The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) has released two new requests for applications from junior faculty:
AFAR/Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Grants for Junior Faculty
- The major goal of this program is to assist in the development of the careers of junior investigators committed to pursuing careers in aging research.
- The program supports research projects concerned with understanding the basic mechanisms of aging, rather than disease-specific research. Projects investigating age-related diseases are supported if approached from the point of view of how basic aging processes may lead to these conditions. Projects concerning mechanisms underlying common geriatric functional disorders are also eligible, as long as these include connections to fundamental problems in the biology of aging.
- Projects that deal strictly with clinical problems such as the diagnosis and treatment of disease, health outcomes, or the social context of aging are not eligible. Projects investigating mechanisms of, or putative therapies for, Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, are not eligible for this award.
- For more information and to review complete application instructions and eligibility requirements, please visit https://www.afar.org/grants/afar-research-grants-1.
The Sagol Network GerOmic Award for Junior Faculty
- The major goal of this program is to assist in the development of the careers of early career investigators committed to pursuing careers in the field of aging research and ger-omics, –omics research focused on aging and/or age-related disease research in particular.
- Research areas supported include, but are not limited to:
- Genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and methylomics (and other areas of -omics research) that focus on biological versus chronological aging in animals and humans.
- Comparative -omics in animals with different life spans.
- Omics of aging-related interventions and therapeutics.
- For more information and to review complete application instructions and eligibility requirements, please visit https://www.afar.org/grants/afar-research-grants-1.
Each award provides up to $160,000, including 8% indirect costs, for a project period of one to two years.
Eligibility criteria for both awards include:
- Be an independent investigator with independent research space.
- Be no more than 10 years beyond the start of postdoctoral research training as of July 1, 2026. Exceptions may be considered for certain life events. For awards funded by the Glenn Foundation, preference will be given to investigators who are in the first 3 years of a faculty appointment.
- Not be a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of a senior investigator.
- Not have received major extramural funding for research in any area as a PI or Co-PI (not Co-I), such as an NIH DP1, DP2, DP5, R01, R37, R56, RF1, RL1, U01 and R35 or VA Merit Award, as of July 1, 2026. Applicants may hold K, K99/R00 or R21 funding, or NSF funding provided direct costs do not exceed $200,000 a year.
- Not be at the rank of Associate Professor level or higher.
- Not have previously received either of these two awards.
Please see RFP for full criteria.
To Apply:
- These are open RFPs (UCSF may submit an unlimited number of applications to each opportunity). Individual applicants may not apply for both awards.
- Follow application instructions in RFP, conferring with your Grants Officer as needed. The LOI is submitted directly by the PI and does not need to go through the OSR Grants Officer. Additionally, please notify your Grants Officer as soon as possible to ensure that the full application is in the Grants Officer's queue.
- LOI deadline for both awards is December 15, 2025. If you are invited to submit a full application, the deadline will be in late April 2026.
Due Date