This $2,358,537 federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging's Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866) supports research to understand the impact of epigenetic aging on cognitive function and response to exercise in non-cognitively impaired older adults. The primary awardee, the University of Pittsburgh, will harness data and biospecimens from the Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise (IGNITE) project to elucidate the biological underpinnings...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $3,161,352 in funding to the University of Colorado-Denver to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise training on peripheral endothelial function and cerebrovascular function in adults of different ages and sexes. The 5-year research project will conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess changes in vascular function outcomes and analyze associated molecular biomarkers,...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $509,038 to Ceiba Bio Inc. to develop a blood-based exercise mimetic as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The key objectives are to: 1) identify 3 lead recombinant human GPLD1 molecules, 2) conduct in vivo pharmacokinetic profiling of the 3 lead GPLD1 molecules in aged mice, and 3) test 1 primary and 1 alternate lead GPLD1 molecule for disease modification in a...
This Project Grant award of $377,875.00 was provided by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders (CFDA 93.853) federal grant program. The award, effective December 23, 2024 through November 30, 2029, will support research to develop engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs) that can co-deliver mitochondria and the therapeutic protein HSP27 to protect the blood-brain barrier and...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $639,997 to The Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Corporation to investigate how exercise regulates molecular cargo within circulating extracellular vesicles and impacts knee joint health in the context of knee osteoarthritis. The 5-year project, beginning in May 2025, aims to provide mechanistic insights into how exercise-induced molecular factors in the blood can promote cartilage...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $332,096 to The General Hospital Corporation (Massachusetts General Hospital) to evaluate the feasibility of non-invasive imaging techniques to monitor the metabolic and vascular functions of the brain and heart in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The project aims to investigate the effects of moderate exercise on these key functions over time and whether there are any gender differences in...
This Project Grant award, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242), aims to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying mania/hypomania in bipolar disorder. The $2,562,920 award to the University of Pittsburgh will be used to rigorously assess reward network and central executive network dopamine release in 40 unmedicated euthymic bipolar disorder adults experiencing subsyndromal mania/hypomania, and 40 healthy...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) in the amount of $246,750 will fund the development of a novel pulse-labeling assay to track the secretion and spreading of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the brains of mice. The primary objectives are to create a tool for visualizing EV dynamics in the brain (Aim 1) and use this assay to examine how the APOE4 genotype, a major Alzheimer's disease risk factor, impacts EV secretion and spreading in the...
This $715,500 federal Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program will support research at the University of Illinois to investigate the relationship between exercise and cognitive health. The project aims to determine how muscle contraction during exercise may influence the activity and growth of cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in memory and learning. The research will conduct in vitro experiments culturing mouse muscle and...
This $1,545,208 federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) will fund a multi-phase clinical trial study conducted by the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC). The study aims to understand the factors underlying the variability in exercise response among older adults, with a focus on evaluating the role of aging-related biological processes such as proteostasis, mitochondrial function, inflammation, and circadian...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) provides $154,280 to the University of Pittsburgh to identify biomolecular targets within plasma extracellular vesicles that may mediate the cognitive benefits of aerobic exercise in older adults with remitted late-life depression. The goal is to leverage blood data from an ongoing clinical trial to examine changes in neurotrophic and inflammatory protein cargoes, as well as transcriptomic profiles, of extracellular vesicles in response to 6 months of aerobic exercise training. This study complements the parent K23 clinical trial by using innovative methods to characterize molecular, brain systems, and behavioral outcomes of how aerobic exercise may attenuate cognitive impairment in this high-risk population for progression to dementia. The award period runs from December 1, 2024 to November 30, 2026.