Genetics of Human Ageing – from populations to mechanisms

Linda Partridge (primary)
Institute of Healthy Ageing, Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment
University College London
Karoline Kuchenbaecker (secondary)
UCL Genetics Institute, Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment
University College London

Abstract

The demography of human populations is changing; we are growing older. Ageing brings about increased frailty and disease susceptibility and this demographic change is incurring growing personal and societal costs. In the last three decades, research on animal model organisms, such as the fruit fly, has shown that ageing itself can be altered for an improved function in later life. This knowledge has the potential to generate therapies for human age-related conditions. But while we understand a lot about the genetics of ageing in other animals, we know so little about the genetics of human ageing.


References

1. López-Otín C, Blasco MA, Partridge L, Serrano M, and Kroemer G (2013) The Hallmarks of Aging. Cell 153:1194–1217. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.039

2. Slagboom E, van den Berg N, Deelen J. (2017) Phenome and genome based studies into human ageing and longevity: An overview. Biochim Biophys Acta. In press doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2017.09.017. [Epub ahead of print]

3. Niccoli T and Partridge L. (2012) Ageing as a risk factor for disease.Curr Biol.;22(17):R741-52. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.07.024.


BBSRC Area
Genes, development and STEM* approaches to biology
Area of Biology
AgeingGenetics
Techniques & Approaches
BioinformaticsGeneticsMathematics / StatisticsMicroscopy / ElectrophysiologyMolecular Biology