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  • Strong, Randy
Strong, Randy

Contact

210-562-6126

strong@uthscsa.edu

Programs

  • M.D./Ph.D. in South Texas Medical Scientist Training Program
  • Ph.D. in Integrated Biomedical Sciences
  • Biology of Aging
  • Neuroscience
  • Physiology and Pharmacology

Departments & Divisions

  • Department of Cell Systems & Anatomy
  • Department of Pharmacology

Institutes & Centers

  • Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence
  • Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies

Randy Strong, Ph.D.

Director, NIA Aging Interventions Testing Center

Co-Director NIA Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging

Associate Director for Translational Research, Barshop Institute

Currently seeking Ph.D. students

I am a tenured Professor of Pharmacology at UT Health San Antonio Texas and a Senior Research Career Scientist in the affiliated Veterans Health Administration (VA) and an associate member of a VA Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC). I direct one of 8 National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Biology of Aging (P30 grant). Our center focuses on identifying therapeutic targets for test-agents that may increase longevity and extend the healthy portion of the lifespan (healthspan). I also direct one of 3 national centers, as part of the Aging Interventions Testing Program (ITP), a cooperative program funded by the National Institute on Aging through a U01 mechanism. For more than 16 years, I have collaborated closely with Drs. Richard Miller and David Harrison, directors of the Interventions Testing Centers at the University of Michigan (UM) and The Jackson Laboratory (TJL), respectively, to test, in parallel at each site, interventions that are hypothesized to increase lifespan and health and reduce diseases in genetically heterogeneous mice. The UT site contributes to the effort by providing pharmacology expertise. One of our greatest achievements is that we led the study at UT showing, for the first time, that a drug, rapamycin, increased lifespan of mice, even when treatment was begun late in life (Nature, 2009). I am Associate Director of the San Antonio Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (P30 award). Our center is testing compounds in elderly humans and non-human primates, including those test agents identified by the ITP as extending lifespan and improving health. In addition, I am funded by the VA to determine the role of biogenic aldehydes in Parkinson’s disease. Using several different genetically altered mouse models that we produced we are investigating potential therapeutic targets, including neurotoxic metabolites of dopamine. I am also a Co-PI of the Stevens Foundation Parkinson’s Disease Center of Excellence whose purpose is to enhance education and research in Parkinson’s disease at the UT Health Science Center.

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 1982 - PhD - Biomedical Sciences - The University of Texas at Houston
    • 1977 - BA - Psychology - The University of Texas at Austin

    Highlights

    Dielmann Distinguished Chair in Aging, August, 2016
    Health Cell State of the Industry, “Featured Speaker”, February 10, 2015
    San Antonio Business Journal, “Health Care Hero Award”, April 12, 2010
    Recognized by Nature, “Top 10” stories of 2009, for murine life-extension by rapamycin, Dec. 21, 2009
    Recognized by Science, “The Breakthroughs of 2009”, for murine life-extension by rapamycin, Dec. 18, 2009
    Department of Veterans Affairs Senior Research Career Scientist Award, April 1, 2016

    Appointments

    • 4/2004 - Present - Director - Aging Intervention Testing Center, The University of Texas Health Science CenterSan Antonio
    • 6/2010-Present - Co-Director - Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Biology of Aging, The University of Texas Health Science CenterSan Antonio
    • 9/2006 - Present - Professor - The University of Texas Health Science Center, Pharmacology
    • 5/2016-Present - Associate Director for Translational Research, Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies - The University of Texas Health Science Center
    • 4/2009 -Present - Senior Research Career Scientist - South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Audie L. Murphy Division
  • Research & Grants

    Grants

    Active
    1U01 AG022307 (Strong, PI) 9/30/2019 - 4/30/24
    NIH/NIA Center for Testing Potential Anti-Aging Interventions
    This is one of three national centers funded by the National Institute on Aging whose purpose is to test interventions for which therapeutic targets have been identified that are hypothesized to modulate the aging process.

    1P30 AG013319 (Strong/Hornsby/Salmon MPI) 7/1/20 - 6/30/25
    NIH/NIA Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in Basic Biology of Aging
    The purpose of the Nathan Shock Center is to support aging research, both nationally and locally, by providing a battery of integrated core services that are of exceptional interest to researchers in the biology of aging.

