For some researchers, if you want a real-world longevity lab, you don’t build it; you adopt it, feed it kibble, and take it for a couple of walks a day. That’s because these researchers are closely tracking how our canine companions grow old, and what that might mean for our own aging. 

The Dog Aging Project is a nationwide study following over 50,000 pet dogs to see how genes, lifestyle, and environment shape aging. Unlike lab animals, dogs share our homes, schedules, lifestyles, and are exposed to the same environmental factors we are, making them powerful stand-ins for understanding our own health. 

That’s why dogs in this study stay right where they feel most comfortable, at home, sticking to their familiar daily routines. The Dog Aging Project has owners log health data, including activity, diet, cognition, and even bloodwork, making the findings more translatable to everyday life.

Dogs also have shorter lifespans, giving researchers a compressed timeline to measure and test how they age. “What we’re doing is the equivalent of a 40-year-long study on humans,” says Daniel Promislow, co-director of the project. What's more, dogs develop many of the same age-related conditions that we do, like arthritis, cancer, diabetes, and cognitive decline, giving us relatable outcomes to study. 

For this reason, the project is also running TRIAD, the Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs. Rapamycin is a drug that’s shown promise for slowing age-related decline. In TRIAD, some dogs receive rapamycin while others get a placebo. Neither the owners nor the vets know who’s getting what, so scientists can measure the real effects.

While researchers have studied the drug in mice, this is its first large-scale, longitudinal test. With a five-year, $7 million grant from the NIH's National Institute on Aging, the study is expanding enrollment to around 580 dogs across 20 clinical sites across the U.S., with over 180 dogs already enrolled. 

The next big challenge will be to move to human trials, but before that can happen, XPRIZE EVP, Health Dr. Jamie Justice notes, “We need a universally agreed biomarker to show the impact of drugs on predictors of health problems that we agree correlate with ageing.” Until we can measure these definitive markers of aging with a simple blood test, we can’t test these therapies in humans.

Thanks to the Dog Aging Project, we're seeing firsthand that it’s possible to slow aging in a meaningful way. Now, XPRIZE Healthspan is accelerating similar innovative therapeutics for people. 

This seven-year, $101M global competition is challenging teams to develop therapies that measurably restore muscle, brain, and immune function in 50–80 year-olds. Rather than treating diseases one by one, the prize targets the root biology of aging itself, aiming to unlock solutions that would deliver the promise of healthier aging for everyone. 

Studies like the Dog Aging Project are moving the frontier of the science of healthy aging. Now, we are calling on innovators around the world to help us deliver that goal to humanity.

Help us build a world where healthy aging is a reality for everyone, where we all have more time to fulfill our dreams, learn new skills, and spend time with loved ones, including our furry friends. Learn how you can get involved at XPRIZE.org/Healthspan.