Ageing Research Translation (ART) of Healthy Ageing Network
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Translational and Clinical Res Institute
Abstract
The global population is ageing - more people are living longer lives and a greater proportion of the population are aged 65 and over than at any time in the past. This is clearly good news, however improvements in healthspan (that is, the number of years people spend in good health, living independently) have not kept pace with improvements in lifespan (the number of years people live for). This means that the additional years of life are not always lived in good health.
To address this, the UK government has set the ambitious target of ensuring that people can enjoy at least five additional healthy, independent years of life by 2035. However, a recent House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report on healthy ageing has concluded that this target is unlikely to be met unless we develop new ways to research ageing that lead to the identification of effective methods to promote healthy ageing across life. In particular, the House of Lords committee noted the need to join up different areas of ageing research to make sure that discoveries in the laboratory are followed up by studies in people.
The aim of the Ageing Research Translation (ART) of Healthy Ageing Network is to address this scientific challenge. Our Network will create links between laboratory research, detailed studies in humans, and existing sets of information on health, illness and lifestyle. We will combine these areas of expertise to build a unique Translational Platform (a series of studies with standardised protocols, shared recruitment methods and shared outcome measures) for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course to test ways to improve people's health and wellbeing from birth to old age. To achieve this vision, the Network will bring together researchers from different academic disciplines across the UK and beyond, including people with expertise in the biology of ageing, epidemiology, patient care, physiology, clinical research studies including trials, mathematics, statistics and data science along with members of the public and representatives from charities, policymakers and industry.
Through their involvement in the Network and the wide range of activities organised, members will be supported to work together to find new ways to study underlying biological processes of ageing in humans and, to use the evidence generated from this research to develop and test interventions that promote healthy ageing. We will hold a series of stakeholder meetings and conferences to bring people together to form new links and share knowledge. Importantly, we will nurture the careers of new researchers. The ART of Healthy Ageing Network will provide the training and opportunities that they need to build successful careers in translational ageing research and work successfully with a broad range of colleagues. Finally, the ART of Healthy Ageing Network will promote opportunities for closer working through a series of pilot projects, enabling different groups of researchers to start solving problems and overcoming technical, ethical and organisational barriers to make sure that we can build this UK-wide platform to conduct ageing studies in humans.
The activities of the ART of Healthy Ageing Network will deliver a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers, a thriving community of early career researchers with interdisciplinary training, a broad and engaged stakeholder community, a clear road map for growing the Network and developing UK infrastructure, and projects showing initial proof-of-concept for our Translational Platform for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course. It will generate new collaborations between researchers with the critical mass necessary to develop credible applications for further funding. By delivering additional funding and hence capacity to do more research, our ART of Healthy Ageing Network will accelerate translational Ageing research in the UK and internationally to deliver the goal of improving healthspan for all.
To address this, the UK government has set the ambitious target of ensuring that people can enjoy at least five additional healthy, independent years of life by 2035. However, a recent House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report on healthy ageing has concluded that this target is unlikely to be met unless we develop new ways to research ageing that lead to the identification of effective methods to promote healthy ageing across life. In particular, the House of Lords committee noted the need to join up different areas of ageing research to make sure that discoveries in the laboratory are followed up by studies in people.
The aim of the Ageing Research Translation (ART) of Healthy Ageing Network is to address this scientific challenge. Our Network will create links between laboratory research, detailed studies in humans, and existing sets of information on health, illness and lifestyle. We will combine these areas of expertise to build a unique Translational Platform (a series of studies with standardised protocols, shared recruitment methods and shared outcome measures) for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course to test ways to improve people's health and wellbeing from birth to old age. To achieve this vision, the Network will bring together researchers from different academic disciplines across the UK and beyond, including people with expertise in the biology of ageing, epidemiology, patient care, physiology, clinical research studies including trials, mathematics, statistics and data science along with members of the public and representatives from charities, policymakers and industry.
Through their involvement in the Network and the wide range of activities organised, members will be supported to work together to find new ways to study underlying biological processes of ageing in humans and, to use the evidence generated from this research to develop and test interventions that promote healthy ageing. We will hold a series of stakeholder meetings and conferences to bring people together to form new links and share knowledge. Importantly, we will nurture the careers of new researchers. The ART of Healthy Ageing Network will provide the training and opportunities that they need to build successful careers in translational ageing research and work successfully with a broad range of colleagues. Finally, the ART of Healthy Ageing Network will promote opportunities for closer working through a series of pilot projects, enabling different groups of researchers to start solving problems and overcoming technical, ethical and organisational barriers to make sure that we can build this UK-wide platform to conduct ageing studies in humans.
