Through a collaborative grant, the Turner lab works with Dr. Blanca Restrepo to study the combine impact of aging, TB and diabetes in human cohorts at the US Mexico border. The overarching hypothesis of this project is that there is a steady increase in inflammation and altered metabolism as we age that drives functional decline, reaching a point where interventions are less effective. We anticipate that these changes will be observed in the periphery, a site amenable to sampling in humans. Our long-term goal is to identify the cellular mechanisms underlying age-associated decline in organ system homeostasis, when they occur, and identify interventions to mitigate their occurrence.
