By Grace Niewijk
Even though the two women had met only once or twice before, 110-year-old Edith Renfrow Smith lit up as soon as 84-year-old Sheila Nicholes entered the room.
“Here comes another SuperAger!” she exclaimed.
Nicholes laughed and gave Smith a hug. “I sure am a SuperAger!”
The joyful exchange was a snapshot of the camaraderie that in many ways lies at the heart of the SuperAging Research Initiative, which is centered at the University of Chicago’s Healthy Aging & Alzheimer’s Research Care (HAARC) Center.
What does it mean to be a SuperAger?
Led by Emily Rogalski, PhD, the Rosalind Franklin Professor of Neurology at UChicago, the program identifies and studies older adults who are aging remarkably well.
Specifically, Rogalski and her fellow researchers define “SuperAgers” as people over the age of 80 who have memory performance at least as good as average people in their 50s and 60s. In contrast to the more common approach of studying what goes wrong as people age in order to find solutions, the SuperAging Research Initiative focuses on discovering what can go right.
“People’s faces light up when we ask questions about what’s helping people live long and live well and they get to tell us about a friend, neighbor or relative who fits that positive description,” Rogalski said.
Study participants come to the HAARC Center to share their medical and family histories, discuss their daily habits and interests, and undergo detailed memory testing. Researchers also perform brain scans and collect blood samples to investigate genetic and other biomarkers of health. Outside the lab, wearable sensors offer more precise data about SuperAgers’ sleep, physical activity and even social interactions.
Once SuperAgers are part of the program, they’re in it “for life and beyond”: They return every two years for repeat assessments, and at the end of their remarkable lives, some donate their brains to let the neuroscientists get a closer, more detailed look at the cellular and molecular features that set them apart.
“I hope they find something in common between my brain and the other brains they’re studying, because my brain still seems to be able to connect so many things, and so many memories have not dropped off even as I age,” Smith said.
At 110, Smith is currently the oldest SuperAger in the program, while at a self-proclaimed “84 years young,” Nicholes is what many of the others jokingly call a “baby SuperAger.”
“Studying what is going well in SuperAgers has the potential to someday help those who suffer from some age-related conditions, so there’s also an element of giving back to the world,” Rogalski said.
Nicholes echoed the sentiment: “I jumped at the chance to get involved in the SuperAgers program because I know it’ll help. I’m interested in the brain and what it does and how you can keep it healthy. Being in the SuperAgers program helps me stay sharp, and what they learn in the study can help people later on, like my great-grandkids.”