Establishing a Comprehensive Anti-aging Research Center: Experiences and Challenges

Abstract Introduction: Age-related diseases have become the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Anti-aging researches both at the population and individual levels are still urgently needed. Establishing comprehensive anti-aging research centers is crucial to advancing anti-aging researches. However, few studies have shown guidelines for establishing a comprehensive anti-aging research center. We aim to describe the establishment of a comprehensive anti-aging center, summarize the initial experiences, and discuss limitations, strengths and challenges. Methods: The establishment contains three phases (from October, 2017 to January, 2020), the first phase is assessing the need for anti-aging research by reviewing relevant literatures and investigating the elderly population. The second phase is interpreting the aging-related policies by searching and analyzing China's aging-related policies in recent years on government websites. The third phase is completing the protocol of establishing the center, raising funds for the establishment of the center and selecting the adequate equipment. Results: In phase one, we find improving strategies at the population and individual levels are still needed. Through establishing elderly cohort, we find that many elderly people are with high risk factors of aging. In phase two, we find many age-related policies have been unveiled. In phase three, we complete the protocol of establishing the center based on the results of phase one and two. We also have raised funds and selected equipment for the center. Conclusion: With limited guideline for establishing a comprehensive anti-aging research center, the experience in this paper might help other institutions to build anti-aging research center or program. KEY WORDS: anti-aging; research center; establishing; experience; challenge