The activities of the ART of Healthy Ageing Network will deliver a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers, a thriving community of early career researchers with interdisciplinary training, a broad and engaged stakeholder community, a clear road map for growing the Network and developing UK infrastructure, and projects showing initial proof-of-concept for our Translational Platform for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course. It will generate new collaborations between researchers with the critical mass necessary to develop credible applications for further funding. By delivering additional funding and hence capacity to do more research, our ART of Healthy Ageing Network will accelerate translational Ageing research in the UK and internationally to deliver the goal of improving healthspan for all.
Technical Summary
The UK government has set the ambitious target of ensuring that people can enjoy at least five additional healthy, independent years of life by 2035 and that the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest is reduced. A recent House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report on healthy ageing makes it clear that these targets will not be met with current approaches to research, policy and service delivery. The scientific challenge is to identify novel approaches to research on ageing across the life course with clear pathways to translation.
The ART of Healthy Ageing Network will meet this challenge by catalysing ever-closer working relationships across three key areas of research activity: a) large population-based and routine data cohorts, b) deep-phenotyped life course ageing cohorts with human tissue samples, and c) centres of excellence in the biology of ageing. The Network will bring together a broad range of academic disciplines and stakeholders representing the public, policy and industry. It will build the capacity, knowledge and resources needed to drive forward discovery science in human biological ageing, and a Translational Platform for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course to test interventions to improve healthspan.
The activities of the ART of Healthy Ageing Network will deliver a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers, a thriving community of early career researchers with interdisciplinary training, a broad and engaged stakeholder community, a clear road map for growing the Network and developing UK infrastructure, and initial proof-of-concept for our Translational Platform for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course. It will generate new collaborations with the critical mass to develop credible bids for future funding calls. These synergies will deliver additional funding and hence capacity to accelerate translational Ageing research in the UK and internationally with the ultimate goal of improving healthspan for all.
The ART of Healthy Ageing Network will meet this challenge by catalysing ever-closer working relationships across three key areas of research activity: a) large population-based and routine data cohorts, b) deep-phenotyped life course ageing cohorts with human tissue samples, and c) centres of excellence in the biology of ageing. The Network will bring together a broad range of academic disciplines and stakeholders representing the public, policy and industry. It will build the capacity, knowledge and resources needed to drive forward discovery science in human biological ageing, and a Translational Platform for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course to test interventions to improve healthspan.
The activities of the ART of Healthy Ageing Network will deliver a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers, a thriving community of early career researchers with interdisciplinary training, a broad and engaged stakeholder community, a clear road map for growing the Network and developing UK infrastructure, and initial proof-of-concept for our Translational Platform for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course. It will generate new collaborations with the critical mass to develop credible bids for future funding calls. These synergies will deliver additional funding and hence capacity to accelerate translational Ageing research in the UK and internationally with the ultimate goal of improving healthspan for all.
Organisations
- Newcastle University (Collaboration, Lead Research Organisation)
- The Dunhill Medical Trust (Collaboration)
- British Geriatrics Society (BGS) (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- United Kingdom Research and Innovation (Collaboration)
- MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (Collaboration)
- Liverpool John Moores University (Collaboration)
Publications
B. Walters
(2022)
Towards interpretable machine learning for clinical decision support
Bellfield RAA
(2022)
The Athlete's Heart and Machine Learning: A Review of Current Implementations and Gaps for Future Research.
in Journal of cardiovascular development and disease
Dodds RM
(2022)
Advancing our understanding of skeletal muscle across the lifecourse: Protocol for the MASS_Lifecourse study and characteristics of the first 80 participants.
in Experimental gerontology
Goodwin V
(2023)
Including older people in health and social care research: best practice recommendations based on the INCLUDE framework
in Age and Ageing
Granic A
(2022)
Immunosenescence profiles of lymphocyte compartments and multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) in very old adults: The Newcastle 85+ Study.
in Mechanisms of ageing and development
Granic A
(2023)
Advanced glycation end products in skeletal muscle health and sarcopenia: A systematic review of observational studies.
in Mechanisms of ageing and development
Granic A
(2023)
Hallmarks of ageing in human skeletal muscle and implications for understanding the pathophysiology of sarcopenia in women and men.
in Clinical science (London, England : 1979)
Lisboa PJG
(2022)
Enhanced survival prediction using explainable artificial intelligence in heart transplantation.
