SANTA BARBARA, CA and NEW YORK, NY — The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research (GFMR) is pleased to announce the 2026 recipients of the GFMR Grants for Junior Faculty, Postdoctoral Fellowships in Aging Research, and the Postdoctoral Fellowship Continuation Awards. These grants are funded by the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research and administered by the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR).
These programs support early career investigators, who are selected through reviews led by scientific committees in aging research.
Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Grants for Junior Faculty provide up to $160,000 to junior faculty (MDs and PhDs) for 1-2 years to conduct research that will serve as the basis for longer term research efforts on the biology of aging. The major goal of this program is to assist in the development of the careers of early career investigators committed to pursuing careers in aging research. This year’s four recipients are exploring a range of aging-related topics at research institutions nationwide:
- Farners Amargant i Riera, PhD
Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Identifying ovarian secreted proteins that drive systemic aging in females - Romeo Blanc, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Rewiring Iron Metabolism to Extend Stem Cell Function and Healthspan - Wenfei Sun, DSc
Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Restoring the chemical connectome: Mechanisms of peptidergic volume transmission failure in the
aging brain - Wei Wei, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Decoding aging through cell-type-specific secretomics
The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowships in Aging Research support postdoctoral fellows who direct their research toward understanding fundamental mechanisms of aging or developing translational insights that have potential to directly benefit human health. Thirteen one-year fellowships of $80,000 have been awarded this year:
- Daniel Aldridge, PhD
Postdoctoral researcher, Columbia University
Harnessing Trained Immunity to Overcome Immunosenescence - Hee-Hoon Kim, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University
Deciphering a non-canonical role of matricellular adipokine in delaying inflammaging - Hoyoung Lee, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Minnesota
Defining mechanisms underlying durable functional persistence in T cells - Sarah Leichter, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Defining age-associated changes in RNA Polymerase II occupancy across tissues - Elena Morin, PhD
Post-Doctoral Associate, University of Rochester Medical Center
Local mitochondrial energetics and neuronal aging - Emmanuel Prikas, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, New York University
IGF2 receptor-targeting therapy to regulate proteostasis in aging and neurodegeneration - Nicole Stuhr, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Southern California
Ether Lipids: Stimulating healthy immune response and aging - Ninghe Sun, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Targeting Mitochondrial Dysfunction to Restore Stem Cell Function in Aging - Kenji Takami
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Lipid Droplet Dynamics in Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Progenitors: Implications for Osteoporosis. - Saki Tomita, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco
Keeping it tight: autophagy-mediated regulation of intestinal barrier integrity - Taylor Valentino, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, The Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Age-Associated Metabolic Reprogramming Limits Skeletal Muscle Stem Cell Function - Valentin Volobaev, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate, University of Rochester
Restoring transposable element repression in aging and senescence - Rola Zeidan, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Florida
Iron-Driven Ferroptosis and Longitudinal Muscle Decline in Aging
The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship Continuation Awards support previous or current GFMR fellows whose research is deemed highly promising and would benefit from an additional year of funding. Twelve GFMR Postdoctoral Fellowship Continuation Awards of $80,000 each have been granted this year:
- Silvana Duran-Ortiz, PhD
Assistant Investigator, Ohio University
Adult-Onset Growth Hormone Receptor Antagonism as a pharmacological intervention for healthy aging: Healthspan and multi-tissue single cell analysis - Richard Giadone, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University
Pharmacologic Recapitulation of Heterochronic Parabiosis to Improve the Aging Central Nervous System - Walker Hoolehan, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Identifying single-molecule epigenetic modification patterns regulating age-associated neuroinflammatory gene expression programs - Airat Ibragimov, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Rochester
Putting aging on pause: targeting CDK9 to ameliorate age-related transcriptional dysregulation - Ryan Marshall, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cross-Species Metabolomic & Lipidomic Mapping of Skeletal Muscle mTOR Inhibition Across Age and Sex - Heidi Pak, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Temporal Predictability as a Driver of Metabolic Flexibility and Healthspan in Calorie Restriction - Nalini Rao, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Gladstone Institute
Elucidating how aging impairs brain proteostasis and protein clearance - Vinaya Sahasrabuddhe, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Investigating the Plasticity and Role of Microglia in Brain Aging - Andrea Francesca Salvador, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Neuroimmune mechanisms of interoceptive dysfunction - Jorge Sanz Ros, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Investigating the Role of Aging and Senescence in Astrocyte-Mediated Synapse Phagocytosis - Yanxin Xu, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital
Investigating cytosolic DNA in senescence and aging - Sen Zhang, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Illinois at Chicago
Age-dependent regulation of clonal hematopoiesis and cardiovascular disease by the megakaryocytic niche
“Advancing research on the biology of aging requires support for early career scientists as the workforce of today and the leaders of future discovery. The scientists supported through these early career awards are conducting innovative research aimed at extending our years of health as we age," says Kevin Lee, PhD, Chief Scientific and Programmatic Advisor, Glenn Foundation for Medical Research.
Notes AFAR Executive Director Stephanie Lederman, EdM: “Supporting Postdoctoral Fellows and Junior Faculty at this point in their research path and entry into the field helps build momentum in this important area of science. The Glenn Foundation for Medical Research has been an invaluable partner to AFAR for nearly all forty-five years of our organization, and we are proud to see how our grantees have contributed significantly to the field.”
Learn more about the GFMR Grants for Junior Faculty here. Learn about the Postdoctoral Fellowships in Aging Research here and the Postdoctoral Fellowship Continuation Awards here.
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About the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research - Founded by Paul F. Glenn in 1965, the mission of the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research is to extend the healthy years of life through research on mechanisms of biology that govern normal human aging and its related physiological decline, with the objective of translating research into interventions that will extend healthspan with lifespan. Learn more at www.glennfoundation.org.
About AFAR - The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) is a national non-profit organization that supports and advances pioneering biomedical research that is revolutionizing how we live healthier and longer. For nearly half a century, AFAR has served as the field’s talent incubator, providing more than $225,000,000 to over 4,500 investigators at premier research institutions to date—and growing. In 2026, AFAR expects to provide approximately $6,522,000 to 56 investigators through a range of programs. A trusted leader and strategist, AFAR also works with public and private funders to steer high-quality grant programs and inter-disciplinary research networks. AFAR-funded researchers are finding that modifying basic cellular processes can delay—or even prevent—many chronic diseases, often at the same time. They are discovering that it is never too late—or too early—to improve health. This groundbreaking science is paving the way for innovative new therapies that promise to improve and extend our quality of life—at any age. Learn more at www.afar.org.