Implantable heart monitors to track how social and environmental stress affects aging
Developing insertable cardiac monitors to assess social and environmental effects on the autonomic stress response in a nonhuman primate model of aging
This project uses tiny implantable heart monitors in aging primates to learn how social and environmental stress shapes heart and stress-system responses.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Notre Dame NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Notre Dame, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11178772 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Researchers will implant small cardiac monitors into aging baboons to record continuous heart rhythms and movement, capturing autonomic nervous-system responses in real time. They will combine those device data with long-term records of each animal's social relationships and life-course stress exposures. The goal is to expand stress measurement beyond hormone levels by adding detailed cardiac-autonomic signals over long periods. These tools are being developed in a primate model to help translate findings about stress and aging to human health in the future.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: While this project uses animals and does not enroll people, the work is most relevant to older adults interested in how lifelong social stress might affect heart and metabolic aging and who could participate in future human monitoring studies based on these methods.
Not a fit: People seeking an immediate clinical treatment or therapy are unlikely to benefit directly from this early-stage, animal-based methodological research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could improve how we detect and understand stress-related heart and metabolic changes across aging, potentially guiding new prevention or monitoring approaches for people.
How similar studies have performed: Implantable monitors have produced valuable heart-rate and autonomic data in humans and some animal studies, but applying them longitudinally within well-documented primate life-history cohorts is a relatively new approach.
Where this research is happening
Notre Dame, United States
- University of Notre Dame — Notre Dame, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Archie, Elizabeth — University of Notre Dame
- Study coordinator: Archie, Elizabeth
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 below.