in Scientific reports
| Description | The purpose of this funding award is to develop the ART (Ageing Research Translation) of Healthy Ageing Network. The objectives of this Network are to: 1) Deliver a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers with a focus on addressing novel questions on underlying biological processes of ageing that are tractable and translating these into trials of interventions in humans 2) Grow a thriving community of early career researchers (ECR) with access to interdisciplinary training opportunities across multiple research organisations 3) Support a broad and engaged stakeholder community who are actively involved in both shaping the research agenda and in knowledge transfer 4) Produce a clear road map and initial proof-of-concept for a Translational Platform for Healthy Ageing across the Life Course integrating UK infrastructure for studying human ageing biology and testing interventions At this point (the end of the second year of the award) we have made good progress with all of these objectives. We have delivered an engaged network of over 200 members from ~60 institutions with wide geographical coverage, representing multiple disciplines and all career stages. We have implemented a clear communications plan focused on raising the Network's profile and engaging new Network members, and the Network now an active website and over 700 followers on Twitter/X. Developing the careers of researchers to enable interdisciplinary ageing research is a key aim of the Network, and over half of our members are Early Career Researchers. We led a very successful workshop for early career researchers to develop interdisciplinary skills in July 2023, and early career researchers have contributed to many of our other events. We supported attendance for early career researchers at the International Sarcopenia Translational Research Conference in October 2023, along with a networking breakfast for early career researchers to meet and interact with senior colleagues at that conference. We have engaged with a broad range of stakeholders through a diverse range of activities. These include publishing a comment article in Nature Aging, and attendance at events including presentations at academic conferences (covering discovery science, clinical geriatric medicine, translational sarcopenia research and social gerontology), joint events with other funded ageing networks, and participation in policy and advocacy events at the Houses of Parliament, Royal Society and elsewhere. We have run joint collaborative events (Healthy Muscle Ageing conference with muscle biology colleagues; Physical Sciences in Translational Ageing with physics and engineering colleagues). To help establish the building blocks for a translational platform for healthy ageing, we have funded four pump-priming awards which have all completed successfully. Three of which were led by early career researchers and all of which provided a clear demonstration of their commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and research capacity development. These awards (focussing on muscle proteomics in ageing, development of new physiological measures of mitochondrial dysfunction, creating a framework for research into falls on stairs, and work to implement wearable devices for use as outcome measures) have all built new collaborations, developed new research capacity, and delivered new tools for use in translational ageing research across a broad spectrum of research activity relevant to ageing. |
| Exploitation Route | By joining our Network, contributing to our activities and receiving support via training events, pump-priming awards and bursaries, Network members are benefiting from opportunities to develop new and existing interdisciplinary research collaborations focused on translational ageing research. The ultimate focus of the ART of Healthy Ageing Network is to enable research teams to move seamlessly from discovery science to effective, efficient intervention testing to improve healthy lifespan. To achieve this, the Network needs to bring together a broad range of interdisciplinary researchers in an effective way, and provide them with the tools, resources and infrastructure needed to deliver translational ageing research. We are already leveraging the range of expertise within our Network to develop a roadmap of how we can build a translational research platform; such a platform needs to accommodate the needs of research at each point of the translational circle - from discovery science and epidemiology, through experimental medicine, clinical trials, and implementation into policy and practice. We are using the expertise within our Network to develop the building blocks that this translational ageing research platform requires. We have received a one-year funded extension which will support further work on building blocks for a translational platform, including development of a bank of stored human tissue samples to support studies of healthy ageing, and the development of a set of core outcome measures for use in clinical trials of healthy ageing. The overall impact of the Network will be that more innovations are able to move from the laboratory or desktop, through to human testing, clinical trials, and implementation in policy and practice, with consequent improvements in healthy life expectancy. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Healthcare |
| URL | https://research.ncl.ac.uk/artofhealthyageing |
| Description | ART of Healthy Ageing Network Early Career Researcher online survey |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | One of the unmet needs identified by our work with the ECR community is additional support for researchers keen to work across disciplines in breaking down some of the barriers to interdisciplinary working; an in person ECR event is planned in 2023 which will include a session on how to learn each other's languages with a view to begin addressing this. |
| Description | Putting health at the heart of a new Ageing Workforce Strategy |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.physoc.org/events/how-can-we-develop-a-national-ageing-workforce-strategy/ |
| Description | Royal Society - Advances in Geroscience: tackling challenges, unlocking opportunities conference, London |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Title | ART01 - collection of muscle samples |
| Description | ART01 (Proteome dynamics to inform healthy muscle ageing ) collected physiological data and biological samples (n=4 young and n=4 older adults). Cell cultures have been successfully generated from samples for n=3 young and n=3 older adults. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Too early. |
| Title | ART02 - ActivDyad dataset |
| Description | ART02 (Investigating the social and environmental contexts of habitual walking ACTIVities in older adult DYADs: A feasibility study) has led to the creation of the ActivDyad dataset, a small but detailed dataset of mobility data, including contextual information acquired from the activity diaries. To our knowledge, this is the only dataset composed of accelerometery and geolocation data in both members of older adult dyads. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Too early. |
