Australia-UK: Collaboration for multidisciplinary research in nutrition and ageing
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Department Name: Genetics Evolution and Environment
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Nazif Alic (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
MartÃnez Corrales G
(2020)
Partial Inhibition of RNA Polymerase I Promotes Animal Health and Longevity.
in Cell reports
MartÃnez Corrales G
(2020)
Evolutionary Conservation of Transcription Factors Affecting Longevity.
in Trends in genetics : TIG
| Description | This award has facilitated exchanges of ideas and technical skills between UCL and Monash University and University of Sydney. A such it has contributed to the scientific skill base in the UK and to training of research scientist and scientists in other careers. |
| Sector | Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic |
| Description | Ribosome biogenesis as a central driver of animal ageing - a mechanistic study in the fruit fly. |
| Amount | £630,430 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/W013525/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2022 |
| End | 07/2025 |
| Title | Data from: Longevity is determined by ETS transcription factors in multiple tissues and diverse species |
| Description | Ageing populations pose one of the main public health crises of our time. Reprogramming gene expression by altering the activities of sequence-specific transcription factors (TF) can ameliorate deleterious effects of age. Here we explore how a circuit of TFs coordinates pro-longevity transcriptional outcomes, which reveals a multi-tissue and multi-species role for an entire protein family: the E-twenty-six (ETS) TFs. In Drosophila, reduced insulin/IGF signalling (IIS) extends lifespan by coordinating activation of Aop, an ETS transcriptional repressor, and Foxo, a Forkhead transcriptional activator. Aop and Foxo bind the same genomic loci, and we show that, individually, they effect similar transcriptional programmes in vivo. In combination, Aop can both moderate or synergise with Foxo, dependent on promoter context. Moreover, Foxo and Aop oppose the gene-regulatory activity of Pnt, an ETS transcriptional activator. Directly knocking down Pnt recapitulates aspects of the Aop/Foxo transcriptional programme and is sufficient to extend lifespan. The lifespan-limiting role of Pnt appears to be balanced by a requirement for metabolic regulation in young flies, in which the Aop-Pnt-Foxo circuit determines expression of metabolic genes, and where Pnt regulates lipolysis and responses to nutrient stress. Molecular functions are often conserved amongst ETS TFs, prompting us to examine whether other Drosophila ETS-coding genes may also affect ageing. We show that five out of eight Drosophila ETS TFs play a role in fly ageing, acting from a range of organs and cells including the intestine, adipose and neurons. We expand the repertoire of lifespan-limiting ETS TFs in C. elegans, confirming their conserved function in ageing and revealing that the roles of ETS TFs in physiology and lifespan are conserved throughout the family, both within and between species. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The data is associated with a publication and is available for reuse. |
| URL | https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.5qv9750 |
| Description | Ageing Masterclass, Oriel College Oxford (invited talk). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk to some 20 industry/professionals about recent work in ageing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Aging Science (selected talk) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented my work at the "Ageing Science" international virtual talks series (twitter: @AgingSciTalks) that were organised during the initial wave of the Covid-19 pandmic to engage global research audiences interested in ageing. The talk resulted in a number of discussions with the members of the international ageing research community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | British Society for Research on Ageing Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk about ageing and our research on ageing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Conferene on the Nucleolus 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I spoke about Pol I and its role in againg to an audence of experts in nucleolar function. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Developmental Metabolism and the Origins of Health and Disease workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Some 50 international scientists participated in the workshop on Developmental Metabolism and the Origins of Health and Disease. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | European Drosophila Research Conference (selected talk) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Selected talk about recent work on ageing to the attendees of the 2019 European Drosophlia Research Conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Genetics conference in Bosni and Hercegovina |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I spoke about ageing at a Genetics conference in Bosnia and Hercegovina. The audience reported enthusiasm about a tipic they had not encountered much before. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Hosting a highschool student through 15billionebp |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We hosted a highschool student through the 15billionebp programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An invited talk to the fly ageing group at the MP institute in Cologne. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany (retreat, invited talk). |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk to some >50 research staff at a Max Planck retreat. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | OddPols 2021 conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a selected talk to the OddPols conference. The talk reached the international community of researchers working of Pol I, III and other RNA polymerases. It informed them about ageing and the role of Odd Pols in ageing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Pan-London Geriatric SpR Training day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a talk on ageing for the pan-London Geriatric trainees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | St George University of London (Departmental seminar, invited talk) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented my work as part of the Cell Biology & Genetics departmental seminar series. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Talk at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I gave a talk to research groups at Monash University. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | TimePie (ageing conference/workshop), Shanghai, China. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk at an industry/academy workshop in ageing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |