As a world-wide leader in aging research, the University of Washington has launched the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute, otherwise known as HALo, to support new research initiatives and encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration by aging researchers throughout the University. HALo aims to promote not just a long life, but lifelong well-being; healthspan, rather than lifespan. Our goal is to understand the biology of aging and what causes an organism to switch from youthful and healthy to aged and infirm. More importantly, we want to use this understanding to extend healthspan—the length of life spent free from severe age-related disease. This paradigm-shifting approach, to focus on slowing the aging process and extending healthspan, could immediately add another decade or two of healthy, productive life for most people.
