The Division of Aging Biology (DAB) of the National Institute on Aging funds the Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging across the U.S.
The Centers provide leadership in the pursuit of basic research into the biology of aging. They do so through a Research Development Core, which administers small start-up funds locally and organizes national annual meetings to highlight specific areas of research.
In addition, each Nathan Shock Center has several specialized cores that provide services to Shock Center members, as well as for-fee services to the community at large. The cores are different in each Center, depending on the strengths of each Institution.
The initiative is named after Nathan Shock, PhD, Director of the Gerontology Research Center at National Institutes of Health (NIH) for nearly 35 years and regarded by many as the “father of gerontology.”
The Nathan Shock Centers program, a Core Center Grant program (P30 mechanism), was established in 1995 to enhance well-developed institutional programs in basic research on aging by providing state-of-the-art research resources to create the strongest environment possible for the conduct of basic aging research. Applications are accepted only in response to a Request for Applications.
There are currently eight Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging:
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine Nathan Shock Center
- The Jackson Laboratory Nathan Shock Center
- Oklahoma Nathan Shock Center
- San Antonio Nathan Shock Center
- San Diego Nathan Shock Center
- The University of Alabama at Birmingham Nathan Shock Center
- University of Southern California and Buck Institute for Research on Aging Nathan Shock Center
- University of Washington Nathan Shock Center
The Nathan Shock Centers program is part of the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) of the National Institute on Aging, NIH.
The objective of the Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) is to initiate new cross-disciplinary collaborative networks that bring together key thought leaders from each of the six NIA center programs to align approaches across programs that will uncover synergies and insights that lead to novel collaborations.
Learn more about the RCCN's centers, workshops, webinars and more, here.