Search Grants — Free, No Account Required

The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation

The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation ($1.2B in assets) supports nonprofits in MN through grants focused on education, community development, racial equity, arts. Awards range from $5,000 to $200,000.

The San Diego Foundation

The San Diego Foundation ($800M in assets) supports nonprofits in CA through grants focused on education, environment, community development, arts, health. Awards range from $2,500 to $200,000.

Parkview Services

Vibrant Palette, a nonprofit arts program for adults with I/DDS, collaborates with Belltown Arts Walk, The Slide Gallery, and the City of Seattle for 'The Small Things,' an inclusive arts extravaganza. From 1/8/24 through 2/4/24, we will hold workshops and public art viewing. The Small Things provides 3x3 canvases to up to 150 community members, hosts two free in-person workshops, and features an opening event for the displayed art at the Slide Gallery. This project, rooted in accessibility and inclusion, enhances participation in the Seattle arts community for adults with I/DDs.

Soufend Arts Council

The Soufend Arts Council will host a free event to celebrate the creativity, community, and culture of South Seattle. The event will feature an art exhibit, performances, and interactive art activities. It will be held August 24, 2019 from 2 pm - 8 pm on S Holly St between Rainier Ave S and 49th Ave S.

Sustainable Style Seattle

We have an ambitious vision for a "free store" that helps people find clothes they love and re-home clothes they no longer need, all for free. It will provide a much-needed way for people to keep things out of landfill and reform a harmful and exploitative system. The store will also provide a radically inclusive third place that helps people build skills, forge connections, be creative, and support art. We want to be an example of the future of Seattle, one that’s built on innovation, care, dignity, and abundance. This pilot is crucial in changing the narrative of what urban spaces can and should be. We will use the space for the free store and events, but we also want to uplift historically underserved artists by sharing our space. We plan to run for a total of 9 months. We’ll run an initial trial in January, a review and planning period from Feb-Apr, and an extended pilot from May-Sept. We plan to have 1 space, but we’ve had offers to create this concept in multiple spaces.

Belltown Butterflies

The Butterfly Effect—the idea that small actions can have profound impacts—the project invites individuals to tap into their creativity and reflect on how they engage with the world by including art made on small, individual butterflies. At the project's heart is an installation of hundreds of these butterflies made by different community members, symbolizing each person's significance in the fabric of society. Arranged in a flowing chromatic wave, the installation creates an immersive visual experience while fostering connection, self-awareness, and creative empowerment. The installation will be a part of a community art exhibition at Slip and Slide Galleries located at 2301 1st Ave Seattle WA for Belltown Artwalk on Sept 12, 2025, from 6-9 pm. The exhibition will run through Oct 5, 2025. Free and open to all, it enhances accessibility, equity, and public art awareness.

NIAID - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center is one of the premier academic medical centers in the world and requests support for a new research training program focused on training physician-scientists in the field of infectious diseases. The UT Southwestern Infectious Diseases (UTID) Research Training program will support 2 post-doctoral trainees for a two-year training period every year. The novel design of the UTID training program utilizes cross-campus recruitment for physician scientists working in the field of infectious diseases to create a large pool of candidates. Once recruited, trainees have an extensive interdisciplinary mentorship and a program-specific ID research training program that includes mentors and resources from 9 different departments, divisions, centers, and institutes across the medical campus. The 29 trainers have broad training and are comprised of a core group of highly accomplished, established investigators along with an expanding and impressive group of new and junior faculty mentors that embodies the intradisciplinary research programs across the UTID Training program that are bound by a common interest in combating infectious diseases. The UTID training program serves as an important focus for formal interactions among this overlapping group of talented trainers who have strong records of research success and outstanding records of training physicians and scientists. Our goal is to train post-doctoral physician-scientists for research careers in the molecular basis of microbial pathogenesis, cellular microbiology, host-defense mechanisms, regulation of virulence, structural biology, and clinical research. The research interests of the faculty include bacterial and viral pathogenesis, innate and adaptive immunity, antimicrobial therapeutic discovery, parasitology, RNA biology, and structural biology. The UTID Research Training program provides a strong emphasis on molecular mechanisms, molecular biology, and fundamental quantitative scientific approaches. Trainees who complete the program are expected to apply state-of-the-art molecular approaches to address important current and future problems in the field of infectious diseases. This training program will produce highly trained physician-scientists to address current and future challenges in the field of infectious diseases and immunology. This new program will also provide a pipeline for academic infectious disease research faculty for the region and throughout the US.

The Wichita Community Foundation

The Wichita Community Foundation ($500M in assets) supports nonprofits in KS through grants focused on education, community development, arts, health. Awards range from $2,000 to $100,000.

The Winnipeg Foundation

The Winnipeg Foundation manages a $1B+ endowment and provides grants to strengthen Winnipeg communities through arts, education, environment, health, and social services.

The Winston-Salem Foundation

The Winston-Salem Foundation ($400M in assets) supports nonprofits in NC through grants focused on education, community development, health, arts. Awards range from $2,000 to $100,000.

Toledo Community Foundation

Toledo Community Foundation ($300M in assets) supports nonprofits in OH through grants focused on education, community development, health, arts. Awards range from $2,000 to $75,000.

Engineering Bureau, Public Works

TOS - Task Order Solicitation

European Commission - HORIZON

Towards a fair and transparent market for cultural and creative content in the era of generative AI. Call: Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society 2026. Programme: HORIZON. Keywords: Artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, multi agent systems, Business models, Copyrights, Data and image processing, Experimentally-driven research and innovation, High performance computing, Information systems, Machine learning, statistical data processing and applications using signal processing (e.g. speech, image, video), Trustworthy ICT, Visual arts, performing arts, design. Open call from the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Wasat Community

On the September 25th, Dawud Walid, an African American Muslim scholar, will guide South Seattle's Muslim community in discussion and dialogue on social justice and activism with the cultural perspective of Muslims. The event will be held at Rainier Arts Center, located at 3515 S Alaska St at 7pm. Wasat will follow up the next day by implementing a service project for community youth to distribute nourishing free meals made from surplus produce to those facing food insecurity.

NIDDK - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Project Summary: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic, allergen-mediated, clinicopathologic disease, and a leading cause of upper gastrointestinal morbidity among children in the United States. It is characterized by esophageal eosinophilic infiltration and progressive fibrotic remodeling leading to debilitating dysfunction, dysphagia, and esophageal food impactions. Advances in understanding EoE pathophysiology have led to the development of clinical, endoscopic, histological, and molecular indices. While these metrics have enhanced our ability to identify EoE, essential gaps remain. Specifically, their limited accuracy in classifying disease activity status, stratifying severity and risk of fibrotic complications, and informing personalized therapy continues to constrain progress in optimizing patient care. The increasing prevalence of pediatric EoE reiterates the urgency to address these translational gaps through innovative approaches. To this end, during his K23 award, the Principal Investigator (PI), an Early Stage Investigator, identified distinct biochemical and architectural features that distinguished non- EoE controls from EoE, and active EoE (aEoE) from inactive EoE (iEoE) by using Raman spectroscopy (RS), stimulated Raman spectroscopy (SRS), and second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. In this proposal, he will leverage the emerging paradigm shift toward integrative, multimodal markers — an approach yet to be applied in EoE, and build on his previous work to develop more comprehensive metrics of disease processes. He has preliminarily demonstrated that (a) Raman-RNA (biochemical-molecular) biomarker signature [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.937] outperforms Raman alone (AUC = 0.875) and RNA alone (AUC = 0.875) in differentiating aEoE from iEoE, (b) epithelial biochemical and structural changes correlate with subepithelial ECM and LPF, and (c) baseline esophageal glycogen, protein, and lipid content can classify responders from non- responders to non-biologic EoE therapies such as proton-pump inhibitors and topical corticosteroids. Advancing these innovations further, he will develop Raman-RNA biomarker signatures that stratify aEoE and iEoE and compare their diagnostic performance against existing activity indices (Aim 1), identify Raman-SRS-SHG signatures for fibrotic transformation by investigating how the epithelial biochemical changes relate to and predict subepithelial ECM and LFP (Aim 2), and in a prospective cohort, evaluate if the baseline esophageal biochemical, clinical, endoscopic, and histologic features predict response to dupilumab (Aim 3). The investigative team's expertise, proven track record, exciting preliminary data, established protocols, state-of-the- art resources, institutional support, and a motivated patient population position this project for success within the funding period. This innovative and interdisciplinary research will address critical translational gaps in EoE and improve clinical outcomes for children with EoE. It will also catalyze new avenues of investigation and technological innovations, establishing the PI as an independent investigator at the intersection of pediatric gastroenterology and translational research.

