10 Million Dollars For Aging Science - Round 3 Announcement
Started in 2021, Impetus Grants made its goal to go after ideas in the aging space that would be ignored by traditional funders. Since then, we deployed more than $24 million into science, supporting a number of aging clinical trials, biomarkers, novel tools, and model organisms.
In August of 2023, we will launch a new round, together with Hevolution and Rosenkranz foundations, providing $5 Million in matching funding each. Thematically, the upcoming round will be open-ended, with a focus on high-risk high-reward kind of aging science. We are also looking to enable the following kind of research, among other things:
1.Proposals that stress-test popular theories of aging
Example: Recently, there has been published yet another study showing that eliminating senescent cells is detrimental for the organism - this time in the lungs of mice (Born et al., 2022). Currently, researchers are raising questions about therapies aimed at controlling cell senescence. We would like to fund more proposals investigating this question as we do not expect this direction to be supported by traditional funding.
2.Proposals that stress-test popular protocols for extending the lifespan
Example: In the last 2 years reprogramming has become the central topic of many companies and research groups. However, it hasn’t been rigorously investigated or reported as to what extent rejuvenating effects of partial reprogramming happen due to the depletion (death) of aged cells in the reprogramming pool. Given the susceptibility of aged cells to undergo apoptosis in reprogramming (Takahashi & Yamanaka, 2006), we believe that investigating this question further would be critical for improving current anti-aging reprogramming protocols.
3.Category-openers or proposals that test novel mechanisms and approaches to reversing aging
Example: In the previous round we funded a project that was deemed to be very risky by our reviewers, as it didn’t have any research precedents. That work, "Extending lifespan in C.Elegans by controlling mitochondrial membrane potential with light", has now been published in Nature Aging. With this proposal, the group pioneered a concept of external energy replacement for treating aging, creating a novel branch of aging research. We are looking forward to funding more proposals that develop absolutely new paradigms and ways of thinking about geroscience, even if it comes at risks (like in the described case).
4. Translation of preclinical findings
We continue looking into creating greater worldwide access to improved model organisms, to make early large-animal studies less prohibitively expensive. We will also continue supporting a great number of proposals that test the context-dependence of known aging modulators.
Applications will open on the main page on August 1st and will stay open until September 15th, 2023. More guidance on writing applications can be found on our website.
About Impetus Grants
Established in 2021, Impetus Grants is dedicated to supporting innovative ideas in the aging space that might otherwise be overlooked by traditional funders. The organization has successfully deployed over $24 million into scientific research projects, including aging-related clinical trials, biomarker research, and the development of novel tools and model organisms related to the aging process.
About Rosenkranz Foundation
The Rosenkranz Foundation was established by Robert Rosenkranz in 1985. The Rosenkranz Foundation fosters innovation in public policy, higher education, the arts, and scientific research. Its founder and Chairman, Robert Rosenkranz, is an American philanthropist and financier. He is a Board member of the Buck Institute and an honorary Fellow of the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research. From 1987 until 2018 he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Delphi Financial Group, an insurance company with some $20 billion in assets. Delphi grew from one of his acquisitions and increased its value 100-fold under his leadership.
About Hevolution Foundation
Founded in the belief that every person has the right to live a longer, healthier life, Hevolution Foundation is a global catalyst, partner, and convener, on a mission to drive efforts to extend healthy human lifespan and understand the processes of aging. With a focus on aging as a treatable process, Hevolution Foundation aims to increase the number of aging-related treatments on the market, compress the timeline of drug development, and increase accessibility to therapeutics that extend healthy lifespan, also known as healthspan. A non-profit organization headquartered in Riyadh, with an annual budget of up to $1 Billion, Hevolution Foundation plans to open hubs in North America and other global locations to support a cutting-edge, global ecosystem of talent to propel aging and geroscience research forward and achieve medical breakthroughs to help humanity live healthier, longer.
References
Berry, B. J., Vodičková, A., Müller-Eigner, A., Meng, C., Ludwig, C., Kaeberlein, M., Peleg, S., & Wojtovich, A. P. (2022). Optogenetic rejuvenation of mitochondrial membrane potential extends C. elegans lifespan. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.11.491574Born, E., Lipskaia, L., Breau, M., Houssaini, A., Beaulieu, D. P., Marcos, E., Pierre, R., Do Cruzeiro, M., Lefevre, M., Derumeaux, G., Bulavin, D. V., Delcroix, M., Quarck, R., Reen, V., Gil, J., Bernard, D., Flaman, J.-M., Adnot, S., & Abid, S. (2022). Eliminating senescent cells can promote pulmonary hypertension development and progression. Circulation. https://doi.org/10.1161/circulationaha.122.058794Takahashi, K., & Yamanaka, S. (2006). Induction of pluripotent stem cells from mouse embryonic and adult fibroblast cultures by defined factors. Cell, 126(4), 663–676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2006.07.024