There are many factors that drive disease risk and prognosis, generally caused by a combination of inherited, environmental and lifestyle factors working through the lifespan. We have a primary interest in cardiovascular disease and ageing, and in this proposal we extend this prior work within UK Biobank that focused on CHD (project 9922), Telomere Length (project 6077) and heart failure in diabetes (project 43563) to encompass broader age-related disease areas including the concept of ageing and the healthspan. The aim of our research is to investigate and elucidate disease mechanisms, including for pre-symptomatic disease, in order to identify modifiable risk factors or therapeutic targets for intervention.
We will achieve this through:
1. Utilising genetic data to identify genes that associate with disease risk
2. Investigating specific genes and lifestyle interactions on risk and ageing phenotypes (including on imaging)
3. Evaluating risk prediction and the benefit of genetic information in addition to traditional risk factors to identify individuals at greater risk
4. Identification of causal mechanisms and development of causal networks that can be used to identify new therapeutic targets
5. Investigation of targeted biological pathways for causal effects and intervention safety
6. Analysis of ageing markers on prognosis following an event and on disease prevention and comorbidities