NCI - National Cancer Institute

PROJECT ABSTRACT Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has the poorest prognosis among breast cancer subtypes due to its inherently aggressive clinical behavior and the absence of well-defined molecular targets. Achievement of pCR to neoadjuvant therapy has been widely recognized as a surrogate marker for improved long-term outcomes, including reduced risk of recurrence and enhanced overall survival. However, current neoadjuvant therapy stratification for TNBC is far from satisfying. With the conventional neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), over half of TNBC patients do not achieve pCR and face poor prognoses. The new neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy (NACI) combined pembrolizumab with the NAC and has improved pCR and survival rates (by less than 10%), but also introduces substantial toxicity risks without reliable predictive methods to determine individual patient benefit. Given TNBC’s aggressive nature and lack of effective targeted therapies in practice, early identification of responders versus non-responders to a specific therapeutic regimen is of great important for assisting clinicians to tailor therapy accordingly. However, there is currently no method to foretell how much an individual patient may benefit from the addition of immunotherapy, nor to practically guide optimization of therapy on a patient-specific basis. Digital twin techniques have gained emerging attention in this context, which offer great promise for precision management of TNBC by integrating real-time clinical and multi-modal data into virtual patient models to support decision-making. However, their clinical adoption faces substantial challenges, including developing accurate predictive models capable of comparing multiple treatment options, ensuring continuous updates, and seamless integration into clinical workflows. To overcome these barriers, our study will establish cancer digital twins (CDT) to deliver reliable, real-time predictive metrics for personalized TNBC treatment. In particular, to support pre-treatment stratification (Aim 1), we will leverage the clinically available multi-modal data and state-of-the-art AI models to improve the accuracy of response prediction and benefit quantification, so identifying the optimal therapy option (i.e., NAC vs. NACI) for individual patient. To support on- treatment adaption (Aim 2), we will develop a mechanism-informed data assimilation framework to continuously update response prediction given individual monitoring data, so guiding a timely, interpretable adjustment of therapeutic regimens. To address implementation (Aim 3), we will assess the impact of real-world data heterogeneity on model uncertainty and bias, establish a CDT prototype to deliver model outputs within clinical workflows, and collect stakeholders feedback on its feasibility. We hypothesize that the developed CDT can not only accurately predict patient-specific response, but also provide a deployable workflow that assists clinical decision-making. Along with training to gain comprehensive understanding on real-world data heterogeneities, deployment considerations, and modern clinical trials for computational devices, this work will lay the groundwork for clinical validation and practical translation of personalized TNBC treatment optimization.

Town Hall Seattle

Town Hall Seattle will organize Community-Created Events in four Seattle neighborhoods to take place during the first half of 2018. Diverse Neighborhood Steering Committees will be convened to identify issues and topics of special interest to their communities. The committees will collaborate as co-creators with an Artist- or Scholar-in-Community to develop and produce three to five inclusive, culturally diverse arts and civics events for, about, and hosted at venues in, their neighborhood. The events will culminate in the four committees coming together to examine how their work strengthened bonds within their neighborhood, and amplified a neighborhood voice for greater Seattle. Town Hall's Inside/Out project takes an asset-based approach to community building.

Toys Not Included

Toys Not Included is a group of Seattle Artists who work to promote LGBTQA, BIPOC and Under-Privileged Youth Artists and work to remove barriers like submission fees, commissions, and “pay to play” models. Located at 2301 1st Ave Toys Not Included will be hosting year-round work that culminates with our annual street art show in July that features 100+ artists and thousands of attendees. There will be monthly Street Art Activity Centers that bring free, hands-on workshops to neighborhoods citywide. Community members will be able to create alongside professional street artists, contributing to community-created installations featured in the annual show. By combining education, youth leadership, and commission-free programming, it will shift street art from stigma to celebration, build equity, creativity, and cultural pride across Seattle. The project is free and open to the public. The project will be completed in the Summer of 2026.

NIGMS - National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Project Summary Signals that cells receive over time from a small set of pathways (e.g., BMP, Wnt, and TGFβ) shape their fate and phenotype during development, regeneration, and disease. Despite their central importance, signaling histories of individual cells are often inaccessible to direct observation, hindering quantitative analysis and obscuring their connection to eventual cell fate. This challenge is particularly pronounced in mammalian systems, where limited optical access and the constraints of size and timescale often render live imaging impractical. To address this issue, we have developed an approach to reconstruct the history of signaling activity in single cells based on endpoint fluorescence images. This is achieved by regulating CRISPR base editors to generate mutations in engineered target sites at rates proportional to the signal of interest. These mutations create a heritable record of signaling activity in the genome, which can be read out at a later time, together with the gene expression profile of the cells. Using this approach, we demonstrated that cells retain a memory of their past response level to BMP signaling for up to 18 days, providing a mechanism for long-term interactions between signals that can facilitate coordination of developmental processes over time. In this proposal, we will expand the scope and utility of our signal recording approach by extending its dynamic range to capture the broad spectrum of in vivo signal intensities and enabling simultaneous recording of the sequence and timing of two signaling pathways. We will also engineer mouse embryonic stem cells to record three key developmental pathways: BMP, Wnt, and Nodal. This will allow us to generate stem cell-derived embryo models and chimeric embryos to link cell fate and spatial organization at the onset of organogenesis with signaling activity at different time windows earlier in development. Additionally, we will investigate mechanisms that enable long-term changes in BMP responsiveness following an initial stimulation, without requiring differentiation. We will then test whether similar mechanisms exist in Wnt and Nodal pathways and assess their role in mediating long-term crosstalk between pathways. To achieve these goals, we will take an interdisciplinary approach combining gene editing, quantitative imaging, epigenomic assays, computational analysis, and generation of developmental models. The proposed goals build on my prior publications, recent preliminary data from our lab, and collaborations I have established since launching my lab. This research program will substantially advance the state of the art in molecular recording, transforming it into a technology that can be used in vivo, in mammalian systems to drive biological discovery. Our long term vision is to identify how signaling history controls cellular decision making during development, and how instructions that cells receive are coordinated over time to produce tissues with the correct number, types, and spatial arrangement of cells. Ultimately, this knowledge will inform strategies for tissue engineering, and open new avenues for understanding and treating diseases driven by dysregulated signaling.

NCI - National Cancer Institute

The goal of TRAQ-to-Quit is to increase the potency and efficacy of behavioral interventions for smoking cessation treatment in low-income communities by leveraging state-of-the art Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology to merge three evidence-based approaches into a single comprehensive, multilevel intervention: i.) brief pediatrician advice and referral to cessation services; ii.) novel behavioral tele-counseling that guides smokers towards establishing a smokefree home (SFH) as an initial step toward cessation; and iii.) the deployment of an IoT system consisting of an indoor air quality (IAQ) smart home device that collects continual, objective measures of IAQ and integrates them into both smokers’ home environments and a tele-counselor participant dashboard that enables individualized, data-guided advice/problem solving. The proposed treatment model builds on several of our previous trials, most notably the Kids Safe and Smokefree (KiSS) trial, which demonstrated the efficacy of a multilevel behavioral intervention initiated by pediatricians in safety-net systems on the promotion of long-term bioverified abstinence, and Project Fresh Air (PFA), which demonstrated efficacy in reducing in-home smoking and children’s tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) using residential air monitors that continually assessed indoor air quality and immediately provided feedback upon detection of elevated air particulate levels. Given that most unregulated smoking occurs in smokers’ homes and evidence that SFH adoption relates to long-term abstinence, TRAQ to Quit aims to bolster the KiSS trial’s limited home-level intervention components with a PFA-inspired, potentially powerful IoT home monitoring system. We will enroll 272 parent/caregiver smokers referred from safety-net pediatric health systems serving low-income areas. A 2-group randomized control trial design will be conducted with measures collected at baseline, 8- (end of treatment), 12- and 24-weeks after the target quit date to compare: i.) KiSS Usual Care (KiSS-UC) to KiSS + the state-of-the art IoT system (KiSS+IoT). The feedback from the IoT system is expected to augment treatment effects on home-level determinants of smoking behavior change (i.e., knowledge/awareness of in-home exposure risk; motivation to protect children from exposure). Evidence suggests that among low-income smokers, such changes can improve SFH achievement, self-efficacy, home support for cessation, and the fostering of a supportive accountability dynamic, all of which are mediators of long-term abstinence in prior trials. More potent interventions are necessary to reduce tobacco-related morbidity and mortality in low-income communities. Our proposed strategy allows two public health priorities to be simultaneously addressed: i.) maximizing long-term smoking cessation success and ii.) reducing TSE for other household occupants, including children. If TRAQ-to-Quit is efficacious, it presents an innovative, potent and pragmatic pediatric system-initiated telehealth intervention model that could ultimately be disseminated via linkages between pediatric systems and large service providers (e.g. state quitlines).

NCI - National Cancer Institute

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: A key problem in the treatment of cancer is targeting master transcription factors (TFs) that drive oncogenesis. Many malignancies are characterized by TFs that regulate aberrant epigenetic and gene expression programs. A phenomenon that has been observed in the regulation of malignant TFs is the necessity to restrain oncogenic TF activity in order to preserve cancer cell wellbeing. We have identified DDX19A as a top genomic dependency in Ewing sarcoma (ES), an aggressive bone malignancy driven by the fusion oncoprotein and potent TF EWSR1:FLI1 (EWS/FLI). Intriguingly, we have observed that loss of DDX19A leads to marked global upregulation of transcription, chromatin opening, and increase in enhancer binding by H3K27Ac in ES cells, suggesting that this RNA helicase is a crucial negative regulator of transcription in ES tumors. We have gone on, through chemical screening efforts, to develop seed compounds that selectively target DDX19A. The objective of this proposal is to examine the mechanism of action of DDX19A in ES, and to use medicinal chemistry optimization to develop small molecule probes with which to target this protein. Our central hypothesis is that DDX19A constrains transcription and epigenetic programs directed by EWS/FLI, and that the loss of DDX19A leads to toxicity from transcriptional overload subsequent cell death. Thus, we believe that DDX19A is a promising new target for therapeutic development. We will test this hypothesis in two parallel specific aims: 1) Interrogate how DDX19A regulates gene expression programs controlled by EWS/FLI, and 2) Develop potent and selective allosteric inhibitors of DDX19A. First, we will use state-of-the-art functional genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic approaches to examine how DDX19A activity is critical specifically in EWS/FLI-driven tumors. Next, we will rigorously interrogate how DDX19A regulates nascent transcription specific to ES. Next, we will use chemical biology methods to validate specific DDX19A engagement and functional modulation in ES cells. Through a hit-to-lead strategy, we will obtain inhibitors with optimized pharmacokinetic properties, which will serve as lead compounds for therapeutic discovery. We will test optimized compounds for efficacy using in vitro ES cell lines as well as in vivo in ES PDX models. Importantly, animal subjects are indispensable for establishing pre-clinical rationale for development of new targeted therapeutics. Specifically, animal subjects are the only available means to study in vivo pharmacokinetics, test dosing schedules/routes, examine pharmacodynamics (in tumor-bearing animals), and measure toxicities that may impact human patients. These studies are innovative as they combine extensive molecular biologic investigation with sophisticated chemistry approaches to target ES, an aggressive, difficult-to-treat malignancy. Our proposal is significant because it will expand our understanding of how cancer cells control oncogenic transcription in order to promote cell survival. Successful completion of these aims will provide proof-of-concept that de-repressing TF activity and initiating transcriptional overload is a viable strategy for treating TF-driven malignancies.

