Nordic Life Science 1
“It will be extremely expensive. These societal c
hanges are really prominent and difficult to handle, if we cannot ensure that people live healthier for a little bit longer.” Societal changes In Denmark, Dr Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, leads a group that conducts research into the cellular and organismal consequences of DNA damage and how this affects aging. “The number of 80-year-olds in the Nordic countries will double by 2050. Birth rates are falling. We will have fewer young people and more elderly. Right now in Denmark we spend about EUR 10 billion a year on elderly care, particularly care from the age of 80 years and up. That means that by 2050 that figure will double. It will be extremely expensive. These societal changes are really prominent and difficult to handle, if we cannot ensure that people live healthier for a little bit longer,” he says. Morten ScheibyeKnudsen, associate professor, University of Copenhagen Tremendous growth The field of aging research has seen tremendous growth in the past two decades, and we're now on the verge of turning those discoveries into practical ways to boost the health of older adults. It’s also a field that’s gaining more attention due to the imminent need for better elderly care that shifting demographics bring about, and thanks to the new possibilities that modern research opens up. O 50 | NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG ne big change is that we’re now beginning to be able to test interventions in humans, describes Scheibye-Knudsen. “About 13 years ago it was discovered that we can measure biological age. We all age in different ways, and being able to measure the speed at which we are aging has allowed us to design trials and interventions that could impact this. This has been done in animal models where you can see how it affects the animal’s lifespan – in humans you can’t do these lifespan models because they take literally a lifetime. That’s why biomarkers of biological aging have become so important,” Scheibye-Knudsen says. Geroscience Another big step forward in aging research is the advent of geroscience – a novel research discipline dedicated to uncovering the fundamental drivers of aging, with key areas of study encompassing inflammation, stress response, epigenetics, metabolism, macromolecular damage, proteostasis, and stem cells. The founding hypothesis of geroscience is that the same mechanisms that are responsible for the aging of an individual are also responsible for the onset of multiple diseases later on. “It means that there are fewer mechanisms for us to focus on, instead of looking at individual diseases one by one. If we can delay the mechanism of aging we will be able to reduce the onset of many different diseases, like dementia, heart failure, stroke, respiratory conditions, autoimmune conditions, and so on,” Vetrano says. HOT TOPIC // AGING RESEARCH