    1P30 AG044271 (Musi/Strong/Espinoza MPI) 7/1/20 - 6/30/25
    NIH/NIA San Antonio Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center
    The purpose of the program is to test pharmaceutical interventions in non-human primates and humans that are hypothesized to enhance healthy aging and prevent or delay age-related diseases.

    1R01 ES026627 9/01/18-8/31/23
    (Strong, PI – Subcontract/ Doorn, PI – Parent R01)
    Role of Reactive Intermediates in Pesticide Neurotoxicity
    The goal of these studies is to test the hypothesis that the neurotoxicity of specific pesticides is due to the elevation of the neurotoxic dopamine metabolite, DOPAL, in midbrain dopamine neurons.

    1 I01 BX001641-05A1 (R. Strong - PI) 10/01/19-9/30/23
    VA/BLR&D / VA Merit Review
    Detoxification of Biogenic Aldehydes in Parkinson’s disease
    The goal of these studies is to test the hypothesis that elevated levels of biogenic aldehydes are involved in the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease in vivo by stabilizing toxic α-synuclein oligomers. We will test an aldehyde trapping agent, hydralazine, as a potential intervention.

    Perry and Ruby Stevens Charitable Foundation 9/01/17-8/31/22
    (Clark/Giuffrida/ Strong/– MPI)
    Perry and Ruby Stevens Parkinson’s Disease Center of Excellence
    The purpose of the Perry and Ruby Stevens Parkinson’s Disease Center of Excellence is to 1) build a critical mass of PD research and research teams; 2) to provide mentored early-career training to rising PD scholars with the ultimate goal of establishing an NIH-designated PD Center of Excellence.

  • Publications

      Miller RA, Harrison DE, Allison DB, Bogue M, Diaz V, Fernandez E, Galecki A, Garvey WT, Kumar N, Javors MA, Ladiges WC, Macchiarini F, Nelson J, Reifsnyder P, Rosenthal NA, Salmon AB, Smith DL, Snyder JM, Lombard DB, Strong R. Canagliflozin Extends Lifespan in Genetically Heterogeneous Male But Not Female Mice. (J. Clin. Inv. In Press)

      Soto-Piña*,A.E., Franklin C., Sheela Rani, CS., Fernandez E, Cardoso-Peña E., Benítez-Arciniega AD, Helmut Gottlieb, Hinojosa-Laborde C, Strong R.. Dexamethasone causes hypertension in rats even under chemical blockade of peripheral sympathetic nerves. Front. Neurosci. 2019 13:1305. doi: 10.3389/fnins

      Smith BJ, Miller RA, Ericsson AC, Harrison DC, Strong R, Schmidt TM.
      Changes in the gut microbiome and fermentation products concurrent with enhanced longevity in acarbose-treated mice. BMC Microbiol. 2019 Jun 13;19(1)

      Miller RA*, Harrison DE*, Astle CM, Bogue MA, Brind J, Fernandez E, Flurkey K, Javors M, Ladiges W, Leeuwenburgh C, Macchiarini F, Nelson J, Ryazanov AG, Snyder J, Stearns TM, Vaughan DE, Strong R*. Glycine supplementation extends lifespan of male and female mice. Aging Cell. 2019 Jun;18(3):e12953 (*,contributed equally)

      Song C, Zhang J, Qi S, Liu Z, Zhang X, Zheng Y, Andersen JP, Zhang W, Strong R, Martinez PA, Musi N, Nie J, Shi Y. Cardiolipin remodeling by ALCAT1 links mitochondrial dysfunction to Parkinson's diseases. Aging Cell. 2019 Jun;18(3):e12941

      Cheng CJ, Gelfond JAL, Strong R, Nelson JF. Genetically heterogeneous mice exhibit a female survival advantage that is age- and site-specific: Results from a large multi-site study. Aging Cell. 2019 Jun;18(3):e12905

      Harrison DE*, Strong R*, Alavez S, Astle CM, DiGiovanni J, Fernandez E, Flurkey K, Garratt M, Gelfond JAL, Javors MA, Levi M, Lithgow GJ, Macchiarini F, Nelson JF, Sukoff Rizzo SJ, Slaga TJ, Stearns T, Wilkinson JE, Miller RA*. Acarbose improves health and lifespan in aging HET3 mice.Aging Cell. 2019 Apr;18(2):e12898 (*,contributed equally)

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