NHLBI - National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

PROJECT SUMMARY Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a congenital heart disease (CHD) characterized by a small left ventricular (LV) chamber, thick LV wall, and negligible LV function. HLHS has the highest morbidity and mortality rates among CHDs. There is an urgent need for novel therapies, ideally through correcting LV growth defects before birth. However, these efforts have been impeded by limited understanding of molecular underpinnings of HLHS. To study the underlying mechanisms of HLHS, we focused on MYRF, a transcription factor (TF) recently linked to HLHS but the disease mechanisms remain unknown. Moreover, it is still unclear which cardiac cell type(s) contributes to the MYRF-mediated HLHS. To address these major gaps in knowledge, we examined the expression pattern of MYRF in mammalian heart and found it was expressed in epicardial cells (EPCs), endothelial cells (ECs), and cardiomyocytes (CMs). More importantly, specifically ablating MYRF in EPCs and ECs, but not in CMs, recapitulates many critical disease features of HLHS. Based on our preliminary data, we hypothesize that epicardial and endothelial MYRF regulate the expression of genes essential for left ventricle morphogenesis. We propose to test this hypothesis with two specific aims. In Aim 1, we will determine the role of MYRF in EPCs and ECs. we will fully characterize the cardiac phenotypes of Myrf EPC- and EC-KO mice, including determining the roles of epicardial degeneration and the defective endocardium on LV morphogenesis, respectively. We will investigate potential EPC and EC impairments in proliferation, survival, migration, and the capacity of EPCs to differentiate into other cardiac cell types via epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). scMultiome (scRNA-seq + scATAC-seq) in conjunction with spatial transcriptomics will be used to untangle the multi-cell-lineage contribution to the phenotypes of EPC-KO and EC-KO mice. Aim 2 will elucidate the respective roles and mechanisms of MYRF nuclear-translocating N-terminus and ER-resident C-terminus. We will utilize state-of-the-art techniques routinely employed by our group to study MYRF N-terminal TF function: MYRF ChIP- seq, histone modification profiling, and IP-MS will be performed and integrated with scMultiome data to elucidate MYRF-driven transcriptional networks across diverse cardiac cell types. Mouse models specifically abolishing the function of MYRF N-terminal domains or C-terminus will be analyzed to determine the contributions of MYRF N- and C-terminus to its transcriptional regulatory activities and the pathogenesis of HLHS. The completion of these studies will substantially advance our understanding of the essential role of MYRF in the etiology of HLHS, paving the way for novel therapeutics to combat the devastating disease. Additionally, the multi-omics datasets generated by our study will greatly facilitate the research on CHD.