| Title | ART04 - novel qualitative data on attitudes towards stair falls risk |
| Description | ART04 (Developing an Implementation Framework for Stair Falls Interventions) used methods for data collection and analysis to build a novel data set that can inform future research and implementation priorities on stair falls interventions. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Too early. |
| Title | NIHRIO horizon scan |
| Description | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network collaborated with the NIHR Innovation Observatory to undertake a horizon scan for interventions to prevent and treat sarcopenia. This work has yielded a database of completed and planned studies, research groups, companies and patent status information in this area for further analysis. Once analysed, this resource will be of value to researchers in the field of translational sarcopenia research, and will form the basis for selection of candidate interventions for further translational ageing studies. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Too early. |
| Description | ART (Ageing Research Translation) of Healthy Ageing Network |
| Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network Management Group supported by the Network Manager are responsible for delivering a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers with a focus on addressing novel questions on underlying biological processes of ageing that are tractable and translating these into trials of interventions in humans. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Network Management Group comprises academics from multiple disciplines and career stages all of whom contribute knowledge and insights from their own complementary areas of expertise. All members of the Network Management Group contribute to monthly meetings and activities focused on achieving the objectives of the Network. Drawing on established links within the Network Management Group, we have received endorsement from the British Geriatrics Society (clinical community) and the British Society for Research into Ageing (Biology of Ageing community), with initial conference engagement events already held and more planned. |
| Impact | In the first two years, we have built a network of over 210 members from ~85 institutions with wide geographical coverage, representing multiple disciplines and all career stages. We have achieved excellent levels of engagement with our Network members including over 120 early career researchers who are keen to pursue interdisciplinary research on ageing with a translational focus. Excellent levels of engagement are highlighted by good levels of attendance at our events and the fact that 9 of the 10 pump-priming funding applications we received were led by ECR and all 10 applications provided a clear demonstration of their intent to contribute to research capacity development. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | ART (Ageing Research Translation) of Healthy Ageing Network |
| Organisation | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network Management Group supported by the Network Manager are responsible for delivering a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers with a focus on addressing novel questions on underlying biological processes of ageing that are tractable and translating these into trials of interventions in humans. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Network Management Group comprises academics from multiple disciplines and career stages all of whom contribute knowledge and insights from their own complementary areas of expertise. All members of the Network Management Group contribute to monthly meetings and activities focused on achieving the objectives of the Network. Drawing on established links within the Network Management Group, we have received endorsement from the British Geriatrics Society (clinical community) and the British Society for Research into Ageing (Biology of Ageing community), with initial conference engagement events already held and more planned. |
| Impact | In the first two years, we have built a network of over 210 members from ~85 institutions with wide geographical coverage, representing multiple disciplines and all career stages. We have achieved excellent levels of engagement with our Network members including over 120 early career researchers who are keen to pursue interdisciplinary research on ageing with a translational focus. Excellent levels of engagement are highlighted by good levels of attendance at our events and the fact that 9 of the 10 pump-priming funding applications we received were led by ECR and all 10 applications provided a clear demonstration of their intent to contribute to research capacity development. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | ART (Ageing Research Translation) of Healthy Ageing Network |
| Organisation | Newcastle University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network Management Group supported by the Network Manager are responsible for delivering a growing interdisciplinary network of researchers with a focus on addressing novel questions on underlying biological processes of ageing that are tractable and translating these into trials of interventions in humans. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Network Management Group comprises academics from multiple disciplines and career stages all of whom contribute knowledge and insights from their own complementary areas of expertise. All members of the Network Management Group contribute to monthly meetings and activities focused on achieving the objectives of the Network. Drawing on established links within the Network Management Group, we have received endorsement from the British Geriatrics Society (clinical community) and the British Society for Research into Ageing (Biology of Ageing community), with initial conference engagement events already held and more planned. |
| Impact | In the first two years, we have built a network of over 210 members from ~85 institutions with wide geographical coverage, representing multiple disciplines and all career stages. We have achieved excellent levels of engagement with our Network members including over 120 early career researchers who are keen to pursue interdisciplinary research on ageing with a translational focus. Excellent levels of engagement are highlighted by good levels of attendance at our events and the fact that 9 of the 10 pump-priming funding applications we received were led by ECR and all 10 applications provided a clear demonstration of their intent to contribute to research capacity development. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | BGS endorsement |
