Collaborating Groups

The Project has included 3 major interacting groups from its inception:

1. Intramural Program investigators at the NIA, with Dr. David Schlessinger as Principal Investigator. Major participants include
   
   
   • Drs. Edward Lakatta, Majd Al Ghatrif, James Strait, Kirill Tarasov, and Angelo Scuteri, Laboratory of Cardiovascular Sciences.
   • Drs. Luigi Ferrucci and Toshiko Tanaka, Translational Gerontology Branch.
   • Drs. Jun Ding, Osorio Meirelles, Yong Qian, Ramaiah Nagaraja, and Christopher Coletta, Laboratory of Genetics.
   
   
2. The Progenia Team, in Sardinia. The work of the team is funded by a contract to the Italian National Research Council, with Dr. Francesco Cucca as Principal Investigator. The team comprises:
   
   
   • Physicians: Maria Grazia Pilia, Alessandro Delitala, Liana Ferreli, Francesco Loi, Nicola Curreli, Elen Balalci, Marcello Trucas (visiting the volunteers and collecting medical records and data in the Center in Lanusei)
   • Cardiologists: Marco Orru, Antonello Ganau and his team.
   • Nurses: Monica Lai, Paola Loi
   • Receptionists: Susanna Murino, Lina Brundu
   • Biologists: Edoardo Fiorillo, Valeria Orru, Mariano Dei, Sandra Lai, Maria Grazia Piras, Monia Lobina, Francesca Virdis, Valentina Serra (study of the immune system, high-resolution analysis of cells and molecules of interest, processing of biological samples, extraction of DNA, preparation of cell lines, storage and maintaining of all samples), Magdalena Zoledziewska, Antonella Mulas, Fabio Busonero (genotyping and validation of genetic variants, analysis of traits of interest), Mara Marongiu, Francesca Crobu (preparation of RNA sample), Manuela Uda, Silvia Naitza, Laura Crisponi (functional analyses of traits of interest).
   • Bioinformatics/computer specialists: Marco Masala, Michele Marongiu.
   • Sequencing team in Pula at the Sardinia Ricerche Bioark: Andrea Angius, Roberto Cusano, Manuela Oppo (high throughput sequencing of DNA and RNA).
   • Statisticians: Serena Sanna, Carlo Sidore, Maristella Steri, Mauro Pala, Gabriella Sole, Eleonora Porcu, Fabrice Danjou, Giorgio Pistis.
   
   
3. Statistical Genetics collaborators led by Dr. Goncalo Abecasis at the University of Michigan
   
   
   • Eleonora Porcu, Giorgio Pistis, Andrea Maschio, Jennifer Bragg-Gresham
   
   
4. Population genetic inference of ancestral demography and selection led by Dr. John Novembre, University of Chicago
   
   
   • Charleston Chiang, Joseph Marcus, Diego Ortega, Eunjung Han, Alex Platt
   
   
5. Genetic studies of gene regulation and expression led by Dr. Stephen Montgomery, Stanford University
   
   
   • Mauro Pala, Zach Zappala, Xin Li, Joe Davis
   
   
6. Riken Institute: Shigeo Koyasu, Haruhiko Koseki, Osamu Ohara (studies on humanized animal models)