Delta Projects
As a complement to our project on the evolution of ageing, which attempts to explain differences in rate of ageing between species, we also focus on comparisons between young and old, in both animal models and humans. Understanding the changes that occur as we age are a priority for turning gerontology into medical applications. Because the Greek letter delta (Δ) is often used to denote change (as in Δx = x1 - x2), these projects have been entitled "Delta Projects".
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We performed a meta-analysis of gene expression changes with age using microarray data from different tissues from mice, rats, and humans. Our results identify genes and processes consistently over- or underexpressed with age and reveal previously unknown transcriptional changes with age, as further described elsewhere. |
A Web Portal of Age-Related Changes
We are developing a web portal that will integrate molecular, cellular and physiological age-related data. Our goal is to integrate various types of age-related changes, including changes ascertained by high-throughput technologies like microarrays. Although GenAge is a powerful resource for understanding the genetic basis of ageing, it does not typically include genes differently expressed between young and old tissues. In this project we want to incorporate microarray data. In a sense we aim to create an expO equivalent for ageing research based on current efforts such as Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), ArrayExpress and Gene Aging Nexus (GAN), as well as published studies. Including physiological and tissue-level changes, like hormonal alterations, is also in our plans as we aim to create a repository of alterations with age.
By integrative age-related changes at various biological levels, our goal is not merely to describe those changes but primarily to help understand the mechanisms driving ageing changes and how they are translated into pathology. In other words, discriminate causes from effects of ageing in an attempt to interpret the origins of human ageing. We anticipate that this new resource will be valuable for researchers to relate age-related changes at different biological levels as well as develop quantitative models of ageing to obtain new insights, the so-called "systems biology paradigm".
This project is still in its initial stages and is considered work-in-progress. We anticipate to have a working portal later in 2009. If you wish to share your data with us or collaborate/contribute to this project, please contact us. This project is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). |
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