Institute for Aging Research


The Einstein Institute for Aging Research's multidisciplinary scientific investigations into aging unite faculty with diverse scientific backgrounds and technological expertise to focus on three areas:

  1. Macromolecules, intracellular organelles, cells, and tissues
  2. Molecular physiology, nutrients, & energetics in whole-animal models
  3. Genetics and genomics of aging in single cell animal models and aging humans

Longenity and Longevity

The LonGenity research study builds upon The Longevity Genes Project. initiated in 1998 at Albert Einstein College of Medicine by Dr. Nir Barzilai. Dr. Barzilai's early observations of the phenotypes of healthy, vital centenarians led him to ask a series of questions. The project's primary focus questioned why some people enjoy extremely long life spans, with physical health and brain function far better than expected in the 9th and 10th decades of life.

In 2006 Dr. Barzilai and his team increased their efforts to conduct a large program, "Roles of genes in exceptional longevity in humans" (LonGenity), funded by the National Institute of Aging.

In the LonGenity program, genetic analysis (GWAS and candidate gene approach) is performed in an already established cohort (centenarians, their offspring, and age-match unrelated control to these offspring), and genetic findings are validated in a newly established cohort of offspring of parents with exceptional longevity (OPEL) vs offspring of parents with usual survival (OPUS). 

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