Dog Aging Project: revision 1 to 2

Revision 1

Revision 2

categories: ["organizations", "longevity"]

tags: ["aging", "dogs", "rapamycin", "geroscience", "clinical trials", "open science", "veterinary medicine"]

summary: "A longitudinal study of aging in tens of thousands of companion dogs, paired with TRIAD, a randomized placebo-controlled trial testing whether rapamycin extends canine lifespan."

summary: "A longitudinal study of aging in tens of thousands of companion dogs, paired with TRIAD, a randomized placebo-controlled trial testing whether rapamycin extends canine lifespan."

updated: "2026-08-23"

updated: "2026-10-29"

---

```infobox

University of Washington and Texas A&M University, that has enrolled more than 50,000 pet dogs

since opening in late 2019.[^tamu2025] It pairs an open-data longitudinal cohort with TRIAD, a

double-blind, placebo-controlled trial testing whether [[rapamycin]] extends lifespan and

[[healthspan]] in normally aging dogs — which its investigators describe as the first rigorous

[[healthspan]] in normally aging dogs. Its investigators describe TRIAD as the first rigorous

lifespan trial of a drug against aging conducted outside the laboratory in any

species.[^kaeberlein2016]

The consortium was founded by biogerontologists Daniel Promislow and Matt Kaeberlein at the

University of Washington with veterinarian Kate Creevy, now chief veterinary officer at Texas

A&M.[^tamu2025] It is an academic, largely federally funded effort, distinct from the commercial

A&M.[^tamu2025] It is an academic, largely federally funded effort and is separate from the

canine-longevity company [[loyal]] — a distinction press coverage frequently blurs.

commercial canine-longevity company [[loyal]], a distinction press coverage frequently blurs.

## History

  { "year": "2019", "title": "Open enrollment", "text": "Nationwide enrollment launches in November; owner nominations surge past the initial 10,000-dog goal within a week." },

  { "year": "2019", "title": "Open enrollment", "text": "Nationwide enrollment launches in November; owner nominations surge past the initial 10,000-dog goal within a week." },

  { "year": "2022", "title": "Nature paper", "text": "Creevy et al. describe the open-science cohort design in Nature, with tens of thousands of dogs already enrolled." },

  { "year": "2022", "title": "Nature paper", "text": "Creevy et al. describe the open-science cohort design in Nature, with tens of thousands of dogs already enrolled." },

  { "year": "2023", "title": "Renewal declined", "text": "The NIA declines to renew the project's core grant, a decision reported by Science in late 2023 and protested by researchers and dog owners." },

  { "year": "2023", "title": "Renewal declined", "text": "The NIA declines to renew the project's core grant, a decision reported by Science in late 2023 and protested by researchers and dog owners." },

  { "year": "2024", "title": "Nonprofit spin-out", "text": "With federal funding expiring in June, the founders establish the Dog Aging Institute, a 501(c)(3), and set out to raise $40–50 million." },

  { "year": "2024", "title": "Nonprofit spin-out", "text": "With federal funding expiring in June, the founders establish the Dog Aging Institute, a 501(c)(3), and set out to raise $40-50 million." },

  { "year": "2025", "title": "TRIAD expanded", "text": "A $7 million NIH grant to Texas A&M expands the rapamycin trial from about 170 dogs toward a target of 580 across multiple sites, scheduled to run to late 2029." }

  { "year": "2025", "title": "TRIAD expanded", "text": "A $7 million NIH grant to Texas A&M expands the rapamycin trial from about 170 dogs toward a target of 580 across multiple sites, scheduled to run to late 2029." }

]

```

## The case for dogs

The scientific argument rests on what laboratory animals cannot provide. Pet dogs are exposed to

the same environmental variation as their owners — diet, exercise, pollution, household chemistry —

the same environmental variation as their owners (diet, exercise, pollution, household

so findings about how environment shapes aging have a plausibility that cage studies lack. They

chemistry), so findings about how environment shapes aging have a plausibility that cage studies

develop the same age-related diseases that dominate human medicine: cancer, kidney disease,

lack. They develop the age-related diseases that dominate human medicine, including cancer,

cognitive decline, and the functional losses that mark most of the [[hallmarks-of-aging]] operate

kidney disease, and cognitive decline, and the functional losses that mark most of the

in dogs much as in people. And veterinary medicine supplies real clinical endpoints — diagnoses,

