# Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core (PESC)

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER · 2024 · $445,812

## Abstract

In recent years, major advances have been made in our understanding of the basic biology of aging, leading
to the identification of novel interventions with potential to prolong healthspan. In spite of exciting studies in
model organisms, there has been a lack of programs and infrastructure needed to enable the translation of these
discoveries to humans. The major objective of the Pilot / Exploratory Studies Core (PESC) is to promote the
overarching goals of the San Antonio Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) by developing and
validating interventions to enhance healthy aging and mitigate the progression of aging-associated processes
and diseases. Indeed, the PESC plays a key role in the San Antonio OAIC's central theme of translational
geroscience by supporting projects that move research on the basic biology of aging from the laboratory bench
to the bedside, in order to extend healthy life expectancy. The PESC will provide merit-based support for
rigorously designed pilot studies that test both the efficacy and side effect profiles of promising pharmacologic,
as well as non-pharmacologic cell-based and behavioral interventions, in pre-clinical marmoset models and early
human clinical studies. The PESC will strive to achieve its objectives through the following specific aims:
 • Aim 1: To promote innovative, collaborative, multidisciplinary research to test interventions designed to
 extend healthy life expectancy, both in early human trials and in non-human primate marmoset models.
 • Aim 2: To work closely with the Resource Cores and Research Education Component to provide
 infrastructure, scientific support, and funding for innovative pilot proposals from mentored junior faculty
 investigators, as well as established researchers.
 • Aim 3: To encourage pilot studies that will develop and apply novel methods and technologies.
 • Aim 4: To sustain effective processes to solicit, review, and fund pilot projects, as well as ensure study
 completion, robust tracking of downstream impact, and optimal dissemination and implementation.
 The Core leaders, having a great deal of experience directing successful pilot project programs, will promote
key alignments and interactions of PESC investigators with OAIC Resource Cores, as well as with resources in
the broader scientific community. The Core will provide close oversight and guidance to PESC-supported studies
from inception, during the investigative and analytical phases, through publication, and ultimately through the
submission of proposals for competitive national grant funding. The PESC will seek proposals on rapidly evolving
age-related scientific areas such as resilience – the capacity to return to normal functional homeostasis after
stress exposure. To address the shrinking pipeline of qualified translational investigators the PESC is committed
to funding meritorious proposals from early-stage investigators. Finally, we have received significant leveraging
commitments, enabling PESC pr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10898684
- **Project number:** 5P30AG044271-10
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** ROBERT A CLARK
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $445,812
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-06-15 → 2025-08-14

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10898684

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10898684, Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core (PESC) (5P30AG044271-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10898684. Licensed CC0.

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