Hevolution announces 49 awards to catalyze discovery in healthspan science through innovative $115 million grants program

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — February 12, 2024 — Hevolution Foundation, a global nonprofit organization that provides grants and early-stage investments to incentivize research and entrepreneurship in healthspan science, is announcing 49 new awards under its pioneering Hevolution Foundation - Geroscience Research Opportunities (HF-GRO) program.  

As part of Hevolution’s mission to catalyze the healthspan scientific ecosystem and drive transformative breakthroughs in healthy aging, HF-GRO is funding promising pre-clinical research in aging biology and geroscience. Through this first wave of HF-GRO awards, Hevolution will invest up to $115 million in this first cohort of 49 selected projects over the next five years. Hevolution also plans to announce a second call for proposals under HF-GRO later this year, offering an additional $115 million to address the significant funding gaps in aging research.  

Dr. Felipe Sierra, Hevolution’s Chief Scientific Officer states “These 49 important research projects represent a significant step forward in deepening our understanding of healthy aging. Hevolution's prime objective is to mobilize greater investment around uncovering the foundational mechanisms behind biological aging. We are steadfast in our belief that by examining the root causes of aging, rather than solely focusing on its associated diseases, we can usher in a brighter future for humanity." 

By 2050, the global population over 60 years old is set to double to 2 billion people. Global advances in healthspan science are urgently needed, making investment in the field through initiatives like HF-GRO vital to drive scientific discovery. To date, Hevolution has committed approximately $250 million to transform the healthy aging sector, including the $40 million for specialized research and development in healthspan science recently announced at Hevolution’s Global Healthspan Summit. Hevolution is ramping up its investments to enable healthier aging for all and is now the second largest funder of aging biology research worldwide.  

HF-GRO awardees include researchers at prestigious institutions across the United States, Canada, and Europe, including the U.S. National Institute on Aging, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Buck Institute, the Mayo Clinic, New York University, and the University of California San Francisco, among many others. The American Federation for Aging Research is providing programmatic support for the HF-GRO program, with grantees selected through a rigorous two-stage peer-review process involving 100 experts in aging biology and geroscience. 

Dr. Berenice Benayoun, an HF-GRO grant recipient at the University of Southern California, says, "I am extremely honored and excited that Hevolution selected our project for funding. This is a project close to my heart, which aims at understanding why and how the female and male innate immune aging differs. This funding will support us as we start laying the foundation for a lasting improvement of women's health throughout aging." 

HF-GRO grant recipients include: 

• Alexandru Movila, Indiana University 

• Amy Pasquinelli, The Regents of the University of California San Diego 

• Ana Fiszbein, Trustees of Boston University 

• Andrei Seluanov, University of Rochester 

• Andrew Dillin, The Regents of the University of California Berkeley 

• Andrew Yang, The J. David Gladstone Institutes 

• Andrzej Bartke, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine 

• Benjamin Miller, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation 

• Berenice Benayoun, University of Southern California  

• Bill Chen, University of Pittsburgh 

• Bjorn Schumacher, University Hospital Cologne  

• Derek Huffman, Albert Einstein College of Medicine 

• Duygu Ucar, The Jackson Laboratory 

• Gerard Karsenty, The Trustees of Columbia University  

• Hao Li, The Regents of the University of California San Francisco 

• Hua Bai, Iowa State University of Science and Technology 

• Isabel Beerman, National Institute on Aging 

• James Kirkland, Mayo Clinic 

• Javier Apfeld, Northeastern University 

• Jeroen Eyckmans, Trustees of Boston University 

• Jesse Poganik, Brigham and Women's Hospital 

• John Newman, Buck Institute for Research on Aging 

• Joshua Rabinowitz, The Trustees of Princeton University 

• Kamal Khanna, New York University Grossman School of Medicine 

• Karl Lenhart, Drexel University 

• Leanne Jones, The Regents of the University of California San Francisco 

• Marc Prentki, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal 

• Marco Demaria, University Medical Center Groningen 

• Maxim Artyomov, Washington University in St.Louis 

• Mayumi Ito, New York University Grossman School of Medicine 

• Mone Zaidi, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

• Nathan Basisty, National Institute on Aging 

• Olaia Naveiras, Lausanne University Hospital  

• Pankaj Kapahi, Buck Institute for Research on Aging 

• Paul Cooke, University of Florida 

• Payel Sen, National Institute on Aging 

• Rafael de Cabo, National Institute on Aging 

• Richard Morimoto, Northwestern University  

• Richard Wainford, Emory University 

• Roarke Kamber, The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco 

• Saranya Wyles, Mayo Clinic 

• Saul Villeda, The Regents of the University of California San Francisco 

• Shannon Conley, Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center 

• Stefan Tullius, Brigham and Women's Hospital 

• Sundeep Khosla, Mayo Clinic 

• Thomas Rando, The Regents of the University of California Los Angeles 

• Vadim Gladyshev, Brigham and Women's Hospital 

• Yi Zhu, Mayo Clinic 

• Yuan Liu, University of Pittsburgh 

 

About Hevolution Foundation 

Founded on the belief that every person has the right to live a longer, healthier life, Hevolution Foundation is a global catalyst, collaborator, and convener on a mission to drive efforts to extend healthspan and understand the biological processes behind aging. As a global nonprofit organization headquartered in Riyadh with a North American hub and an annual budget of up to $1 billion, Hevolution is supporting a cutting-edge, global ecosystem of talent to propel aging and geroscience research forward and achieve medical breakthroughs. With a focus on aging as a treatable process, Hevolution aims to increase the number of aging-related treatments on the market, compress the timeline of drug development, and increase accessibility to therapeutics that extend healthy lifespan, also known as healthspan. To date, Hevolution has committed $250 million to drive scientific discoveries to make aging healthier for humanity.  

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