AFAR and the McKnight Brain Research Foundation are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 McKnight Brain Research Foundation Innovator Awards in Cognitive Aging and Memory Loss:
Assistant Professor & Paul Berg Early Career Professor in Biology, Pennsylvania State University
Assistant Professor, The University of Minnesota
Now in its fourth year, the Innovator Awards program funds research scientists pursuing groundbreaking studies in the field of cognitive aging. Dr. Kwapis and Dr. Sedaghat will each receive $750,000 for an award period of three years. The MBRF Innovator Awards in Cognitive Aging and Memory Loss are funded by a $4.5 million grant from the McKnight Brain Research Foundation that will support six investigators over a period of five years.
Dr. Kwapsis’ project “Improving cognitive flexibility in old age by fixing the transcriptome within memory cells” aims to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that support the memory updating process. Most human memories are updates or changes to things we have already learned. Although there is evidence that aging individuals across species have difficulty updating memories, we know very little about the mechanisms that contribute to this decline.
Learn more about Dr. Kwapsis’ research at Pennsylvania State University here.
Dr. Sedaghat’s project “Biological Aging Clock: A Tool to Differentiate Cognitive Aging Trajectories” aims to study whether biological aging can predict different paths of cognitive decline. Dr. Sedaghat’s lab is developing “protein-based aging clocks” that use protein data to measure a person’s biological age, which can differ from their actual age. By studying these clocks, her research hopes to identify who might be at risk for faster cognitive decline, which could help in developing ways to slow down the process and improve quality of life.
Learn more about Dr. Sedaghat’s research at the University of Minnesota here.
