Protocol for the San Diego Nathan Shock Center Clinical Cohort: a new resource for studies of human aging

While it is well recognised that aging is a heterogeneous process, our understanding of the determinants of biological aging and its heterogeneity remains unclear. The San Diego Nathan Shock Center (SD-NSC) Clinical Cohort aims to establish a resource of biospecimens and extensive donor clinical data such as physical, cognitive and sensory function to support other studies that aim to explore the heterogeneity of normal human aging and its biological underpinnings.

The SD-NSC Clinical Cohort is composed of 80 individuals across the adult human lifespan. Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria are implemented to minimise extrinsic factors that may impede the study of normal aging. Across three visits, participants undergo extensive phenotyping for collection of physical performance, body composition, cognitive function, sensory ability, mental health and haematological data. During these visits, we also collected biospecimens including plasma, platelets, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and fibroblasts for banking and future studies on aging.

Ethics approval from the UC San Diego School of Medicine Institutional Review Board (IRB #201 141 SHOCK Center Clinical Cohort, PI: Molina) was obtained on 11 November 2020. Written informed consent is obtained from all participants after objectives and procedures of the study have been fully explained. Congruent with the goal of establishing a core resource, biological samples and clinical data are made available to the research community through the SD-NSC.