Senators Collins, King Announce Nearly $500,000 for Aging Research at The Jackson Laboratory

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins, the Chairman of the Aging Committee, and Angus King announced that The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) has been awarded a total of $492,639 for an aging research project to be conducted by JAX associate professor Jennifer Trowbridge, Ph.D. and her laboratory. The funding was allocated through the National Institute on Aging and will be used to conduct research on clonal hematopoiesis, a blood condition that is common among older adults.

“The scientists at The Jackson Laboratory are conducting impressive research and making great strides to conquer diseases that affect nearly every American family,” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement.  “Clonal hematopoiesis puts seniors at greater risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.  We welcome this investment to help support JAX’s efforts to better understand and treat this condition.”

“This impactful award will extend one of JAX’s research focus areas – aging – and in this case, help us further understand how blood cells become more prone to disorders with age,” said JAX Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer S. Catherine Longley. “We are grateful for the support of Senators Collins and King and the National Institute on Aging so we can continue to focus on extending health span, delaying age-related health issues, and improving quality of life for Mainers and people around the world.”

The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution with more than 2,300 employees.  Headquartered in Bar Harbor, Maine, it has a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, a genomic medicine institute in Farmington, Conn., and facilities in Ellsworth, Maine, Sacramento, Calif., and Shanghai, China. Its mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for diseases and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health.

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