Buck Institute

What Buck Institute does

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, founded in 1999 in Novato, California, is the first independent biomedical research institute in the world focused solely on aging. It employs 251-500 staff including 26 faculty and research professors who conduct basic, translational, and clinical research across the full spectrum of aging biology—from cellular senescence, neurodegeneration, and cancer to metabolism, mitochondrial function, and reproductive aging. The Institute operates 9 technology cores (bioinformatics, clinical research, flow cytometry, metabolomics, morphology and imaging, mouse phenotyping, proteomics and mass spectrometry, single-cell biology, and reproductive biology) and houses 5 centers and consortiums, including the Center for Human Healthspan, the Center for Healthy Aging in Women, and the USC-Buck Nathan Shock Center of Excellence.

The Institute's flagship technology is the Healthspan Horizons federated research platform, a $52 million initiative that uses responsible AI and privacy-preserving architecture to integrate genetic, clinical, microbiome, and wearable device data into personalized healthspan trajectories and earlier signals of disease risk. Other notable technologies include the BrainYears EEG-based brain age clock (developed with Sens.ai, achieving MRI-grade accuracy and a 5.18-year average brain age reduction in a 28-participant study), the N-of-1 Analyzer framework published in Cell for personalized longitudinal monitoring, the TAKEOFF multi-institutional clinical trial platform for ketone supplementation, and proprietary AI aging clock capabilities. The Institute has also incubated biotech spin-offs such as Unity Biotechnology (co-founded by Dr. Judy Campisi), the first company to test senolytics in human clinical trials.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Buck Institute generates revenue primarily through competitive government grants (NIH, ARPA-H), private philanthropy (the Beryl Hamilton Buck Estate endowment, the Innovation Fund, President's Circle, Impact Circle, and major donors such as Nicole Shanahan), strategic partnerships and licensing, and educational programs including the nation's first PhD program in the biology of aging with USC. Its go-to-market motion is research-driven: scientific publications, conference presentations, clinical trial recruitment, public lectures, campus tours, and earned media coverage build awareness and attract collaborations with academic researchers, health systems, and commercial wellness and wearable partners such as WHOOP, Sens.ai, Nautilus Biotechnology, and the ARPA-H-funded THRIVE coalition.

Name

Buck Institute

Legal name

Buck Institute for Research on Aging

Website

https://buckinstitute.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, founded in 1999 in Novato, California, is the world's first independent biomedical research institute focused solely on aging. It employs 26 faculty across 9 technology cores conducting aging biology research, clinical trials, and AI-powered healthspan platform development.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Biomedical Research Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization (HLAGAJAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

AI/ML-Enabled Biologic Discovery Platforms (computational design, in silico screening) (HLAAAIAE)

Keywords

• Aging research services
• Biomedical research
• Healthspan science
• Clinical trials
• Longevity research

Headquarters

HQ city

Novato

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Research Grants: The Buck Institute's primary revenue source comes from competitive government grants, including NIH awards. Notable grants include a $3.5 million NIH grant for the TAKEOFF clinical trial on ketone supplementation and frailty prevention, and a $2.4 million NIH grant for Alzheimer's research.
2. Private Philanthropy and Donations: The Institute relies on donations to support science that adds years to people's lifespan and decades to their healthspan. Donors can give through the Buck Innovation Fund, President's Circle, Impact Circle, Planned Giving, and other designated giving areas.
3. Strategic Partnerships and Licensing: Revenue generated through business development collaborations, technology licensing, and research partnerships with biotech companies and wellness organizations, including incubating companies like Unity Biotechnology.
4. Educational Programs: Revenue from graduate and postdoctoral training programs, including Master's and PhD programs in partnership with USC, advanced training for scientists, and lifelong learning offerings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging conducts independent biomedical research focused exclusively on the biology of aging. Its offerings include the Healthspan Horizons federated AI research platform, a portfolio of clinical trials (BETA, BIG, BIKE, GRACE, MOVE, STAK, TAKEOFF, TIME), nine shared technology cores (Bioinformatics, Proteomics, Flow Cytometry, Metabolomics, Imaging, Mouse Phenotyping, Single-cell Biology, Reproductive Biology, Clinical Research), graduate and postdoctoral training programs, and research collaborations with biotech, healthcare, and wearable technology partners.

Product overview

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging is the first independent biomedical research institute focused solely on aging research. Its primary offering is the Healthspan Horizons federated research platform, which uses AI and privacy-preserving standards to link real-world health data with biological discovery. The Institute also conducts multiple clinical trials (BETA, BIG, BIKE, GRACE, MOVE, STAK, TAKEOFF, TIME) and provides access to core technology platforms including Bioinformatics, Proteomics, Flow Cytometry, Metabolomics, and Single-cell Biology. These offerings work together to advance the understanding of the biology of aging and develop interventions to extend healthspan.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Healthspan Horizons Platform A federated AI-driven research platform that links multi-modal real-world health data (wearables, lifestyle tracking) with deep biological measurements to generate personalized healthspan trajectories and early disease risk signals for researchers, clinicians, health systems, and wellness partners.
• Clinical Trials at the Buck A portfolio of clinical research studies including BETA, BIG, BIKE, GRACE, MOVE, STAK, TAKEOFF, and TIME studies, focusing on aging interventions, frailty prevention, exercise, nutrition, ketone supplementation, and age-related disease prevention for older adult participants and clinical research partners.
• Technology Cores Shared research technology platforms including Bioinformatics, Clinical Research Core, Flow Cytometry, Metabolomics, Morphology and Imaging, Mouse Phenotyping, Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry, Single-cell Biology, and Reproductive Biology Hub, available to internal faculty and external research collaborators.
• Graduate and Postdoctoral Training Programs Educational offerings including the USC-Buck joint PhD program in the biology of aging (launched 2014), Master's programs, postdoctoral training and fellowships, advanced training for scientists, undergraduate and postbacc training, and a Lifelong Learning program for graduate and postdoctoral trainees in aging science.

