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Brown University gets up to $22M federal grant to study slowing human aging itself

Posted by jared467 in Longevity & Anti-Aging - 4 points, 4 comments.

https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-02-24/aging-research-arpa

Brown University just landed up to $22 million from ARPA-H to research treating aging as the actual target, not just individual diseases. The team, led by researcher John Sedivy, wants to find interventions that slow the normal aging process in healthy people, which is a pretty different framing than the usual "treat one disease at a time" model.

I like that they said the goal is aging itself, not a specific disease, but I want to stay cautious here. Anecdotally I have seen so many headlines over the last few years promising a big breakthrough, and then nothing really changes for regular people. Funding is good, and Brown is a serious institution, but slowing aging in humans is a very different thing than slowing it in mice.

Has anyone here been following ARPA-H's PROSPR program? I am curious if they are planning trials open to the public someday, or only working with lab models for now.

Comments

  • greg_labrat: Tbh the mouse to human gap is what bugs me the most about these big funding announcements. Mice age in 2-3 years, their biology is wired completely different, and most things that extend their lifespan either do nothing or cause harm when you try to translate it. Also the PROSPR trials are preclinical from what i read, mostly iPSC derived stuff in vitro plus animal work. No public trials planned that i have seen, and honestly i would not hold my breath for one anytime soon. The "treat aging as
  • jared467: Yeah the regulatory angle is what i am hoping for, because if aging becomes a recognized indication then trials have a clear path. But i hear you on the mouse gap, anecdotally it feels like every longevity paper starts in mice and ends in a press release. Preclinical only is disappointing but not surprising. I will keep watching for any updates from Sedivy lab though, they seem serious about the cellular senescence work at least. Thanks for the honest take, it helps 😅
  • optimizedgreg: Yeah that mouse thing is exactly my worry too ngl. 2-3 years lifespan vs ours, completely different biology. Most stuff that works in mice just flops in humans or worse causes problems. I wanna be excited but i keep getting burned by these announcements, like you said nothing ever changes for regular people at the end of the day. Is there anything from PROSPR that even looks halfway promising to you so far?
  • jared467: Honestly no, not really. From what I read PROSPR is still mostly in the lab model stage, nothing close to human trials yet I think 😅. Maybe the senolytic angle interests me a little but I want to see real data before I get hopeful. It is good funding went to Brown though, at least it is not some random startup making big promises anecdotally. Just tired of getting burned like you said.

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.