• Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Global Health and Wellbeing)
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Scientific Research
      • South Asian Air Quality
    • Longtermism
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Longtermism)
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • Criminal Justice Reform
      • History of Philanthropy
      • Immigration Policy
      • Land Use Reform
      • Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Research Reports
    • Blog Posts
    • Notable Lessons
    • In the News
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Team
    • Contact Us
    • Stay Updated
  • We’re hiring!
  • Focus Areas
    • Cause Selection
    • Global Health & Wellbeing
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Global Health and Wellbeing)
      • Farm Animal Welfare
      • Global Aid Policy
      • Global Health & Development
      • Scientific Research
      • South Asian Air Quality
    • Longtermism
      • Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness
      • Effective Altruism Community Growth (Longtermism)
      • Potential Risks from Advanced AI
    • Other Areas
      • Criminal Justice Reform
      • History of Philanthropy
      • Immigration Policy
      • Land Use Reform
      • Macroeconomic Stabilization Policy
  • Grants
  • Research & Updates
    • Research Reports
    • Blog Posts
    • Notable Lessons
    • In the News
  • About Us
    • Grantmaking Process
    • How to Apply for Funding
    • Team
    • Contact Us
    • Stay Updated
  • We’re hiring!

University of California, Los Angeles — Epigenetic Clock Research (Steve Horvath)

Visit Grantee Site
  • Focus Area: Scientific Research
  • Portfolio Area: Transformative Basic Science
  • Organization Name: University of California, Los Angeles
  • Amount: $2,368,300

  • Award Date: April 2019

Table of Contents

    Professor Steve Horvath discovered the epigenetic clock algorithm able to predict age with a high degree of accuracy. (Photo courtesy of Steve Horvath)

    Grant investigators: Chris Somerville and Heather Youngs

    This page was reviewed but not written by the grant investigator. UCLA staff also reviewed this page prior to publication.

    The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a gift of $2,368,300 over three years to UCLA Professor Steve Horvath and collaborators to pursue a series of experiments directed toward understanding why an algorithm based on the presence or absence of epigenetic modifications at several hundred sites in the human genome, which they call the “epigenetic clock,” is able to predict age with very high accuracy. Dr. Horvath and his collaborators plan to systematically alter the activity of genes that are thought to affect the clock in mice, to test whether they can slow or accelerate the clock and, if they can, what effects perturbation of the clock may have on the aging processes in the mice. They will also investigate why some human syndromes are associated with accelerated aging, and will study how the clock works in various types of cultured human cells. The research will seek to understand how the clock measures age and whether changes to the associated processes can have useful impact on aging in humans.

    This falls within our work on scientific research, specifically within our interest in advancing transformative basic science.

    Related Items

    • Scientific Research

      University of California, Los Angeles — Social Science Genetic Association Consortium (2020)

      Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $2,250,000 to the University of California, Los Angeles, to support the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium (SSGAC). Our understanding is that SSGAC...

      Read more
    • Scientific Research

      Stanford University — Pandemic Preparedness Center

      Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $200,000 to Stanford University to support the university’s new Pandemic Preparedness Center led by Professor Jeffrey Glenn. This falls within our focus area...

      Read more
    • Scientific Research

      Stanford University — Immunization Research

      Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $350,000 to Stanford University to support research led by Professor Michael Fischbach on a novel immunization method. Professor Fischbach recently discovered that exposing mice...

      Read more
    Back to Grants Database
    Open Philanthropy
    Open Philanthropy
    • Careers
    • Press Kit
    • Governance
    • Privacy Policy
    • Stay Updated
    Mailing Address
    182 Howard Street #225
    San Francisco, CA 94105
    Email
    [email protected]
    Media Inquiries
    [email protected]
    Anonymous Feedback
    Feedback Form

    © Open Philanthropy 2022 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share-alike 4.0 International License. If you'd like to translate this content into another language, please get in touch!