The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research has awarded two Brown professors grants of $50,000 for their research on extending the lives of fruit flies, without either professor even having applied for one.
The foundation announced in a Jan. 24 press release that Marc Tatar, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Stephen Helfand, professor of biology, were among the 25 recipients of this year's Glenn Foundation Awards for biological mechanisms of aging.
Both Tatar and Helfand said their initial reaction upon receiving the unsolicited grant was surprise, followed by happiness.
Helfand called the grant "the most unusual award" he'd ever received. "Normally one has to apply for a grant and it's a lengthy process," he said.
Helfand said he plans to use half of the award to study how calorie restriction is connected to the life span of fruit flies, and the other half will be used to study how changes in chromatin, the DNA-protein complex that makes up chromosomes, can affect aging.
In the expensive field of scientific research, this grant was simply "a wonderful drop in the bucket," Tatar said. Tatar, who has been studying how hormones, particularly insulin, slow the aging process, said the money will likely be put toward the salary of one of his team members.
This grant is especially important in light of what Tatar deemed a nationwide crisis in the lack of federal funding for scientific research, he said.
According to Tatar, Brown has a relatively large number of scientists in the field of gerontology, considering its size, and the program is garnering national attention. Last November The Herald reported that the National Institute of Aging awarded $10 million to a group of Brown researchers for the study of extended care for the elderly.
The head of this team, Vincent Mor MA'86, professor of medical science and chair of the Department of Community Health, said of the grants, "It really is a wonderful contribution to the overall Brown research team." According to Mor, the University has always had a very strong base in the policy side of aging research, and is now building a strong program in the basic science.
"Brown is really cutting-edge. We have a real opportunity here," Helfand said of Brown's large group of aging researchers. "Let's see what we can do with it."
