Keck Futures Initiative awards $1M for 15 research projects

Research will explore topics ranging from engineering solutions to extend human healthspan to developing socially assistive robotics for physical and cognitive health

WASHINGTON -- The National Academies Keck FUTURES INITIATIVE announced today the recipients of its 2007 FUTURES grants, each awarded to support interdisciplinary research on aging and healthspan -- the period of life that is free from serious or chronic illness. The 15 projects chosen represent a wide range of approaches to such research, which was the subject of the fifth annual FUTURES conference, "The Future of Human Healthspan: Demography, Evolution, Medicine, and Bioengineering," held last November in Irvine, Calif. A summary of the conference, which explores challenges in this field and possible solutions, is available online at www.keckfutures.org.

John W. Rowe, M.D., professor of health policy and management, Columbia University, New York City, and the conference chair, said, "We received many bold and innovative proposals and believe we have selected the most promising research projects to pursue."

These competitive seed grants aim to fill a critical gap for research on new ideas. Major federal funding programs do not typically provide support in areas that are considered risky or unusual. The FUTURES grants allow researchers to start recruiting students and postdoctoral fellows, purchasing equipment, and acquiring preliminary data – all of which can position the researchers to compete for larger awards from other public and private sources.

Established through a $40 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation in 2003, the National Academies Keck FUTURES INITIATIVE is a 15-year effort to enhance communication among researchers, funding agencies, universities, and the general public – with the objective of stimulating interdisciplinary research at the most exciting frontiers. The National Academies and the W.M. Keck Foundation believe considerable scientific progress and social benefit will be achieved by providing a counterbalance to the tendency to isolate research within academic fields. The FUTURES INITIATIVE is designed to enable researchers from different disciplines to focus on new questions and entirely new research, and to encourage better communication among scientists as well as between the scientific community and the public.

The award recipients and their grant research topics are:

STEVEN AUSTAD, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio
DAVID J. WATERS, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.

WORKSHOP ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOGS AS ANIMAL MODELS FOR THE STUDY OF EXTENDED HEALTHSPAN - $25,000
These researchers will hold a workshop with experts in basic aging research, canine genomics, epidemiology, pathology, and the assessment of canine health, to develop a research plan to study dogs and breed differences for animal models of extended healthspan.