| Organisation | British Geriatrics Society (BGS) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Jointly-badged events (e.g. symposia) held at BGS conferences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Hosting of ART symposia and presentations at BGS conferences. |
| Impact | Joint representation at advocacy events (e.g. at House of Commons). Input into BGS research strategy, capacity building and training events by ART members. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Developing an implementation framework for stair falls interventions - ART04 |
| Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network funded this project via a pump-priming award. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Stair falls cause many serious injuries in older adults. Improving home stair safety is vital to support healthy ageing. The Research to Improve Stair Climbing Safety (RISCS) group at Liverpool John Moores University have been leading efforts to improve stair safety. RISCS have designed ways to reduce stair falls in our state-of-the-art laboratory, but we do not yet know how these can be put into practice in real homes. To be effective, potential interventions must be acceptable and adopted by end users and professional stakeholders. The aim of the project is to create a multi-stakeholder framework to guide the implementation of stair fall interventions in older people's homes. The project will engage with a holistic network of stakeholders - including end users (older adults), service providers, housing providers, policy makers and regulatory bodies - to establish their attitudes, priorities and barriers towards the implementation of stair fall interventions in home settings. |
| Impact | Award made to this multidisciplinary team in Jan 2023 and delivered by the end of 2023. All outputs and outcomes are reported under the relevant sections of the form (reference ART04). |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Developing non-invasive methods to measure muscle force, relaxation time and mitochondrial dysfunction in sarcopenia - ART03 |
| Organisation | Newcastle University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network are funding this project via a pump-priming award. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sarcopenia is the accelerated loss of muscle mass and function due to ageing. It leads to falls and reduced quality of life. Sarcopenia is very common affecting up to 10% of people over the age of 50. It can be diagnosed by a simple and inexpensive grip force test. However, this doesn't tell us about the cause of sarcopenia. One possible cause for sarcopenia is a problem with the mitochondria. Most of the energy in cells comes from mitochondria which are highly specialised energy powerhouses. Muscles need a lot of energy and so if there are problems with the mitochondria this can lead to sarcopenia. We will measure grip strength plus muscle relaxation time and muscle oxygen levels to see if we can detect problems with the mitochondria. This project aims to develop a simple, non-invasive test that can be used to reliably diagnose and monitor sarcopenia and mitochondrial dysfunction. |
| Impact | Award made to this multidisciplinary team in Jan 2023 and delivered by the end of 2023. All outputs and outcomes are reported under the relevant sections of the form (reference ART03). |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Dunhill Medical Trust Academy |
| Organisation | The Dunhill Medical Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Encouraged members to sign up to the Directory. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This will facilitate the development of collaborations between academics interested in ageing with different areas of expertise. |
| Impact | Not aware of outputs yet. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Investigating the social and environmental contexts of habitual walking ACTIVities in older adult DYADs: A feasibility study - ART02 |
| Organisation | Newcastle University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network are funding this project via a pump-priming award. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Staying physically active in older age is beneficial for physical capabilities and brain health but most older people do not meet physical activity recommendations. This may be due to clinical factors such as ill health, frailty, mobility issues or memory problems, but could also be due to social or environmental factors. For example, an individual's partner may encourage them to participate in walking activity by joining them on walks outside, or an individual may not want to walk outside if they don't feel the local area is safe. This study aims to explore how feasible and acceptable it is to use digital technology to continuously assess physical activity in older adult couples, and to identify key social and environmental factors which influence physical activity through a range of questionnaires, digital technology (i.e. activity monitors, GPS) and an activity diary kept over one week. |
| Impact | Award made to this multidisciplinary team in Jan 2023 and delivered by the end of 2023. All outputs and outcomes are reported under the relevant sections of the form (reference ART02). |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Proteome dynamics to inform healthy muscle ageing - ART01 |
| Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network are funding this project via a pump-priming award. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Most people over the age of 70 experience a progressive decline in the size and strength of their muscles. Often, the losses in strength are more pronounced than the reduction in muscle size. We aim to examine whether a decline in the quality of muscle proteins could explain this difference. Proteins are the workhorses within muscle and each muscle contains thousands of different proteins, collectively known as the proteome. Proteins must be regularly renewed to maintain muscle quality, and new proteins are produced all the time to replace old/damaged proteins. This study will be the first of its kind and will measure the dynamic renewal of proteins in the muscle of younger and older adults. Our project provides a diverse range of training for early-career researchers and our findings could help develop new treatments for maintaining muscle function in older adults by focusing on improving muscle protein quality. |
| Impact | Award made to this multidisciplinary team in Jan 2023 and delivered by the end of 2023. All outputs and outcomes are reported under the relevant sections of the form (reference ART01). |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Sourcing skeletal muscle |
| Organisation | Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Initial seed funding for this initiative; design and approvals for this work being led by ART members. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues in transplant services and NIHR CRN contributing time and resources to support this initiative. |
