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Ageing with elegans: a research proposal to map healthspan pathways

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Abstract

Human longevity continues to increase world-wide, often accompanied by decreasing birth rates. As a larger fraction of the population thus gets older, the number of people suffering from disease or disability increases dramatically, presenting a major societal challenge. Healthy ageing has therefore been selected by EU policy makers as an important priority (http://www.healthyageing.eu/european-policies-and-initiatives); it benefits not only the elderly but also their direct environment and broader society, as well as the economy. The theme of healthy ageing figures prominently in the Horizon 2020 programme (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/health-demographic-change-and-wellbeing), which has launched several research and innovation actions (RIA), like “Understanding health, ageing and disease: determinants, risk factors and pathways” in the work programme on “Personalising healthcare” (https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/693-phc-01-2014.html). Here we present our research proposal entitled “ageing with elegans” (AwE) (http://www.h2020awe.eu/), funded by this RIA, which aims for better understanding of the factors causing health and disease in ageing, and to develop evidence-based prevention, diagnostic, therapeutic and other strategies. The aim of this article, authored by the principal investigators of the 17 collaborating teams, is to describe briefly the rationale, aims, strategies and work packages of AwE for the purposes of sharing our ideas and plans with the biogerontological community in order to invite scientific feedback, suggestions, and criticism.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Iesel Van der Plancken, Dr. Daniel Ramón, and Dr. Steven Van Vooren for critical comments on the AwE proposal, and Dr. Geert Depuydt and Brecht Wouters (KU Leuven) for help with finalising the manuscript. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant agreement No 633589. This publication reflects only the authors’ views and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, Box 2469, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Walter Luyten

  2. Department of Measurement and Information Systems, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Abiomics Europe Ltd., Budapest, 1118, Hungary

    Peter Antal

  3. Biology Department, Ghent University, Proeftuinstraat 86N1, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Bart P. Braeckman

  4. Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus Exhibition road, SW7 2AZ, London, UK

    Jake Bundy

  5. Section of Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Cell Biology and Neurosciences, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Francesca Cirulli

  6. Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, 210 S 33rd St, 240 Skirkanich Hall, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Christopher Fang-Yen

  7. Institute for Biostatistics and Informatics in Medicine and Ageing Research, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057, Rostock, Germany

    Georg Fuellen

  8. Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus Exhibition road, SW7 2AZ, London, UK

    Armand Leroi

  9. Tsinghua University, B 407, Medical Science Building, Haidian District, 100084, Beijing, China

    Qingfei Liu

  10. Cell Biology Laboratory, Food Biotechnology Department, Biópolis SL, Paterna, 46980, Valencia, Spain

    Patricia Martorell

  11. Estonian Genome Center & Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia Street 23B, 51010, Tartu, Estonia

    Andres Metspalu

  12. Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Markus Perola

  13. Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Mannerheimintie 166, 00271, Helsinki, Finland

    Markus Perola

  14. The Estonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, 50090, Tartu, Estonia

    Markus Perola

  15. Energy Metabolism Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich, Schorenstrasse 16, 8603, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland

    Michael Ristow

  16. Molecular Genetics Group, Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Chausseestr. 117, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Nadine Saul

  17. Laboratory of Genomics and Proteomics, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Liliane Schoofs

  18. Analyticon Discovery GmbH, Hermannswerder Haus 17, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Karsten Siems

  19. Laboratory of Molecular and Functional Neurobiology, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Liesbet Temmerman

  20. Cartagenia, Part of Agilent Technologies, Inc., Technologielaan 3, 3001, Louvain, Belgium

    Tina Smets

  21. Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden

    Alicja Wolk

  22. Laboratory of Cellular Ageing, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus-C, Denmark

    Suresh I. S. Rattan

Authors
  1. Walter Luyten
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  2. Peter Antal
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  3. Bart P. Braeckman
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  4. Jake Bundy
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  5. Francesca Cirulli
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  6. Christopher Fang-Yen
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  7. Georg Fuellen
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  8. Armand Leroi
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  9. Qingfei Liu
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  10. Patricia Martorell
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  11. Andres Metspalu
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  12. Markus Perola
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  13. Michael Ristow
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  14. Nadine Saul
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  15. Liliane Schoofs
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  16. Karsten Siems
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  17. Liesbet Temmerman
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  18. Tina Smets
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  19. Alicja Wolk
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  20. Suresh I. S. Rattan
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Correspondence to Walter Luyten.

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Luyten, W., Antal, P., Braeckman, B.P. et al. Ageing with elegans: a research proposal to map healthspan pathways. Biogerontology 17, 771–782 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-016-9644-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-016-9644-x

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