By Mark Willis Variation in child growth and development has been studied intensively since the 1920s. It is well known that two children with the same chronological age can vary significantly in their biological age, or level of maturation.
Variation continues throughout the human lifespan as people age at different rates.
Much less is known about the range of variation in aging, however, and there are no assessments comparable to the child growth charts for scoring an older person's biological age. Established earlier this year with support from the Kettering Fund, the LHRC is Wright State's newest center of research excellence. It combines Wright State's existing research programs in human biology and rehabilitation medicine. Housed now in expanded facilities at the Miami Valley Research Park, the new center also represents an expanding mission for one of the Dayton area's oldest research legacies. The LHRC is now the home of the Fels Longitudinal Study, the world's largest and longest-running study of human growth and body composition.