| Impact | Nil so far. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | The UK Ageing Network (UKAN) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have actively engaged in meetings and other activities overseen by UKAN and have taken the opportunity, where possible, to highlight the work of other networks in our external engagement activities. Event on 5 September 2023 - UK Ageing Research and Innovation: showcasing UK Ageing Networks: Professor Miles Witham, Professor Claire Stewart and Dr Kelly Bowden-Davies of our Network Management Group presented the vision for the ART of Healthy Ageing Network, our work to support early career researchers develop skills in interdisciplinary translational ageing research and experiences of working with industry. We were able to raise the profile of the ART of Healthy Ageing network, build links with biology of ageing colleagues for future collaborations, demonstrate how the cross-cutting nature of the ART of Healthy Ageing Network can add value to the other networks and advocate for areas of translational research requiring future funding. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The UK Ageing Network (UKAN) coordinates communications across the 11 interdisciplinary ageing research networks, that each bring together researchers and stakeholders from different disciplines to better understand the biological mechanisms of ageing and their impact on human health. |
| Impact | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network is promoted on the UKAN website as listed above. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | UKAgeNet |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The ART of Healthy Ageing Network is a member of this cross-disciplinary initiative that brings together 70 national centres, institutes and networks in ageing research. Professors Rachel Cooper, Miles Witham and Avan Aihie Sayer have met with the co-leads of UKAgeNet to discuss joined up approaches to network building and have attended meetings and events organised by UKAgeNet. We invited Professor Ilaria Bellantuono to present at our Interdisciplinary Workshop on Translational Ageing Research (21st Feb 2024) which provided an opportunity to showcase the work of UKAgeNet. |
| Collaborator Contribution | UKAgeNet are leading the initiative to bring together different ageing research networks in the UK and have developed a mission to speak with one voice to policy makers on the needs of those engaged in ageing-related research; provide policy makers with accurate information, projections and latest research findings; raise the profile of ageing research and translation in government and society; ensure capacity building to deliver urgent impact at pace. |
| Impact | Members of our Network Management Group team attended the UKAgeNet parliamentary launch on 20 November 2023. The event was attended by around 50 people including researchers, politicians, funders and the third sector. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | ART Network ECR workshop - The future of ageing research: building confidence in interdisciplinary collaboration |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was devised in direct response to surveys of our ECR community about their unmet training and development needs and focused on building confidence and capability in interdisciplinary collaboration. The Network Management group worked closely with an external facilitator company, The Collective, to develop an interactive workshop that provided attendees with opportunities to explore strategies for building successful interdisciplinary collaborations and to develop approaches to working with people from different disciplines and career stages. ECR were invited to apply for free places to attend the workshop. As part of this application process, ECR were asked to outline what they hoped to gain from attending the workshop and to summarise how their work aligns with the ART of Healthy Ageing Network objectives and contributes to the translational ageing research agenda. Over 25 ECR from a range of academic disciplines and institutions, across the UK, attended the workshop. Attendees were encouraged to transcend the boundaries of their respective fields and engage in cross-disciplinary interactions and by doing so contributed to the creation of a positive, reflective and collaborative environment. As a blog (see URL below) from a participant demonstrates, feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive with many ECR expressing their gratitude for the practical skills and insights gained. By equipping attendees with essential skills in interdisciplinary collaboration and facilitating meaningful networking, the workshop contributed to the ART of Healthy Ageing Network's objective of growing a thriving community of ECR primed to make significant contributions to translational ageing research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.ed.ac.uk/usher/advanced-care-research-centre/news/art-of-healthy-ageing-network |
| Description | ART of Healthy Ageing Network Early Career Researcher focus groups |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We convened two ECR focus groups which were attended by a total of 12 ECR. The primary aim of these focus groups was to explore in more depth the findings from an online ECR survey (completed by 69 ECR) and to work together to identify priorities for future Network events and activities that could helpfully address the unmet needs of our ECR community. We are currently developing plans for specific ART of Healthy Ageing Network organised events to be delivered in 2023 which will include an in-person event that addresses some of the unmet development needs of our ECR community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | ART of Healthy Ageing Network External Advisory Group |
| 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 | The work of the ART of Healthy Ageing Network is overseen by an External Advisory Group (EAG) who we meet with every six months. The EAG comprises eight individuals (which includes two UKRI representatives), who provide a broad range of relevant expertise and perspectives from different disciplines and sectors - they are leading academic, policy and industry figures in ageing from the UK, US and Europe. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | ART of Healthy Ageing Network Newsletter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our newsletters (October 2022 and June 2023) are created for our External Advisory Group, Network members and X (Twitter) followers to showcase what we have achieved and the important role the Network plays in bringing together people, knowledge, resources and infrastructure with a focus on effective translation of ageing research for patient and public benefit. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://research.ncl.ac.uk/artofhealthyageing/newsletter/ |
