• The Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the Center for Healthy Aging Pilot Grant Program

Request for Applications 

Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging (SIRA/CHA) 2025 Pilot Grant Program

The Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging (SIRA/CHA) 2025-26 pilot grant program solicits proposals for innovative research projects or novel analyses of data with aging as a focus. We are an integrated, multi-disciplinary, cross-campus group that aims to advance and promote health and well-being in the field of healthy aging through research, education, and community outreach. The purpose of the pilot funding is to foster early-stage research focused on the study and promotion of healthy aging. These awards are designed to help investigators generate pilot and feasibility data to support future grant applications.

Proposal Due Date: May 19, 2025 at 5pm PST

Theme: The focus of these pilot projects should be related to: 1) Understanding the factors (e.g., biological, behavioral) that impact healthy aging; or 2) Advancing innovative strategies for promoting healthy aging. Healthy aging is broadly defined as: maintaining or promoting physical, mental, and cognitive health to advance well-being and quality of life in older age. We do not fund grants that focus on a specific disease or disorder (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease).  

General Guidelines:

We encourage investigators to:

• Include support for trainees
• Consider research that addresses the heterogeneity and complexity of human aging through    innovative research design and methodologies
• Utilize resources that SIRA/CHA have to offer, including:
  • Existing data from our longitudinal life-span aging cohort, the Successful Aging Evaluation Study (SAGE). The SAGE study is a prospective cohort study of 1,800 randomly selected, demographically representative of San Diego, community-dwelling individuals age 20 to over 100 years. The specific assessments and the years that the assessments were collected can be found here: Sage Study - Researchers
  • A novel, first of its kind “Living Lab” in the Belmont Senior Living community, just a few miles from the La Jolla campus. This lab is embedded in a studio apartment and provides researchers with an opportunity to collaborate with residents and conduct novel research on-site. This could include using the space to conduct research related to sensors, testing innovative technology, conducting physical assessments, utilizing it as a meeting space for participant interviews, etc. More information on the Living Lab can be found here: Living Lab at Belmont Village Senior Living – La Jolla
  • The UCSD Geroscience lab, led by Anthony Molina, PhD, provides support for aging biomarkers research, including biospecimen collection and processing. The Geroscience lab has a particular focus on mitochondrial bioenergetics, but can also facilitate research investigating other biological hallmarks of aging.

Eligibility: All UC San Diego faculty members and postdoctoral fellows may apply for pilot funds.

Project Duration: The funding for this program is for one year. Unless a no-cost extension has been approved, projects must be completed within one year of funding.

Budget: Budgets in the range of $20,000-40,000 will be considered.

Application Requirements:

• One-page cover letter
• Up to three-page proposal including the following sections: Specific aims, background/significance, innovation, approach, analytical plan, description of team including any students, and anticipated timeline
• References
• Budget and justification
• Investigator(s) NIH biosketch or CV
• Letters of collaboration and/or support (if relevant)

Formatting Requirement:  Arial font size of 11 point, single-spaced with a one-half inch margin (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages.

Submission: Proposals should be submitted electronically as a single PDF file to our email healthyaging@health.ucsd.edu

Review Process: Proposals will be reviewed by the SIRA/CHA Steering Committee. Notification of funding will be made by late June 2025.

Investigators interested in applying may contact Stein Institute Scientific Director, Dr. Anthony Molina ajmolina@health.ucsd.edu, to discuss project relevance and SIRA/CHA research resources.

For other questions, please contact Danielle Glorioso (dglorioso@health.ucsd.edu), Executive Director, Stein Institute for Research on Aging and UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging.

Non Discrimination Statement

In accordance with applicable Federal and State law and University policy, the University of
California does not discriminate, or grant preferences, on the basis of race, color, national origin,
religion, sex, disability, and/or other protected categories.

More information about Proposition 209 can be found here.

More information about the University of California Anti-Discrimination Policy can be found here.