# Pilot/Exploratory Studies Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $240,642

## Abstract

Pilot / Exploratory Studies Core (PESC): Project Summary
The overall goal of the Pilot / Exploratory Studies Core (PESC) is to cultivate and support cutting edge pilot
and exploratory studies that will advance the development of effective prevention and/or therapies for frailty
and hence facilitate independence in older adults. The PESC Core leaders, in close collaboration with other
core leaders and congruent with the scientific vision of the OAIC, sets scientific goals for the next stages of
pilot frailty research. They then work to identify investigators whose expertise and career goals would be
applicable to furthering etiological and interventional knowledge in the targeted areas. Pilot and exploratory
studies that can collect data required in order to select or design the future large-scale or confirmatory studies
needed to establish frailty mechanisms, improve measurement and diagnosis, determine etiologies, or develop
novel treatment approaches are prioritized. Studies selected for funding in the first year of this cycle include a
study that uses video-based pose estimation to develop an automated, quantitative frailty and pre-frailty
assessment in older adults, a multimodal approach to finding genetic signatures of frailty in TOPMed
population studies, and a pilot study of provision of digital access to older, frail and underserved patients
awaiting kidney transplant to facilitate improved health care in this most vulnerable group. The specific aims of
the PESC are to 1) solicit, select, and support pilot studies that advance the science and translation of frailty
research, 2) to support the development of well-designed and informative pilot studies, 3) to provide and
conduct longitudinal mentorship to supported investigators as well as provide oversight through completion of
the pilot award and pursuit of funding for the next stage of research, 4) to further guide the translation of any
pilot study results, and 5) to expand the research environment and network of frailty-focused investigators
needed to accomplish the overall OAIC goals. These aims will be carried out in close collaboration with
biostatistics, biological mechanisms, and clinical translational and recruitment core leaders to ensure optimal
design and access to core resources needed for study success. A new Technology Assessment and Solutions
Core (RC4) will bring new and unique engineering focused studies into this core. This core will also guide the
translation of pilot work into a deeper understanding of the basic biology and population implications of frailty
and into interventions that will prevent or treat frailty hence help maintain independence.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10914971
- **Project number:** 5P30AG021334-22
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** NEAL S FEDARKO
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $240,642
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2003-06-01 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10914971

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10914971, Pilot/Exploratory Studies Core (5P30AG021334-22). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10914971. Licensed CC0.

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