| Description | ART of Healthy Ageing Network regional launch events |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In 2022, we hosted two Network launch events. Our Newcastle University Launch event was held online on 18/5/2022 and was attended by 44 people. Our North West launch event was held online on 14/7/22 and was attended by 50 people. Their primary aim was to provide attendees with an overview of the Network's aims and encourage engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers from different academic institutions. Alongside talks from Network Management Group members we invited speakers with expertise in the biology of ageing to provide summaries of their research, highlight its translational potential and outline their views on opportunities for collaborative working across disciplines. Both events ended by highlighting what the Network hopes to provide for its members and what we hope members will contribute to the Network to ensure a healthy 2-way dialogue. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | ART02 - Meeting with ActivDem Public Patient Advisory Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We presented the early protocol of this work to the ActivDem Public Patient Advisory Group, composed of older adults with experience of dementia in February 2023 (n=7). The group agreed this topic was very important and transferable to people with dementia and carer dyads. They also suggested changes to the protocol, which we implemented. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | ART02 - UCL's Dementia Research Centre "Digital mobility outcomes: applications for diagnosis and care of dementia" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ART02 project lead (Riona McArdle) presented an invited departmental lecture to UCL's Dementia Research Centre "Digital mobility outcomes: applications for diagnosis and care of dementia" to approximately 50 academic researchers in June 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | ART03 - American Association for Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ART03 project lead, Dr Karen Suetterlin, delivered an Invited Platform Presentation at the American Association for Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) on 4th November 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona on 'Muscle Velocity Recovery Cycles in Periodic Paralysis, deep phenotyping tool and potential biomarker from bench to bedside'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | ART03 - Workshop at International Sarcopenia Translational Research Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ART03 project lead, Dr Karen Suetterlin, hosted 'New Ways to characterise Skeletal Muscle' workshop at the International Sarcopenia Translational Research Conference in Newcastle on 7th October 2023. This was a workshop showcasing the prototype HandClench Relaxometer as well as the PortaMon NIRs device along with nerve and muscle excitability equipment. Approximately 20 international researchers attended. The feedback on the event was positive. As the attendees spanned many disciplines (geriatricians, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists etc.) there was also helpful input from different perspectives on how tools could be used and protocols best applied to characterise skeletal muscle function. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/istrc20/ |
| Description | ART04 - Age-friendly places event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Mulliner attended a Net4Age-Friendly COST Action international training school on 'Ageing in the city: Independent living and social participation in age-friendly smart places and spaces' in Tirana, Albania at Epoka University on July 10-12th 2023. During a workshop session at this event Dr Mulliner shared information about the project and its progress with around 35 attendees, including international academics and researchers from architecture, housing and health backgrounds. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19136/ |
| Description | ART04 - Greater Manchester Ageing Hub Fall Prevention Awareness Week Collaborative Session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Mulliner attended the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub Fall Prevention Awareness Week Collaborative Session: 'Community of Learning, Sharing and Problem Solving' on 21st Sep 2023 (Online). The intention of this session was to begin discussions about developing a mechanism for effective sharing of practice related to falls prevention. During this session Dr Mulliner gave a brief overview of the project to the other attendees (which included around 20 professionals and academics). This assisted in identifying potential future dissemination events which may result from the collaboration (such as workshops, conferences) and building on the contacts for the professional stakeholder network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/ageing/greater-manchester-falls-prevention-awaren... |
| Description | ART04 - focus group with older adults |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Face-to-face focus group was held with eight older adults (2 males and 6 females aged over 55) in July 2023 on University premises, facilitated by members of the research team. The focus group explored attitudes towards stair falls risk in homes, perceived advantages, disadvantages and attitudes towards acceptability of 10 specific stair falls-prevention interventions*, barriers and facilitators to the adoption of interventions in real home/community settings. Consensus building exercises were used to seek to establish acceptability ratings for individual interventions. Key successes included the varied contributions by all focus group participants. Older adults expressed that participation in the discussion had been highly beneficial in helping to raise awareness and understanding of the risks and potential prevention interventions associated with stair falls. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | ART04 - focus groups with professional stakeholders |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Following analysis of the older adult focus group, a face-to-face focus group was held with 11 professionals from health and built environment disciplines in July 2023, facilitated by members of the research team. Participants included consultant geriatricians, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, falls prevention lead practitioners and nurse, stair safety and housing consultant/specialists, social housing project surveyor. The focus group explored attitudes towards the viability of 10 specific stair falls-prevention interventions (consistent with those presented to older adults). Results from the older adult focus group were also shared with the professional stakeholders and, following this, consensus building exercises were used to seek to establish priorities for implementing the interventions in practice and future research directions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | BGS (British Geriatric Society) Spring 2023 conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Members of our Network Management Group presented a 60 minute symposium to approximately 50 attendees. We also hosted a sponsor stand to the 350 in person attendees. We were able to achieve stakeholder engagement with clinicians, raise awareness of the importance of translational ageing research amongst BGS members, encourage BGS members to join the ART network and gather suggestions for building the Translational platform for Health Ageing Research. We reported an increase in Network members and followers on our social media channels. