Ageing with elegans – determinants of healthspan
Ageing with elegans is an EU-funded project under the Horizon 2020 framework with thirteen collaborating academic institutions. The overarching aim is to identify determinants of “healthspan”, which is broadly conceptualized as the period of life when one is generally healthy and free from disease. Given the long life span of humans and many model organisms it is difficult to efficiently identify genetic and environmental exposures of healthspan. To circumvent these obstacles the ageing with elegans project will perform a genome-wide screening in C.elegans, using a high throughput assay, in order to identify genes and pathways associated with increased healthspan. In addition the project will test the ability of several thousands of compounds (mainly medicinal plants) to increase healthspan in C.elegans. Furthermore, candidate compounds will be tested in mice and cell-systems. The results from these model-systems will be compared genetic variants predicting increased healthspan in humans. The Swedish Mammography Cohort (SMC) and the Cohort of Swedish Men (COSM) are among the cohorts that will be used to identify genetic variants associated with exceptional ageing in humans. Results from human and model-systems will be combined using advanced bioinformatics approaches such as network biology.
Financing
- EU, Horizon 2020