NIDA - National Institute on Drug Abuse

Summary/Abstract People with HIV (PWH) remain vulnerable to central nervous system complications (e.g., neurocognitive impairment) despite antiretroviral therapy (ART) that suppresses viral replication. While many etiologies of these complications exist, mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation are consistently implicated yet seldom studied simultaneously. PWH also use cannabis more frequently than the general population and recent evidence by our group and others indicates that cannabis may protect PWH from mitochondrial damage by improving metabolic homeostasis and reducing inflammation through triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM) 2. Moreover, this mechanism may be more important as PWH age, with the average age of PWH currently being >55. This proposed multidisciplinary, translational project will combine a clinical observational study with cellular and in vivo preclinical models to determine the effects of cannabis use on TREM2-mnediated changes in mitochondrial function in the brain in PWH. The preclinical models will include a) personalized ex vivo/in vitro modeling of mitochondrial toxicity in brain macrophages and neurons, and b) a mouse model for HIV-induced neurotoxicity (Eco-HIV) and age-related neuropathogenesis (TREM2*R47H). Using this multilevel approach, we will test the hypothesis that cannabis effects on TREM2-mediated changes in brain mitochondrial homeostasis vary based on patterns of use: moderate use will be associated with beneficial effects, due to the TREM2 promoting and anti-inflammatory properties of cannabis, but chronic daily use will have detrimental effects. In a cohort of aged (>50 years old) PWH across a range of cannabis use from naïve to daily users, we will measure in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) a panel of biomarkers that reflect the mitochondrial homeostasis, TREM2 function, and inflammation. These readouts will be correlated with neurocognitive assessments and PET imaging for TSPO, a marker of neuroinflammation associated with mitochondrial function (Aim 1). We will model brain macrophages using personalized ex vivo cultures of monocyte derived microglia collected from Aim 1 study participants and culture these cells with neurons to identify mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction (Aim 2). Using a cross-species approach, we will investigate how different precise doses of cannabinoids interact with HIV and TREM2 variants to affect mitochondrial homeostasis in wild-type and TREM2*R47H mice infected with EcoHIV (Aim 3). This highly innovative, multidisciplinary research proposal is very likely to generate impactful translational knowledge regarding mechanisms of pathogenesis and guide future therapeutic interventions. With our combined clinical and pre-clinical expertise in HIV infection, substance abuse, imaging, and mitochondrial homeostasis, we are uniquely suited to perform the proposed research.

NIA - National Institute on Aging

PROJECT SUMMARY The rapid aging of the global population presents a significant societal challenge, with an increasing number of older adults experiencing chronic diseases that compromise their health-span despite advances in medical technologies. This paradox results in substantial economic burdens due to lost productivity and healthcare expenditures. To address this, there is a critical need for strategies that enhance health-span, enabling older adults to maintain functional abilities, independence, and quality of life. The proposed Translational Gerontology and Geroscience (TG2) Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) aims to develop the next generation of interdisciplinary, aging-focused scientists. This program will support 5 predoctoral and 3 postdoctoral trainees; providing them with collaborative, interdisciplinary mentoring and comprehensive research training. The goal is to inspire and develop dedicated, motivated, and well-trained scientists capable of tackling society’s big challenges in the field of aging. TG2 will emphasize bidirectional training to create an interdisciplinary experience that addresses physical, mental, and social aspects of health necessary for healthy aging. The program will leverage an exceptionally rich institutional environment that offers a robust infrastructure in aging research, including NIA P30 awards for an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Nathan Shock Center in the Basic Biology of Aging, and Resource Center for Minority Aging Research; as well as one of four McKnight Brain Institutes sites and a VA Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC). The program integrates 40+ faculty from five UAB Schools and Colleges (Medicine, Arts & Sciences, Nursing, Optometry, Health Professions) and includes established, independent investigators with strong mentoring history as well as rising stars in the aging field who will be part of our Mentoring on Mentoring Program. Together the trainee, mentor, and a Translational Mentoring Team will craft an individual development plan that includes coursework, laboratory and clinical research, professional development programs, workshops, presentations locally and at national meetings, and training in the responsible conduct of research. Overall, the program will build and develop a multidisciplinary cohort of scholars that will support, learn from, and challenge one another to think critically about how to address the complex challenges of aging and how to develop successful careers in gerontology and geroscience.