Quantifiable outcome

• Brain age reduction of 5.18 years on average over 56 days in Sens.ai collaboration study, with 85% of participants showing measurable improvement.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered major, strategic, core and minor.

• Sens.aimajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2026Sens.ai and the Buck Institute collaborated to announce BrainYears, the first validated EEG-based biological clock that measures functional brain age with MRI-grade accuracy. A study of 28 intervention participants showed an average brain age reduction of 5.18 years over 56 days with 85% demonstrating measurable improvement. The wearable neurotechnology platform combines EEG neurofeedback, transcranial photobiomodulation, and AI-driven personalization.
• Nautilus BiotechnologystrategicTechnology or Integration · 25 March 2026Nautilus Biotechnology highlighted its strategic partnership with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging at the Investor Summit. The Buck independently validated Nautilus's single-molecule proteomics platform by mapping up to 768 distinct tau proteoforms across different brain regions. Buck is also referenced as a $1.2M grant recipient from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for alpha-synuclein assay development through Nautilus's platform.
• Healthspan Horizons PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 March 2026The Healthspan Horizons federated research platform invites participation from researchers, clinicians, health systems, and wellness partners to advance prevention-focused models of health. The initiative links multi-modal real-world data with biological discovery studies using responsible AI and privacy-preserving standards to generate interpretable healthspan trajectories.
• THRIVE Coalition (Stanford, ARPA-H)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 March 2026Stanford-led coalition backed by a $34.5M ARPA-H award (PROSPR program) to develop the first FDA-grade Intrinsic Capacity score capable of predicting major health outcomes up to 20 years in advance. The Buck Institute is a coalition member contributing to the PROSPR IC score model alongside WHOOP, Methuselah Foundation, YMCA, and OpenCures.
• WHOOPmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 May 2025WHOOP partnered with Dr. Eric Verdin of the Buck Institute to develop the Healthspan with WHOOP Age feature in WHOOP 5.0 and WHOOP MG wearable devices. The devices feature next-generation health monitoring including Healthspan tracking, FDA-cleared ECG, and blood pressure monitoring, priced at $199-$359 per year.
• Unity BiotechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUnity Biotechnology was co-founded by Dr. Judy Campisi and incubates at the Buck Institute. The company develops drugs to address cellular senescence, a major driver of age-related disease, and became the first company to test senolytics in human clinical trials.
• Gladstone InstitutesstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating Bay Area institution alongside Buck Institute for Research on Aging and UC San Francisco on AI-driven longevity research, including the $52 million Healthspan Horizons initiative.
• UC San FranciscostrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration with UCSF including joint faculty appointments (Dr. Eric Verdin is a professor of medicine at UCSF), shared research programs, and participation in the Healthspan Horizons AI platform initiative.
• University of Southern CaliforniastrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Buck and USC collaborate on the nation's first PhD program in the biology of aging (launched 2014) and the USC-Buck Nathan Shock Center of Excellence for the biology of aging research.
• Super Age GamesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerA November event in New York City developed with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging to test the eight Trainable Longevity Markers (VO2 max, grip strength, balance, agility, working memory, relational capacity, functional strength, and endurance under load) identified through peer-reviewed research.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Calico Life Sciences: Alphabet-backed life sciences company focused on aging biology and longevity. Most direct competitor to Buck as a well-funded, single-purpose aging research organization pursuing basic biology to clinical translation.
• Altos Labs: Well-capitalized (>$3B raised) biotechnology company focused on cellular reprogramming and aging. Comparable in mission, talent base (Nobel laureates), and translational ambition, with greater commercial flexibility as a private company.
• Insilico Medicine: AI-driven drug discovery company applying generative AI to aging and age-related disease targets. Overlaps with Buck's Healthspan Horizons AI platform and N-of-1 analyzer framework.
• Unity Biotechnology: Buck-incubated clinical-stage biotech developing senolytics to clear senescent cells. Direct commercial counterpart translating Buck's senescence research into human trials.
• Mayo Clinic Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging: Major academic aging research center within Mayo Clinic focused on geroscience and translational interventions. Comparable scale, NIH funding mix, and mission focus on age-related disease.
• Albert Einstein College of Medicine Institute for Aging Research: NIA-designated Nathan Shock Center focused on basic biology of aging with translational pipelines. Directly comparable in mission, NIH funding model, and academic geroscience leadership.
• BioAge Labs: AI-driven biotech identifying drug targets through analysis of human aging biology data. Strong overlap with Buck's Healthspan Horizons AI/data approach and clinical translation focus.

Emerging players

• Retro Biosciences: Y Combinator/Resilience-backed longevity startup pursuing cellular reprogramming and autophagy. Comparable therapeutic ambition but at earlier commercial stage than Buck's institutional pipeline.

Regional players

• Stanford Center on Longevity: Stanford-based research center focused on healthy longevity with strong overlap to Buck's Healthspan Horizons partners. Geographic peer collaborating on THRIVE coalition.
• Karolinska Institutet Center for Healthy Aging: European academic center of excellence for aging research. Comparable academic and translational research mission but serves a different geographic ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BuckInstitute
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UClKDVsCWOcAxUXgVyaIGVdw
• Facebookfacebook.com/buckinstitute
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/buck-institute-for-research-on-aging
• Instagraminstagram.com/buckinstituteforaging

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Buck Institute