Silvan R. Urfer
Veterinarian and epidemiologist of aging at the University of Washington who led the first placebo-controlled rapamycin trial in pet dogs, an early step of the Dog Aging Project
Acting Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington (since 2022) · Senior Fellow, Department of Pathology, University of Washington (2016–2019) · postdoc, Department of Pathology, University of Washington (2008–2012) · postdoc, National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH (2007–2008) · Dr. med. vet., University of Bern (2007)
Rapamycin extends lifespan in mice, but mice live in cages and die young. Pet dogs share our homes, our air and often our food, and they age faster than we do, so they are a useful middle step between lab animals and people. In 2017 Silvan Urfer was first author of the trial that tested this idea for the first time (URF2017). Twenty-four healthy middle-aged companion dogs received either low-dose rapamycin or a placebo for 10 weeks, and neither owners nor vets knew which. The treated dogs showed no clinical side effects, and heart ultrasound (echocardiography) hinted at better heart function. With so few dogs and such a short course, the study shows that a larger trial is safe to attempt, not that rapamycin slows aging in dogs.
Urfer trained as a veterinarian at the University of Bern in Switzerland and earned the Dr. med. vet. doctorate there in 2007 with work in population genetics. After a short postdoc at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Urfer moved to the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle, first as a postdoc and later as a senior fellow, working with Matt Kaeberlein's group on the dog studies that grew into the Dog Aging Project.
Since 2022 Urfer has been an Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Washington. The faculty page lists lifespan and survival analysis, comparative medicine, epidemiology, rapamycin and canine cognitive dysfunction, the dog form of dementia, among the research interests.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | A | A randomized controlled trial to establish effects of short-term rapamycin treatment in 24 middle-aged companion dogs URF2017 First author: ran the 10-week placebo-controlled rapamycin trial in 24 middle-aged pet dogs, which found no clinical side effects and possible gains in heart function. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 2
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Silvan R. Urfer.
ShowHide
- Kate E. Creevy Runs the veterinary side of the Dog Aging Project and leads TRIAD, the trial testing whether rapamycin extends lifespan in pet dogs
- Matt Kaeberlein Extended TOR/aging research from yeast to mice to pet dogs
Every researcher with a profile →
Thank you. That helps us know which pages have been read by someone who knows the work.
Thank you. We will check it and correct the page.
Thank you. Your answer was counted anonymously.