Buck Institute for Research on Aging

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Buck Institute for Research on Aging
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Established 30 Sep 1999
President Brian K. Kennedy
Budget $37 million
Formerly called Buck Institute for Age Research
Location Novato, California, United States
Coordinates 38.133939°N 122.570432°W
Address 8001 Redwood Blvd.
Novato, CA 94945-1400
Website thebuck.org

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging[1] is an independent biomedical research institute devoted solely to research on aging and age-related disease. The mission of the Buck Institute is to extend the healthspan, the healthy years of life.

The institute, a nonprofit organization located in Novato, California, began its research program in 1999. It is named for Marin County philanthropists Leonard and Beryl Hamilton Buck, whose estate funded the endowment that helped establish the institute, and the Buck Trust currently contributes approximately $6 million annually to support the institute's work. In May 2007, the institute established a cooperative agreement with the University of California's Davis and Merced campuses to coordinate stem-cell research, a move hailed by UC as a collaboration that "strengthens California's leadership in stem cell research and moves it forward in an efficient, safe and cost-effective manner."[2]

The campus of the Buck Institute was designed by architect I. M. Pei, who submitted an unsolicited proposal to design the research facility.[3][4]

Research

The institute's 250+ researchers work across disciplines to understand the aging process and its link to chronic disease. Buck Institute scientists have authored more than 660 scholarly papers for scientific journals since its opening in 1999.[5]

The Buck Institute's program in Regenerative Medicine and Aging focuses on three questions:

  1. why do aging tissues lose their capacity to regenerate?
  2. why do stem cells fail to function as one gets older?
  3. how do tissues change during aging such that they no longer support normal regenerative processes?

The research at the Buck Institute is supported by "technology cores" which include genomics, proteomics and mass spectrometry, morphology, transgenics, and bioinformatics.

The Buck Institute is one of seven organizations that comprise The Glenn Foundation for Research in Aging.[6]

History

The Buck Foundation Trust was created by Beryl Hamilton Buck after the death in 1953 of her husband, pathologist Leonard W. Buck. Leonard's father, Frank Buck, was one of the founders of Belridge Oil. When Beryl Buck died in 1975, the bulk of the estate became part of the San Francisco Foundation, about $7.6 million dedicated to "charitable purposes in Marin County" including, "extending help to the problems of aging." The Belridge Oil stock in the trust was bought in 1979 by Shell Oil for $253 million, increasing the trust's value substantially.[7] Attempts by the San Francisco Foundation to spend outside of Marin County resulted in litigation.[8]

As part of a 1986 court settlement, the Marin Community Foundation was established which administers the trust, today valued at approximately $1 billion.[9] The settlement distributes 80% of the trust's annual earnings to causes specific to Marin County. It divides the remaining 20% among three Marin County organizations:

  • the Buck Institute for Research on Aging,
  • the Buck Institute for Education,[10] and
  • Alcohol Justice, formerly named The Marin Institute, which deals with alcohol-related problems.

Attorney Mary McEachron, instrumental in the 1986 settlement agreement, is now chief administrative officer and general counsel of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. In 1985, McEachron had helped convene a panel of experts to discuss the creation of a freestanding research institute focused on problems facing the aging population. In its final gathering, the panel challenged the new institute “to become the pre-eminent research institute on aging; establish for itself a national reputation; and contribute significantly to our (nation’s) ability to reduce disability and dependency in later life.”

Description

As of 2013, the number of full-time employees was 272. Adding volunteers, students, visiting scientists, and temporary employees, the workforce numbers 318.[11]

Its current president and CEO, Brian K. Kennedy, was appointed in July 2010. He succeeds the founding president and CEO, ale Bredesen, who now heads the lab focused on Alzheimer's Disease research.[12]

About half of its support comes from peer-reviewed grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. Foundations and private donors contribute another 35% of the funding. An endowment from the Buck Trust Fund provides approximately 15 percent of the annual budget.[11]

Facilities

File:Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- campus, as seen from Hwy 101.jpg
The campus of the Buck Institute, as seen from Highway 101.

The Institute is on a 488-acre (1.97 km2; 0.76 sq mi) site located in the foothills of Mount Burdell, north of Novato, California. Of this, a 238-acre (0.96 km2; 0.37 sq mi) portion is dedicated to permanent agricultural use; another 70-acre (0.28 km2; 0.11 sq mi) portion is open public space.

Architect I. M. Pei responded in 1989 to a request to submit a proposal to design the research facility. Pei's master plan called for 355,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of laboratory and facility space.[3] The multi-stage plan was for five linked buildings around a one-acre hexagonal courtyard, designed to provide a green oasis for quiet contemplation and outdoor activities. Pei used varied geometric elements and floating staircases, which appear throughout both the administrative and research buildings.

Construction commenced in 1996. The structure of the buildings is concrete and steel-framed. About 50,000 blocks of honey-colored travertine limestone were used to clad the exterior walls of the Institute and line the atrium space. Visitors enter through the Administration Building, where community outreach programs and the 227-seat Drexler Auditorium are located off a large skylit exhibition space. The atrium is accentuated by a 75-foot-high skylight. Laboratory modules are similarly organized around central atria, each interior space illuminated with natural light. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the atria offer vistas of the surrounding countryside.

Laboratories

Buck Institute conducts its research programs through twenty laboratories that focus on specific subjects.

Gallery

  • Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- main entrance.jpg

    The main entrance of the Buck Institute

  • Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- main building, from courtyard.jpg

    The Administration Building of the Buck Institute, as seen from the courtyard

  • Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- second building, from courtyard.jpg

    The second building of the Buck Institute

  • Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- entry sign.jpg

    Entry sign for the Buck Institute, on Redwood Blvd.

  • Buck Institute - entrance to Drexler Auditorium.jpg

    Lobby entrance to Drexler Auditorium, in the Administrative Building

  • Buck Institute - inside Drexler Auditorium.jpg

    Inside Drexler Auditorium, in the Administrative Building

References

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External links

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  1. ↑ On January 1, 2011, the name of the institute was changed from "Buck Institute for Age Research"
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