What is a cohort anyway?

A cohort is a group of individuals that share some common feature or features. In the Dog Aging Project, our different cohorts are different groups of dogs with characteristics that allow us to ask and seek answers to specific scientific questions.

For example, if we wanted to know how daily exercise affects health, we might want to compare dogs who engage in different daily physical activities such as leash walks, swimming, or playing fetch. If this were our scientific question, the research cohort would include dogs who participate in the mentioned activities, but it would exclude dogs who do not participate in these activities. This doesn’t mean the second set of dogs aren’t interesting to study; it just means they aren’t the right dogs to study for that particular question.

The Dog Aging Project consists of multiple scientific cohorts. Currently, these include the Dog Aging Project Pack, the Foundation Cohort, the Precision Cohort, and TRIAD, each of which provides unique and valuable insights into the aging process.

Currently, the largest and most diverse cohort in the Dog Aging Project is the Dog Aging Project Pack, which includes everyone who completes the Health and Life Experience Survey. This large cohort gives us the statistical power to understand what happens as dogs age, how those changes are affected by the breed, size, sex, and past health events in the dog, and by the environment in which the dog lives. What we learn from this cohort can help us understand important questions about aging not only in dogs, but also in their human companions.

The aim of the Foundation Cohort study is to provide a foundation (hence the name) of genetic information about a wide range of dogs. The Dog Aging Project has completed low-pass sequencing of nearly 7,500 dogs. Genome sequence data for these dogs will be compared and contrasted with survey results and medical records to identify the specific genes that influence how aging unfolds for each dog. Dogs are invited to the Foundation Cohort from within the Pack.

The aim of the Precision Cohort study is to obtain a more precise look at how canine biology and physiology are related to aging. The Pack and Precision cohorts help us identify the environmental factors and genes that influence aging. The Precision cohort allows us to “look under the hood”, identifying the biological mechanisms that link genes and environment to aging. The Dog Aging Project performs in-depth laboratory analyses of blood, urine, fecal, and hair samples from almost 1000 dogs. Using this information, we will identify molecular biological predictors of disease and longevity. Then, we can develop tools that look at environmental and other factors to predict biological age in dogs. We are happy to report that recruiting for this cohort is complete, which means that as we continue to collect samples, we can actively look at data and answer scientific questions.

The aim of the Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs (TRIAD) Cohort is to conduct a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of a drug called rapamycin. This cohort is not yet complete, and we are actively recruiting!

Go to Part II: A Closer Look at the TRIAD Cohort