Trajectories of biological and epigenetic ageing from birth onwards to unravel pathways of favourable and unfavourable cardiovascular ageing. (R-13037)

Human ageing is a complex universal biological process. Understanding mechanisms of biological ageing provides insights why some people have an accelerated ageing phenotype and show a higher risk for developing age-related diseases. Ageing starts from life in the womb, as reflected by differences in the length of telomeres (end caps of chromosomes) at birth. Telomere attrition is one of the nine hallmarks of ageing. How other important biological ageing markers reflect ageing at birth is unknown. In this project I will study accelerated biological ageing at birth by integrating multiple markers of ageing (telomere-mitochondrial ageing, and new accurate epigenetic ageing clocks). I will study whether newborns with accelerated ageing at birth are predisposed to advanced cardiovascular ageing phenotypes in childhood. In a final stage, novel clinically relevant urinary proteins in childhood will be studied in relation to accelerated biological- and cardiovascular ageing. This project will gain insights in the early life biological programming of health and disease conditions, and identify urinary proteomic profiles that can distinguish healthy from unhealthy ageing in childhood. This may lead to a better focused preventive healthcare and well-being strategies that contribute to healthier ageing from early life onwards. This project is embedded in the framework of the ERC-initiated birth cohort ENVIRONAGE and in collaboration with the international Telomere Research Network.

Keywords:Early Life Ageing, Epigenetics, Telomere Biology

Disciplines:Genetic predisposition, Environmental health and safety, Epidemiology, Public health sciences not elsewhere classified