Approved Research

Multi-omics systems biology modelling of patient networks in age-related diseases

Lay summary

As we age, our bodies start to develop non-lethal diseases that impair our quality of life in our later years. Although the wonders of modern medicine mean that people are living longer, these non-lethal, age-related diseases are, on average, developing only a little later than before this era, meaning that, generally, people who are living longer are spending more years in poor health. This negatively affects individuals, families and communities, as well placing extra burden on our NHS.

Our overall aim is to find new ways of treating these age-related diseases. Using many types of biological data from volunteers all around the globe, we will use artificial intelligence to find out more about how age-related diseases work and how we could best treat or prevent them on a patient-by-patient basis.

By working with UK Biobank, our investigation will use data generously volunteered from half a million individuals from the United Kingdom. This means that our findings will be more applicable to the general population, resulting in greater health benefits for those in the British and global populations who have developed or will develop age-related diseases. We hope these benefits will in turn take some stress off our NHS and other health systems around the world.