The digital ageing map: development of web tools for the integration and visualization of age-related changes at various biological levels
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Sch of Biological Sciences
Abstract
The process of ageing in mammals is characterized by changes at different biological levels, from mundane physiological and functional changes like decreased body weight and stamina with age, to more subtle changes at the molecular level. The aim of this project is to develop a Digital Ageing Map: a web resource featuring the collection of molecular, cellular and physiological age-related data for mice and humans. Data on pathologies associated with age, including mortality data from specific diseases, will also be included. Data will be compiled from various sources, including publically available online repositories, governmental health statistics and books and other publications. Not only will the Digital Ageing Map serve as the first centralized collection of ageing changes by integrating and making available different types of studies, but visualisation tools will be developed to allow users to browse the information interactively. Users will be able to use a 3-dimensional model of each organism to view how ageing changes in one organ occur in parallel with changes in another organ and with overall changes to the entire body. At a single mouse click, users will be able to select a given organ for more detailed information such as data on age-related changes at the molecular and cellular levels. The Digital Ageing Map will be very useful for researchers to relate a given set of changes with ageing (e.g., molecular changes in one organ) with changes at other levels (e.g., hormonal changes). It will also be useful for researchers to develop new models of ageing, including new mathematical models that describe ageing and may provide new information on how different processes drive ageing and age-related disease. The resource will also provide invaluable data for healthcare policy makers.
Technical Summary
The process of ageing in mammals is characterized by multiple changes at different biological levels. Some of these changes, such as physiological parameters like body weight, metabolism and certain hormones, have been studied for decades, while others like transcriptional changes only now are becoming better documented. Nonetheless, there is presently no resource to obtain data on age-related changes at different biological levels. The aim of this project is to develop a Digital Ageing Map: an integrated web resource featuring molecular, cellular and physiological age-related changes for mice and humans. Age-related pathology data, including mortality data from specific diseases, will also be included. Data will be compiled from various sources, including public gene expression repositories, governmental health statistics and books and other publications. Not only will the Digital Ageing Map serve as the first centralized collection of ageing changes by integrating and making available different types of studies, but visualisation tools will be developed to allow users to browse the information interactively. Presenting information in an easy-to-understand visual form is a powerful means of fostering the analysis and interpretation of large datasets and of allowing researchers to identify gaps in knowledge and develop new research directions. The Digital Ageing Map will be valuable to researchers performing different experiments to relate their findings to research at other biological levels. It will also be useful for modelling ageing, in particular for developing quantitative and integrative models and for developing system-level models of ageing.
Organisations
Publications
De Magalhães JP
(2010)
Next-generation sequencing in aging research: emerging applications, problems, pitfalls and possible solutions.
in Ageing research reviews
Finch CE
(2010)
Cell resilience in species life spans: a link to inflammation?
in Aging cell
Aledo JC
(2011)
Mitochondrially encoded methionine is inversely related to longevity in mammals.
in Aging cell
Freitas AA
(2011)
A data mining approach for classifying DNA repair genes into ageing-related or non-ageing-related.
in BMC genomics
Avraam D
(2013)
A mathematical model of mortality dynamics across the lifespan combining heterogeneity and stochastic effects.
in Experimental gerontology
Li Y
(2013)
Accelerated protein evolution analysis reveals genes and pathways associated with the evolution of mammalian longevity.
in Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
De Magalhães JP
(2014)
The scientific quest for lasting youth: prospects for curing aging.
in Rejuvenation research
Craig T
(2015)
The Digital Ageing Atlas: integrating the diversity of age-related changes into a unified resource.
in Nucleic acids research
De Magalhães J
(2016)
Handbook of the Biology of Aging
De Magalhães J
(2016)
A direct communication proposal to test the Zoo Hypothesis
in Space Policy
Description | In this project we developed the Digital Ageing Map: a web interface, including visualisation tools, which will allow users to access, browse, and retrieve age-related molecular, cellular, physiological and pathological data for mice and humans. The proposed Digital Ageing Map (now renamed Digital Ageing Atlas) is available online at http://www.ageing-map.org/. This resource is expected to be an important new resource for developing an integrative and systems-level platform to study ageing. The paper resulting from this work is now in press: Craig, T., Smelick, C., Tacutu, R., Wuttke, D., Wood, S. H., Stanley, H., . . . de Magalhaes, J. P. (2014). The Digital Ageing Atlas: integrating the diversity of age-related changes into a unified resource. Nucleic Acids Res. doi: 10.1093/nar/gku843 |
Exploitation Route | By providing a one-stop resource on how different parameters change from young to old adults, this project will benefit a wide range of researchers, in particular those working on the biological aspects of ageing but also researchers working on other areas related to ageing, such as applied research (e.g., by helping researchers identify the different needs and challenges of the elderly that need to be addressed). The research is unlikely to lead to patentable or otherwise commercially exploitable results, though it could benefit pharmaceutical companies by helping them focus on combinatorial sets of biomarkers of ageing to predict age-related pathology. Furthermore, the resource will definitely be of value in providing information to policy-makers involved in healthcare. |
Sectors | Healthcare,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
URL | http://ageing-map.org/ |
Description | This project has thus far not had a measurable economic or societal impact. |