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Urgent Notice: Pilot Funding Available

Funding for pilot projects relevant to successful cognitive and emotional aging is available from the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging. Any UCSD faculty member is eligible to apply; junior faculty projects are particularly encouraged. The mission of the Stein Institute is to foster healthy aging by supporting advances in healthcare through innovative and collaborative research. A total of 3 to 5 one-year pilot projects will be funded with a budget of $10,000 to $20,000 each. Proposed projects may be in the basic, translational, clinical, or social/behavioral sciences. A goal of this program announcement is to encourage innovative research in areas related to successful cognitive and emotional aging. A further goal is to assist in the generation of preliminary data that will enable the investigators to apply for and obtain future funding from the NIH and other agencies.

The Stein Institute for Research on Aging is an Organized Research Unit of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. At the Stein Institute, we believe that studying health and well-being and how and why people age without significant impairments is as important as studying why people become ill. The Institute has recently embarked on a comprehensive, longitudinal study of successful aging, which focuses on how some people have aged without significant psychosocial impairments despite common age-associated stressors and disabilities. We aim to learn more about the bio-psycho-social characteristics and behaviors of people who age well, in an effort to help others achieve similar outcomes as they grow older. This new focus on successful aging permeates our educational and training programs, too.

The deadline for electronic receipt of written proposals (at djeste@ucsd.edu) is 4:30 p.m. on Monday, March 10, 2008. Proposals should be 5 single-spaced pages in length, following the standard NIH format: (A. Specific Aims, B. Background and Significance, C. Preliminary Studies, D. Experimental Design and Methods, E. Literature Cited). In addition, please include information related to human subjects, vertebrate animals, and consultants, if applicable. Budget, along with budget justification, and the investigators' NIH-format biosketches (including other support pages) should also be included. All proposals will be reviewed by the Stein Institute's Scientific Advisory Board, similar to an NIH study section. It is anticipated that the one-year funding will begin on May 1, 2008.

We look forward to receiving your proposals. If you have any questions, please contact either of us at (858) 534-4020 or (858) 642-3602, or by email: djeste@ucsd.edu.

Dilip V. Jeste, M.D. Director Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging Maureen Halpain, M.S. Executive Director Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging