Belmont Village La Jolla – a luxury senior living community that boasts coastal views and lavish amenities for its residents – will be opening a first-of-its-kind living lab.

In collaboration with the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging and the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, the La Jolla senior living property will add a research center to its extensive list of modern facilities on Aug. 2.

The inaugural living lab will be run by UC San Diego researchers and faculty and dedicated to bettering the well-being of aging individuals.

“The institute of UC San Diego is very unique in that it draws on multiple disciplines – pharmacology, social science, engineering – to collaborate in unique ways in order to forward research on aging, in particular wellness in older years,” said founder and CEO of Belmont Village Senior Living Patricia Will. “We started planning this with the university prior to even breaking ground on the building.”

The unique location of the lab – being directly located within its targeted research group – came from the idea of a more in-depth and natural approach.

“At any given point in time, the leaders in these fields, as well as fellowship students, can engage with our residents to do their research and provide unique insights. It gives the researchers the opportunity to interact with residents in a very unique way,” said Will. “It hasn’t happened anywhere in the country, so we are very excited to be the first.”

A multitude of research topics is ready to fill the walls of the soon-to-be living lab. UC San Diego researchers plan to utilize the grounds and collaborate with Belmont Village La Jolla residents to explore areas such as sleep, cognitive testing, resilience, and even the possibility of AI aiding elderly individuals.

Residents have even been encouraged to propose their own research ideas they would like to see explored. Some of these topics include fall prevention and ways to mitigate the risk, as well as intergenerational engagement between medical students and the elderly.

“I think hearing what matters to our residents – what they would like to work on and improve – will come very naturally because it’ll be organic,” said Will. “The university generates some absolutely groundbreaking research that will transpire with us, but will have implications that will reach far and wide.”

The grand opening of the living lab will come one year after Belmont Village La Jolla opened its doors.

“Being a senior myself, the limit is really our imagination,” said Will. “I’m looking forward to enhancing the quality of life for the seniors that live with us, and for better solutions over time for the senior population.”