[[hallmarks-of-aging]] operate in dogs much as in people. Veterinary medicine also supplies real

treatments, and dates of death — rather than proxies.[^creevy2022]

clinical endpoints (diagnoses, treatments, and dates of death) rather than proxies.[^creevy2022]

> [!key] The compressed timescale

> A large dog reaches old age in about a decade, so a lifespan trial that would take forty years

> in humans reports in five. That compression, not sentiment, is why geroscience keeps returning

> in humans reports in five. Geroscience keeps returning to dogs as the bridge between mouse data

> to dogs as the bridge between mouse data and human trials.

> and human trials because of that compression rather than out of sentiment.

Dog size adds a natural experiment: large breeds age faster and die younger than small ones, one

Dog size adds a natural experiment. Large breeds age faster and die younger than small ones, one

of the strongest known links between growth signaling and lifespan in mammals, and a pattern the

of the strongest known links between growth signaling and lifespan in mammals, and the cohort is

cohort is positioned to dissect.[^creevy2022]

positioned to dissect the pattern.[^creevy2022]

## Research programme

Enrolled dogs — the project calls the cohort the Pack — are followed through annual owner surveys

Enrolled dogs, a cohort the project calls the Pack, are followed through annual owner surveys

covering health, diet, activity, environment, and behavior, linked where possible to veterinary

records. Nested sub-cohorts contribute biological samples to a biobank that held over 14,000

specimens by early 2024, with genomic sequencing for a subset, and the project has reported

roughly 50 papers from the data.[^stat2024] Outputs range from epidemiology of canine cognitive

dysfunction to methylation-based [[epigenetic-clock|epigenetic clocks]] for dogs, part of a wider

effort to give [[biological-age]] measures a species in which they can be validated against actual

lifespan on a usable timescale — a test most human [[aging-biomarkers]] have never faced.

lifespan on a usable timescale. Most human [[aging-biomarkers]] have never faced that test.

The cohort is explicitly open science: curated, de-identified data are released for any researcher

The cohort is explicitly open science. Curated, de-identified data are released for any researcher

to analyze, a commitment stated in the project's founding papers and its 2022 *Nature*

description.[^creevy2022]

## The TRIAD trial

TRIAD — the Test of Rapamycin In Aging Dogs — is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind,

TRIAD, the Test of Rapamycin In Aging Dogs, is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind,

placebo-controlled trial in healthy dogs at least seven years old and over 44 pounds, the

placebo-controlled trial in healthy dogs at least seven years old and over 44 pounds. In that

large-dog population whose remaining lifespan is short enough for a survival endpoint to be

large-dog population, remaining lifespan is short enough for a survival endpoint to be readable. Dogs receive oral rapamycin or placebo for one year and are followed for roughly two

readable. Dogs receive oral rapamycin or placebo for one year and are followed for roughly two

more, with lifespan as the primary endpoint and cardiac function, cognition, and mobility among

the secondary measures.[^avma2025] A 2025 grant expanded enrollment from about 170 dogs toward a

target of 580, with principal investigators at Texas A&M, the University of Washington, and the

University of Wisconsin, and completion scheduled for late 2029.[^tamu2025]

The trial's foundation is thin but real: the 2017 pilot found ten weeks of rapamycin well

The trial's foundation is thin but real. The 2017 pilot found ten weeks of rapamycin well

tolerated in 24 middle-aged dogs, with improved echocardiographic measures as secondary

findings.[^urfer2017] Rapamycin's mechanistic case — mTOR inhibition, enhanced [[autophagy]],

findings.[^urfer2017] Rapamycin's mechanistic case (mTOR inhibition, enhanced [[autophagy]],

overlap with [[caloric-restriction]] — comes from the same mouse literature that motivates human

overlap with [[caloric-restriction]]) comes from the same mouse literature that motivates human

interest in the drug.

> [!caution] A positive result would still not be human evidence

> If TRIAD reports longer-lived treated dogs, it will be the strongest lifespan result for any

> drug outside the laboratory — in a species with its own metabolism, diseases, and dosing window.

> drug outside the laboratory, but in a species with its own metabolism, diseases, and dosing

> window.

> No rapamycin trial in humans has tested survival or healthspan, and a canine result cannot

> substitute for one.

budget. In late 2023 the institute declined to renew the grant, a decision first reported by

*Science*;[^science2023] Kaeberlein publicly called it "clearly the wrong decision," and more than

13,000 supporters petitioned for restoration.[^stat2024] With federal funding expiring in June

2024, the founders created the Dog Aging Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to raise $40–50

2024, the founders created the Dog Aging Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to raise $40-50

million and carry the cohort forward on philanthropy.[^stat2024] The rescue that materialized was

partial and targeted: the 2025 NIH award funds TRIAD's expansion specifically, while the

partial and targeted. The 2025 NIH award funds TRIAD's expansion specifically, while the

longitudinal cohort continues on a leaner mix of donations and institutional

support.[^tamu2025]

## Outlook

TRIAD is the nearest thing geroscience has to a scheduled verdict. A clear result in either

direction, expected around the end of the decade, will land directly on the human debate:

direction, expected around the end of the decade, will bear directly on the human debate.

proponents argue that a canine lifespan effect would justify human trials of rapamycin against

Proponents argue that a canine lifespan effect would justify human trials of rapamycin against

aging in a way mouse data never could, much as [[nir-barzilai]]'s proposed TAME trial seeks to do

for [[metformin]]. A null result in a genetically diverse, free-living species would be equally

informative, and harder to explain away than a failed mouse cohort.

The harder question is institutional. The funding crisis showed that a decades-long cohort — the

The harder question is institutional. The funding crisis showed that a decades-long cohort, the

kind of infrastructure behind human epidemiology's Framingham — sits poorly in five-year grant

kind of infrastructure behind human epidemiology's Framingham, sits poorly in five-year grant

cycles, and the project's survival now depends on philanthropy holding until results arrive. Its

founders' own framing invites a further tension: a study justified partly by the

founders' own framing invites a further tension. A study justified partly by the

[[compression-of-morbidity|healthspan]] of dogs themselves, and partly as a stepping stone to

human medicine, will eventually have to say which claim its data actually support.

[^uw2019]: `statement` UW Medicine Newsroom. "Calling all canines for national Dog Aging Project." University of Washington, 2019.

[^uw2019]: `statement` UW Medicine Newsroom. "Calling all canines for national Dog Aging Project." University of Washington, 2019.

[^creevy2022]: `paper` Creevy, K.E. et al. "An open science study of ageing in companion dogs." *Nature*, 2022.

[^science2023]: `news` "Massive study of dog aging likely to lose funding." *Science*, 2023.

[^stat2024]: `news` "Dog Aging Project founders on what lies ahead after losing funding." *STAT News*, 2024. {Interviews with Promislow and Kaeberlein; reports the 90% budget share, the biobank and paper counts, and the $40–50 million nonprofit fundraising goal.}

[^stat2024]: `news` "Dog Aging Project founders on what lies ahead after losing funding." *STAT News*, 2024. {Interviews with Promislow and Kaeberlein; reports the 90% budget share, the biobank and paper counts, and the $40-50 million nonprofit fundraising goal.}

[^avma2025]: `news` "$7M grant rescues dog study investigating rapamycin for canine aging." *AVMA News*, 2025.

[^tamu2025]: `statement` Texas A&M University. "Dog Aging Project Receives $7 Million NIH Grant To Expand Clinical Trial Of Anti-Aging Drug." Press release, 2025. {The grantee institution describing its own award; enrollment figures and trial design details are the project's statements.}

[^tamu2025]: `statement` Texas A&M University. "Dog Aging Project Receives $7 Million NIH Grant To Expand Clinical Trial Of Anti-Aging Drug." Press release, 2025. {The grantee institution describing its own award; enrollment figures and trial design details are the project's statements.}