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | BSG (British Society of Gerontology) conference 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our abstract, Introducing the ART (Ageing Research Translation) of Healthy Ageing Network: catalysing interdisciplinary translational ageing research, was accepted for Oral presentation at British Society of Gerontology 52nd Annual Conference. Prof Miles Witham, our Network co-lead, was able to raise the profile of the ART network amongst gerontology colleagues and build links for future collaborations. Raised awareness of ART Network and led to increase in both members and Twitter followers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Healthy Muscle Ageing Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This conference was created in conjunction with the ART of Healthy Ageing Network and ART01 (Proteome dynamics to inform healthy muscle ageing). The conference was attended by 100 delegates from 14 different UK universities, as well as individuals from industry and researchers from institutes in Europe and North America. The event also included an early-career researcher poster competition, which attracted 16 entries and the top 3 posters were awarded prizes sponsored by the Physiological Society. The event was attended by representatives from 3 UKRI ageing networks including ART of Healthy Ageing Network, MyAge and ATTAIN, in addition to the British Society for Research on Ageing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | ISTRC (International Sarcopenia Translational Research Conference) 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The theme of this conference was "Where Worlds Meet" and the aim was to highlight the importance of sarcopenia and advance knowledge through encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations and supporting the development of early career researchers. A fantastic scientific programme underpinned the event, spanning the full translational pathway from epidemiology and biology through to clinical trials, interventions, and digital innovations. We welcomed nearly 100 researchers and clinicians from all over the world. The lead from ART03 hosted a workshop on 'New ways of characterising skeletal muscle'. External speakers came from Brazil, Australia, Europe, Cameroon, Singapore, USA and the UK and Ireland. Over 50 delegates submitted oral or poster abstracts, showcasing a diverse, exciting, and high-quality body of international work. The ART of Healthy Ageing Network sponsored the conference by funding 10 Early Career Researcher places. The profile of Network was raised via a networking breakfast, ECR sponsored places and interactions with UKRI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/istrc20/ |
| Description | Presentation at British Geriatric Society (BGS) in November 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Prof Miles Witham and Prof Rachel Cooper delivered a talk 'Introducing the ART of Healthy Ageing Network'. We used this opportunity to raise awareness of the Network to a clinical academic audience who can help us ensure that ageing research meets their needs and the needs of older people now and in the future. This engagement led to new mailing list sign ups and Twitter followers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/GeriSoc/status/1593211979183050752/photo/1 |
| Description | Presentation at European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) in September 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Prof Miles Witham presented 'Introducing the ART (Ageing Research Translation) of Healthy Ageing Network: an exciting new opportunity to catalyse translational ageing research' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Rosetrees and ART of Healthy Ageing Network Interdisciplinary Workshop on Translational Ageing Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event aimed to promote interdisciplinary research engagement between physical, biomedical and clinician scientists, at all career stages and to develop novel ideas and collaborations in ageing research. It also offered opportunities for networking with leading researchers from different disciplines. There were just under 60 attendees from 18 institutions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.physicsoflife.org.uk/translational-ageing.html |
| Description | Royal College of Physicians Med+ conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Promotion of research for older people to clinical audience via talk on multiple long-term conditions as part of this conference and CPD event. Raised awareness of ART Network and led to increase in both members and Twitter followers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | UK Ageing Research and Innovation: showcasing UK Ageing Networks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Knowledge exchange with industry partners: In recent years, Network Management Group member, Prof Claire Stewart has co-founded a start-up company. This has involved close collaborative working with industry drawing on her academic expertise. She has subsequently brought the learning from her work with business partners back into academia and provided ART of Healthy Ageing Network members and other academics with valuable insights via a talk titled 'From Lab Coats to Launchpads: Navigating Translational Research in the Startup World'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | UKAgeNet parliamentary launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | UKAgeNet, initiated by the Healthy Lifespan Institute (HELSI) at the University of Sheffield, will combine the strengths of leading experts in order to expand the nation's ageing research capacity, deliver urgently needed impact and to speak as one voice to policy makers. UKAgeNet will bring together more than 60 national centres, institutes and groups with leading expertise in ageing research. The new network will expand the UK's ageing research capabilities to deliver urgently needed impact The cross-disciplinary initiative, launched at Westminster aims to provide policy makers with accurate information and projections to raise the profile of ageing research. UKAgeNet will address the urgent need for new collaborative work on the multimorbidity epidemic. It aims to transform the understanding of, and the ability to intervene in, the ageing process. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/healthy-lifespan/news/bringing-together-uks-leading-ageing-research-cent... |