# Boston Roybal Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions

> **NIH NIH P30** · BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $386,269

## Abstract

Project Summary: The Pilot Core B will support one of the principle mechanisms by which the Boston Roybal
Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions (RALI Boston) will address its overarching goal to develop and test
behavior change strategies that increase physical activity and promote healthy aging, especially for persons at
high risk for poor health outcomes. The Pilot Core will achieve this goal by supporting a group of innovative
and scientifically rigorous clinical trials by pilot investigators who will enhance our knowledge base, develop
novel research methodologies and tools, disseminate our results, and ultimately work collaboratively to
develop the pilot data and experience necessary to conduct future full-scale translational interventions using
clinical trials. The specific aims of the Core are: 1) to solicit, select, and support two to three of the most
meritorious pilot studies submitted to us each year to develop and test novel multicomponent strategies to
promote behavioral changes that advance the science and result in improved health and well-being for older
people; 2) to oversee and support the progress of pilot investigators and their projects and provide resources
to assure their success in testing the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of behavioral interventions guided by
the NIH Stage Model; 3) to apply the research findings from the pilot projects to design translational projects and
work with investigators to seek additional funding to develop and test them at different phases of the NIH Stage
Model; 4) to implement procedures to assure the scientific integrity, rigor and reproducibility of our research and
the safety of human subjects. The Pilot Core Leaders (Drs. Margie Lachman, Lewis Lipsitz and Theresa Ellis)
will work closely with the Management and Administrative Core to ensure the Center operates smoothly and
fulfills its aims. Procedures are in place to solicit, review and support new pilot projects. The pilot projects will
draw on the most promising recent evidence linking psychosocial, behavioral, cognitive, and neuroscientific
factors to health and to explore mechanisms involved in motivation and behavior change. Two pilot studies are
proposed for the initial period of this renewal application to examine the efficacy of enhancing both motivation
and executive control, two processes that have shown promise in engendering increased physical activity in
sedentary individuals. One pilot is a randomized controlled trial that will test the feasibility and effects of a 10-
session transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) intervention targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex on adherence to a personalized physical activity goal in physically-inactive older adults without overt
illness or disease. The second pilot will examine the effects of two psychosocial factors, positive messaging
and self-affirmation, on motivation and engagement in physical activity and their maintenance over time,
compared to ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10003141
- **Project number:** 5P30AG048785-07
- **Recipient organization:** BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MARGIE E LACHMAN
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $386,269
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10003141

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10003141, Boston Roybal Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions (5P30AG048785-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10003141. Licensed CC0.

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