Our Pilot Grants support innovative research to advance our understanding of healthy brain aging. These grants empower investigators to explore emerging ideas that could lead to significant insights into promoting cognitive health well into old age.
Pilot grant projects
Promoting neurovascular repair to improve cognitive resilience across the lifespan
This project's goal is to enhance brain resilience by promoting vascular brain health during aging. The research team's overarching hypothesis is that many people experience cognitive decline and dementia due to pathological aging.
Mapping and rejuvenating the brain glycocalyx to improve resiliency
This project focuses on the brain’s “glycocalyx”—a complex network of sugars on the cell surface, which plays a crucial role in many brain functions including how neurons connect and communicate and how memories are formed and stored.
The effect of live-attenuated herpes zoster vaccination on blood-based biomarkers of neurodegeneration
More and more studies suggest that infections may be an important cause of dementia and possibly brain aging more generally. The most convincing evidence exists for herpesviruses, which “hibernate” in the nervous system. Recently, an innovative causal approach in data from the United Kingdom has been used to suggest that shingles (herpes zoster) vaccination prevents or delays dementia.
Optimizing endogenous signaling pathway activity to enhance cognitive resilience
The intricate workings of signaling pathways are well-established with regard to neurodevelopment. Yet, the implications of these pathways for sustaining brain health and resilience during the aging process are not clear.