As we age, our cognitive abilities decline, and many of us may experience memory loss, dementia, or neurodegeneration. However, research shows that some individuals are resilient to the ravages of time and remain cognitively intact even after reaching 100 years of age.
What if we could evade the aging process, resist genetic risk factors of cognitive decline, or even reverse aspects of brain aging altogether?
The Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience is seeking creative and bold proposals from Stanford research and clinical faculty with PI eligibility that have the potential to generate paradigm-shifting insights into healthy brain aging and resilience against cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders.
Application and eligibility information
"About 1 in 10,000 individuals reaches age 100 cognitively unscathed — seemingly resilient to the effects of time. The Phil and Penny Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience seeks to emulate this sidestepping of the aging process and raise the hope of reversing brain aging altogether. "
— Tony Wyss-Coray, Director, Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience
Catalyst Grants Application
Application deadline: April 22, 2024
Please review the application and eligibility information before applying. In brief:
- Stanford research and clinical faculty with PI eligibility (UTL, MCL, or NTL-research appointments) may apply
- Previous Innovation or Catalyst award PIs are only eligible to submit as a Co-PI on this round
- Applicants may request up to $500,000 in direct costs over a 2-year duration
Funded Catalyst grant projects
Predicting and promoting resilient brain aging trajectories
Using new animal models such as the African killifish, this team aims to develop approaches to predict individual brain aging trajectories early in life based on behaviors that can be modulated to promote healthy memory, executive function and processing speed as well as counter dementia.
Defining the Subcellular Biology of Brain Aging and Neurodegeneration
This team plans to map how age-related dysfunction of cellular waste disposal in lysosomes could lead to neurodegenerative diseases, potentially laying the foundation for a map of organelle function in the brain.
Investigating severe traumatic brain injury using a novel human CSF cell-free mRNA gene panel
This team aims to be the first to study the cellular and molecular impact of traumatic brain injury by studying genetic material in human cerebrospinal fluid. This will help clinicians and researchers ID markers of brain resilience after injury, and ultimately improve treatment for severe TBI.
Sleep circuits in neurodegenerative disease and aging
This team plans to study whether changes in neurons in the midbrain that regulate sleep, wakefulness, and immunity could contribute to aging and neurodegeneration. If successful, this information could rescue deficits in sleep and restore a normal immune profile.