Organization profile

The University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism is an interdisciplinary, trans-departmental endeavor across the University of Minnesota Medical School to advance research on the fundamental biology of aging. We are embracing the Geroscience approach to aging research. This stems from the knowledge that old age is the greatest risk factor for most chronic diseases, often by orders of magnitude. This includes diabetes, osteoarthritis, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. For decades, we have avidly managed disease risk factors, such as high cholesterol and blood pressure, yet ignored the greatest risk factor for disease: being old. Geroscientists aim to discover fundamental mechanisms of aging that can be therapeutically targeted to diminish the risk of all diseases of old age with a single intervention.