Evolutionary conserved determinants of neuronal ageing.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evolutionary conserved determinants of neuronal ageing: a cell biological perspective.
IRAS ID
225251
Contact name
Alessio Vagnoni
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Medical Research Council
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 3 months, 0 days
Research summary
Ageing is the main risk factor for dementia and many other neuronal disorders that affect individuals only in later life. Contrarily to other age-related diseases, a cure or treatment for dementia is not available. Finding measures to improve the health of ageing neurons is therefore crucial to ease the increasing societal and financial burdens associated with age-related diseases. To address this question, I am taking a multidisciplinary approach by integrating in vivo work carried out in fruit flies with work in mammalian neurons.
We have exciting results that shed light on an important aspect of neuronal functionality over aging. However, these studies were performed in fruit flies and in cell culture models. In order for our discoveries to have a wider translational impact, validating our results in human samples is essential. Therefore, I would like to obtain frozen human brain tissues to test our hypothesis by performing biochemical analyses. The samples will be used to compare the levels of selected proteins between tissues of young and old healthy donors (obtained from the Edinburgh and Cambridge brain banks, respectively). This approach is crucial to reveal whether key aspects of neuronal function of ageing organisms may be recapitulated in humans. Being able to demonstrate evolutionary conservation will ultimately help devising strategies to improve the health of the ageing nervous system in humans.
REC name
London - Brighton & Sussex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0522
Date of REC Opinion
21 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion