PESC - Abstract The aim of the Boston Pepper OAIC is to support an interdisciplinary research program that fosters the development of function promoting therapies (FPTs). Within the context of the OAIC's overall mission, the Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core (PESC) will catalyze scientific advances in FPTs through funding of pilot and exploratory studies, and provision of mentorship and infrastructural core support. The overall objective of the PESC is to enable investigator-initiated studies to acquire the pilot data needed to develop a robust, well- funded, and productive translational research projects of FPTs. The primary objective of the PESC in the context of this renewal is to build upon the science underlying our OAIC theme, while a secondary objective is to help build the careers of scientists whose research is aligned with our theme. Aim 1 will continue with our translational pipeline for early stage innovative and interdisciplinary research by providing funding that leverages our Boston Pepper OAIC cores and infrastructure for the generation of proof-of-concept preclinical data to expedite the development of FPTs, mechanistic studies for target identification or hypotheses building by which FPTs exert effects on skeletal muscle and physical function; and pilot testing of translational interventions or research protocols in human study participants or animal models for safety, feasibility, or determination of optimal time course or dosage. Aim 2 will foster connectivity between PESC investigators and OAIC resource cores. Aim 3 will catalyze pilot and exploratory projects into high quality peer- reviewed publications, grant applications, and intellectual property/patents. Our Boston Pepper OAIC Steering Committee selected two innovative candidate projects for consideration of PESC support during the last year of our current funding from among a pool of 19 applications that were received in response to a widely advertised request for applications (RFA). For this renewal these projects will receive a second year of funding. The two ongoing candidate projects are well aligned with the OAIC's mission of promoting the development of FPTs by mechanism elucidation, target identification, proof-of-concept studies in model organisms, epidemiological investigation, and randomized trials, and would benefit from the use of our resource cores. PES projects in this renewal application leverage novel observations about the role of the biologic mechanisms of aging including the GLP-1RA pathway and the biologic targets underlying yoga effects in older frail adults. Before year 2 of our renewal, the PESC will use a similar standardized peer-review selection process to recruit the most innovative new ideas and investigators from Harvard, and Tufts-affiliated institutions for new awards in year 2 of the grant
