Buck Institute for Research on Aging

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. Attempts by the San Francisco Foundation to use the cy pres doctrine to spend outside of Marin County resulted in litigation which the SF Foundation lost. As part of a 1986 court settlement, the Marin Community Foundation was established to administer the trust, valued in 2013 at approximately $1 billion. The settlement required that 80% of the trust's annual earnings be distributed to causes specific to Marin County. The remaining 20% is to be distributed among three Marin County organizations: • Alcohol Justice, formerly named The Marin Institute, which deals with alcohol-related problems. In 2016, the institute began talks with the Gladstone Institutes, a San Francisco-based foundation, regarding a possible research alliance or merger. That discussion ended in October 2016. In December 2022, the institute hosted The Longevity Summit, a two-day conference on ageing, the emerging new biotech companies in the field, and their innovations. ==Facilities==

The institute is on a site located in the foothills of Mount Burdell, north of Novato, California. Of this, a portion is dedicated to permanent agricultural use; another portion is open public space. I. M. Pei, who responded in 1989 to a request to submit a proposal to design the research facility, was selected as the architect for the institute's facility. Pei's master plan called for of laboratory and facility space. 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. The second of four research buildings approved in the master plan was completed in 2012. As of 2016, the institute had more than $80 million in bond debt from building its Novato headquarters in 1999 and completing its third building in 2012. ==Research==

The Buck Institute's research program has ten focus areas related to geriatrics and longevity. The institute had about 250 staff members as of 2017. Buck Institute conducts its research programs through twenty laboratories that focus on specific subjects. After a 12-year dispute with local animal activists, the institute agreed to limit research to animals no higher than rats and mice; many laboratories use no animals at all. Grant revenue in 2015 was $17.4 million, compared to more than $28 million in 2011. In 2016, the institute launched a startup, called Unity Biotechnology First Company, aimed at developing medicines to treat age-related diseases and boost healthy lifespans. One drug developed at the institute, rapamycin, is being researched by Mount Tam Biotechnologies, a private company named for Mount Tamalpais, the highest peak in Marin County, with the institute owning significant legal rights to the drug. ==Leadership==

The founding president and CEO, Dale Bredesen, now heads the lab focused on Alzheimer's disease research. In July 2010 he was succeeded by Brian K. Kennedy, who resigned in October 2016. The institute's current president and CEO, Eric M. Verdin, was appointed in November 2016. == Notable faculty ==

• Judith Campisi • Heinrich Jasper • Brian K. Kennedy • Eric Verdin • David G. Nicholls • Alex Zhavoronkov ==Gallery==

File:Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- entry sign.jpg|Entry sign for the Buck Institute, on Redwood Blvd. File:Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- main entrance.jpg|The main entrance of the Buck Institute File:Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, California -- second building, from courtyard.jpg|The second building of the Buck Institute File: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 File:Buck Institute - entrance to Drexler Auditorium.jpg|Lobby entrance to Drexler Auditorium, in the Administrative Building File:Buck Institute - inside Drexler Auditorium.jpg|Inside Drexler Auditorium, in the Administrative Building == References ==