Just two days after moving into Belmont Village Senior Living in La Jolla in early 2024, Ron Safren was given a unique opportunity, one not available in most senior living communities: the chance to participate in innovative research without having to leave home. The research project, evaluating the benefits of a new fall-prevention program that can be delivered remotely, is one of the recent undertakings from researchers at the Living Lab, a one-of-a-kind partnership between Belmont Village and UC San Diego’s Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging.
The Living Lab is unlike most research labs. There are no petri dishes, microscopes or any of the usual accoutrements usually associated with laboratories. Instead, it is a dedicated studio apartment on the sixth floor of Belmont Village that provides a physical space for UC San Diego researchers to work closely with older adults to develop and test new interventions aimed at improving health, well-being and longevity. Within the Living Lab, the researchers are able to conduct interviews with Belmont residents, complete cognitive/physical/sensory assessments and even collect blood and other biological samples to be analyzed back at the university; the Living Lab is indeed alive.
For Safren and other residents at Belmont Village, the Living Lab provides an outlet for direct participation in academic research, including the chance to have a say in what research is prioritized.
“I have a hip implant because of a fall injury, so the fall-prevention program was something important to me and to a lot of the people who live here,” said Safren. “These types of partnerships benefit both sides, and there’s also a benefit to society from the research that comes out of it.”
A Revolutionary Research Model
The direct and ongoing relationship between research staff and residents cultivated by the Living Lab is unprecedented in a senior living community, according to JAMES ARP, executive director of Belmont’s La Jolla location.
“This is a new and revolutionary idea,” he said. “In other communities I’ve worked, researchers would just do their research and leave. There was no ongoing relationship to help the scientists really come to know and learn from older adults, who have so much to offer in terms of the experiences they’ve had.”
This innovative research collaboration, which launched in 2022, is the culmination of a longstanding partnership between UC San Diego and Belmont Village. It all started with the successful Raise Your Resilience program, developed at UC San Diego and designed to help older adults develop greater resilience and self-compassion in response to the stressors that come with aging.
“Belmont Village has been an incredible partner for us,” said Danielle Glorioso, executive director of the Stein Institute and creator of the Raise Your Resilience program. “For years, we have been looking for ways to work more closely with older adults right where they live, but Belmont helped us make it a reality.”
Raise Your Resilience was initially tested with a small group of residents in 2019 at Belmont’s locations in Cardiff by the Sea and Sabre Springs. It has since been implemented in senior living communities and other settings across the country, demonstrating one of the key strengths of the Living Lab’s approach: the ability to pilot potentially life-changing interventions in a smaller population before implementing them more widely.
“We want our research to be community-driven in every sense of the word,” said Stein Institute scientific director Anthony Molina, Ph.D., who oversees the Living Lab. “Our ultimate goal is for the ideas we test here to impact the broader community of older adults, regardless of where they live.”
Ongoing Science
While Raise Your Resilience has long since outgrown the walls of Belmont Village, the Living Lab is currently supporting several newer pilot projects. One example is the Strong Foundations program, a 12-week fall-prevention curriculum developed by UC San Diego associate clinical professor of medicine and primary care physician Ryan Moran, M.D., that aims to improve strength, posture and balance in older adults. By working closely with Belmont Village residents and staff, Moran and his team have been able to refine the program and make it more effective. They also have plans to expand access to their program, which, unlike the majority of fall-prevention programs, can be delivered remotely.
“Fall prevention is not a new concept, but our approach is unique,” said Moran. “The biggest limitation of fall-prevention programs is that they’re not scalable, and this is what we’re trying to change. Having the Living Lab to pilot the program has been invaluable, but we also want to make it as accessible to as many people as possible.”
Another project at the Living Lab, still in the early phases, is looking at a different challenge facing older adults: cognitive decline. Molina is working closely with Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology and Endowed Professor in Empathy and Compassion Research at UC San Diego Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, to implement a meditation-based intervention designed to improve cognition and stave off age related cognitive decline.
In addition to measuring the cognitive benefits of meditation through standard tests, the researchers will also use biomarkers in the blood, discovered by Molina’s team, to directly quantify how meditation can influence the physiological effects of aging on the brain.
“Your chronological age is relatively distinct from your cells’ biological age,” said Zeidan. “We know that physical training can alter the biological indicators of aging, and we have converging evidence that mental training should be able to as well.
Expanding the Impact
To further expand the reach of the Living Lab, Alison Moore, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine, Stein Institute director and Larry L. Hillblom chair in geriatric medicine, envisions a future in which the Living Lab model is adapted and reimplemented in other communities, particularly those that may not have access to a facility like Belmont.
One idea to bring this vision to fruition is creating a mobile version of the Living Lab. Currently in the planning phase, this mobile Living Lab could be used to better engage different communities across the county in aging and longevity research, particularly marginalized populations who have been historically underrepresented in clinical research.
“A community partnership has to work for both parties, so if you want to work with a community, one evidence-based approach to facilitate engagement is to go to them,” said Moore. “Our partnership with Belmont is really just the beginning in terms of the communities we hope to reach.”
In the meantime, the Living Lab will continue to be an active and vital part of the San Diego research ecosystem and an important source of connection with the people most impacted by research on aging: older adults themselves.
“The Living Lab really changes the lives of the residents here, and it’s one of the most unique things about this community,” added Arp. “We’re honored to continue to support the Living Lab as they grow and expand their influence outward.”
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