New York, NY —The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) and Hevolution Foundation are pleased to announce the third cohort of the Hevolution/AFAR New Investigator Awardees in Aging Biology and Geroscience Research. This grant program enables junior investigators with labs in the US and Canada, and with at least three years of independent research, to advance research projects in basic biology of aging, as well as geroscience projects that translate advances in basic research on aging biology from the laboratory to the clinic, paving the way for healthspan-expanding therapeutics and treatments. $6,750,000 will support eighteen investigators selected to receive this three-year award of $375,000 (total):
Huan Bao, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Virginia: Molecular mechanisms of Annexin-mediated membrane repair in preventing premature senescence
Itay Budin, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, University of California San Diego:
Functional roles of plasmalogens and their loss in aging cell membranes
Junyue Cao, PhD, Associate Professor, The Rockefeller University: Decipher the Cell Regulatory Network of Mammalian Aging at the Scale of the Whole Organism
Brianne Connizzo, PhD, Assistant Professor in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering, Boston University: Senescence Disrupts Tissue Remodeling and Repair
Jia Guo, PhD, Assistant Professor, Columbia University: Mapping the Spatial-Temporal Patterns of Normal Brain Aging Using Multi-Site T1w Structural MRI and AI-Driven CBV Analysis
Ramin Herati, MD, Assistant Professor, NYU Grossman School of Medicine: Echoes of the past: mechanisms of poor vaccine responses due to age-associated inflammation
Weishan Huang, PhD, Associate Professor, Louisiana State University: Mechanisms of Lung Immune Memory Decline During Aging
Emma Johnson, PhD, Assistant Professor, Washington University School of Medicine: Elucidating environmental context-dependent genetic variation related to aging and lifespan in humans
Hongjie Li, PhD, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine: Building Systematic Brain-Body Communication and Personalized Aging Trajectories
Katharina Maisel, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Maryland: Investigating changes in the physical environment in the lymph node that alter immune cell functions in aging
Jerome Mertens, PhD, Associate Professor, University of California San Diego: Metabolic regulation of resilience in aging human neurons
Hadi Nia, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University: Inflammaging in the Lung: Dissecting the Impact of Aging on pulmonary vs. circulatory factors
Mattia Quattrocelli, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati: The Carnosine Clock Ticks for Healthy Aging
Jason Sheltzer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Stanford University: Investigating loss of the Y chromosome as a targetable driver of aging-related pathologies
Noah Snyder-Mackler, PhD, Associate Professor, Arizona State University: Molecular causes and consequences of inter- and intra-individual heterogeneity in aging
Peter van Galen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Diversity Driving Age-Associated Inflammation
Deborah Winter, PhD, Associate Professor, Northwestern University: Understanding the role of noisy chromatin deregulation in aging macrophages
Tuoqi Wu, PhD, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: Understand FOXP1 as a gatekeeper of T cell aging
AFAR and Hevolution Foundation launched the New Investigator Awards in 2022 as a pilot initiative to support research projects in the basicbiology of aging and geroscience—a research paradigm based on addressing the biology of aging and age-related diseases to promotehealthy aging. To date, Hevolution Foundation committed more than $24 million to support 54 New Investigators.
“The Hevolution/AFAR New Investigator Awards in Aging Biology and Geroscience continue to be a powerful catalyst for the next generation of aging researchers. In just a few years, Hevolution has been able to bring increased global attention, credibility, and meaningful funding to this field by working with highly respected and rusted partners like AFAR, said Dr. Mehmodd Khan, CEO of Hevolution Foundation. Supporting emerging talent is central to our mission because their work shapes the future of healthspan science. Our investment reflects our belief in these early-career scientists and the real impact their research will have in advancing healthy aging for people everywhere.”
The New Investigator Award recipients are selected through AFAR's vigorous review process led by a committee of accomplished scientists representing a wide range of expertise in biomedical research on aging; Holly Van Remmen, PhD (Aging & Metabolism Research Program Chair at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and holds the G.T. Blankenship Chair in Aging Research) served as the Chair of the selection committee.
"For more than four decades, AFAR has supported the most promising and talented emerging investigators in the basic biology of aging. Our efforts have been a catalyst for advancing the understanding of basic aging processes. This understanding in turn has shaped the foundation of geroscience that these New Investigator Awardees can now build upon," notes Steven N. Austad, PhD, AFAR ScientificDirector. "AFAR eagerly anticipates the impact that this third cohort of New Investigators will make and is grateful for Hevolution Foundation’s support."
Hevolution Foundation also recently released the second edition of the Global Healthspan Report, which presents new evidence that aging, once seen as an inevitable decline, can be managed through science, policy, and innovation to drive sustainable growth and wellbeing. Drawing on two global surveys and extensive investment data, the report positions healthspan, the years of life spent in good health, as both a catalyst for scientific and economic progress. Download here.
####
About Hevolution Foundation - Founded on the belief that every person has the right to live healthier, longer, Hevolution Foundation is a global catalyst, collaborator, and convener on a mission to drive efforts to extend healthspan and understand the biological processes behind aging. As a global nonprofit organization headquartered in Riyadh with a North American hub and an annual budget of up to $1 billion, Hevolution is supporting a cutting-edge, global ecosystem of talent to propel aging and geroscience research forward and achieve medical breakthroughs. With a focus on aging as a treatable process, Hevolution 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. To date, Hevolution has committed about $400 million to drive scientific discoveries to make aging healthier for humanity, representing around 200 researchers and partnerships worldwide and several early-stage biotech impact investments. Connectwith Hevolution Foundation on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and at hevolution.com.
About AFAR - The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) is a national non-profit organization that supports and advances pioneering biomedical research that is revolutionizing how we live healthier and longer. For more than four decades, AFAR has served as the field’s talent incubator, providing $225,316,000 to 4,539 investigators at premier research institutions to date—and growing. In 2025, AFAR expects to provide approximately $12,816,000 to 79 investigators through a range of programs. A trusted leader and strategist, AFAR also works with public and private funders to steer high quality grant programs and inter-disciplinary research networks. AFAR-funded researchers are finding that modifying basic cellular processes can delay—or even prevent—many chronic diseases, often at the same time. They are discovering that it is never too late—or too early—to improve health. This groundbreaking science is paving the way for innovative new therapies that promise to improve and extend our quality of life—at any age. Learn more at www.afar.org.
END