Our health and longevity is largely determined by the rate at which we age. Fortunately, ageing is a plastic process. In our research group we use the nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans as a model systems to understand the pathways that can accelerate or impair aging. C. Elegans is ideal for ageing-related research, as it is technically well established, short-lived (allowing for lifespan as an easily measurable phenotype), and very responsive to alterations in its ageing-regulatory pathways.
These studies are complemented by efforts in human tissue culture, to verify human conservation and further explore our findings for therapeutic purposes. Our research combines biochemistry (Proteomics, ChIP-Seq, mRNA-Seq,…) with high-throughput genetic screening approaches (RNAi), to understand the regulation of aging at molecular and mechanistic resolution.