UNION · UnderstandiNg fraIlty tOwards a future of healthy ageiNg

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Project objective

With falling birth rates and increasing life expectancy we are an ageing society. 20% of boys and 25% of girls born in 2019 are expected to reach their 100th birthday. This would be good news if it were not for the fact that healthy life span has not kept pace with increasing longevity and now on average adults spend the last 15-20 years of life in ill health. Frailty is a major component of ill health in old age and refers to an enhanced vulnerability to stressors, such as falls, surgery or infections, which was demonstrated clearly in the mortality data for the COVID19 pandemic. The transition from robust health to frailty is a critical factor in the loss of independence and places increased pressure on health and social care. All of this has led governments to prioritise the enhancement of healthspan.The Doctorate Network on UnderstandiNg fraIlty tOwards a future of healthy ageiNg (UNION) is a multi-partner joint doctoral research training network with the overall aims of educating 13 Early Stage Researchers (DCs), advancing the current understanding of frailty, and providing innovative solutions on how healthy ageing can be achieved. UNION brings together world leaders in a range of relevant disciplines (frailty, ageing biology and ageing medicine, inflammation, immunosenescence, immunometabolism, stem cell biology) with state-of-the art technologies including mass spectrometry metabolomics, advanced imaging, artificial intelligence, CRISPR-CAS9 libraries, SPECTRA 35-colour flow cytometry, global and conditional knockout mice. This technological excellence is applied to the clinical situation through unique longitudinal human ageing and frailty cohorts, longitudinal assessment of age-related multimorbidity in animal models and innovative multidimensional frailty indices in humans. Together this integrated activity will provide the highest quality training and research environment in our rapidly ageing society.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO · MilanoCoordinatorItaly
• AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · MadridSpain
• BAYER HEALTHCARE LLC · WhippanyUnited States
• BRITISH PHARMACOLOGICAL SOCIETY · LondonUnited Kingdom
• Buchinger Wilhelmi Development und Holding GmbH · UeberlingenGermany
• CHARITE - UNIVERSITAETSMEDIZIN BERLIN · BerlinGermany
• EUROPEAN UNION GERIATRIC MEDICINE SOCIETY AISBL · Bruxelles / BrusselBelgium
• European Academy Medicine for Ageing · GhentBelgium
• KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET · STOCKHOLMSweden
• KLINIKUM DER UNIVERSITAET ZU KOELN · KoelnGermany
• MAX DELBRUECK CENTRUM FUER MOLEKULARE MEDIZIN IN DER HELMHOLTZ-GEMEINSCHAFT (MDC) · BerlinGermany
• Mujeres de Ciencia (MdC) · MadridSpain
• OSPEDALE SAN RAFFAELE SRL · MilanoItaly
• St. Marien-Hospital GmbH · KölnGermany
• THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM · BirminghamUnited Kingdom
• TLL The Longevity Labs GmbH · GrazAustria
• UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID · MadridSpain
• UNIVERSITA DEL SALENTO · LecceItaly
• UNIVERSITA VITA-SALUTE SAN RAFFAELE · MilanoItaly
• UNIVERSITAT ZU KOLN · KolnGermany
• UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LondonUnited Kingdom
• memodio GmbH · PotsdamGermany

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101167421