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UTHSCSA
was also the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Barshop & Oles
Company, a privately owned, Texas-based, full-service commercial
real estate development and management company which has
owned, developed or managed more than 5 million square feet of
shopping centers, industrial and office properties, limited service
hotels, and acclaimed mixed-use projects located in major Texas
cities. A proud graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, Mr.
Barshop served on the Board of Regents of The University of Texas
System. Ann Barshop was a consummate community volunteer,
and devoted wife and mother who greatly supported her husband’s
legendary success.
The Barshop Institute is the only facility in the country to boast
three major programs of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) (a
division of the National Institutes of Health). These programs in-
clude The San Antonio Aging Interventions Testing Program which
is comprised of the following components: (1) The Nathan Shock
Center, which funds basic science research on small animal models;
(2) The San Antonio Claude D. Pepper Center Older Americans
Independence Center dedicated to translational research, and (3)
the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs Geriatric Research, Educa-
tion and Clinical Center (GRECC).
Since 2013, the Barshop Institute has been led by Nicolas Musi,
MD. Dr. Musi is a Professor of Medicine, as well as director of the
Center for Healthy Aging and the GRECC. The GRECC features
both research and graduate medical education programs focused on
geriatrics and other needs of the aging veteran community. GRECC
programs include pharmacy, occupational therapy and physical ther-
apy, as well as many of the complex and diverse needs of this group
of veterans.
DEAN’S MESSAGE
Dr. Musi’s personal expertise is diabetes
and metabolic disease, as well as the effects
of aging on cellular metabolism and ensu-
ing disease-causing abnormalities. This
aligns with the Barshop Institute’s strategy
of developing interventions that reduce the
risk of, or prevent, an array of comorbidi-
ties at the same time.
Under Dr. Musi’s leadership, the institute
has continued to be the only ongoing recip-
ient of the Nathan Shock Center that uses
state-of-the-art scientific infrastructure in
multiple animal models to address ques-
tions about the basic biological mechanisms
of aging. Last year the Nathan Shock Cen-
ter was renewed for five years, with perfect
scores in all categories of its assessment.
A Complex Array of Diseases and Conditions
Aging is often a component of metabolic diseases such as diabetes,
obesity, hypertension and heart conditions, as well as the most sig-
nificant risk factor for other diseases like arthritis and cancer. The
Barshop Institute is unique in that it is part of the relatively nascent
field of “geoscience.” Dr. Musi explains this as a hypothesis based
on targeting diseases from a broad approach where interventions can
impact the risk or onset of multiple age-related conditions and dis-
eases. The institute conducts research in humans and in non-human
models such as small rodents, the experimental worm C. elegans,
and fruit flies. It also has the world’s only facility with a barrier-pro-
tected marmoset colony.
While the Barshop Institute has a broad reputation on a number
of levels, in 2009, Barshop researcher Randy Strong PhD, developed
a Rapamycin formula that demonstrated the ability to extend the
maximum life-span of middle-aged mice by 28 to 38 percent. This
was the first pharmaceutical intervention shown to extend longevity
in mice. Veronica Galvan PhD, built upon this foundational learn-
ing by demonstrating that Rapamycin improves learning and mem-
ory of mice engineered to have Alzheimer-like deficits. In 2013,
Dean Kellogg, MD, PhD tested Rapamycin in a clinical trial with
four military veterans who received the drug and four others who
received a placebo thereby demonstrating the translational research
methods of the Institute; the data obtained from these studies are
being analyzed.
Another important aging condition is frailty. Frailty alone is a
leading cause of falling, disability or the requirement of nursing
home placement. Current work includes investigations by Sara
Espinoza. MD, MSc to identify whether metformin treatment
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