Aging in People with Schizophrenia
This study looks at how social isolation affects aging and health in people with schizophrenia to see if loneliness and lack of social contact worsen medical problems as they grow older.
-
How social isolation affects aging health in schizophrenia
A patient-friendly look at how being socially isolated might influence aging and health in people with schizophrenia.
-
The effect of social isolation on aging health in people with schizophrenia
This study explores how being socially isolated may speed up aging-related health problems in people with schizophrenia.
-
How life circumstances affect brain aging in people with end-stage kidney disease
This project looks at how neighborhood, income, education, and personal resilience relate to earlier memory and thinking problems in adults with end-stage kidney disease.
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.