Investigating the genetics, lifestyles, environmental and clinical determinants and their interaction on Aging-Related Diseases

Nowadays, age-related diseases like dementia are becoming more common as the population ages. Various studies have reported that genetic, lifestyle, metabolic profile, environmental factors, as well as gene-environment interactions contribute to the pathogenesis of aging-related disorders. Identifying the causal risk factors may be helpful to optimize the progress both in the prevention and treatment of the disorders. The aim of the project is to investigate the associations between genetic, lifestyle, biomarkers, environmental and clinical factors and the progression of the ageing-related diseases (such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Stroke). For example, infectious diseases such as Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had also been associated with higher occurrences of neuropsychiatric symptoms and dementia. There have been numerous calls to investigate how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has influenced cognition. There is strong evidence for neurological and cognitive deficits in COVID-19 survivors. The UK Biobank data will be particularly useful in terms of understanding whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 ) infection is associated with cognitive changes. Collectively, our studies are expected to provide significant novel insights that can be further validated in intervention studies. The duration of this project is expected to be three years.