Topic: ageing

This EMBO Workshop examines how protein synthesis, folding, trafficking, and degradation shape health across the lifespan, connecting fundamental proteostasis mechanisms with ageing and degenerative disease.

An audio feature examining research on DNA damage, repair and ageing. The episode explores evidence that inadequate repair contributes to age-related biological changes, and scientific efforts to test whether improving repair can extend healthy life. Nature published this episode on 2 September 2026.

In vision, there is, surprisingly, very little evidence of common factors. Most studies have found only weak correlations between performance in different visual tests; meaning that, a participant performing better in one test is not more likely to perform also better in another test. Likewise in ageing, cross-sectional studies have repeatedly shown that older adults show deteriorated performance in most visual tests compared to young adults. However, within the older population, there is no evidence for a common factor underlying visual abilities. To investigate further the decline of visual

Cerebrovascular support is critical for healthy cognitive ageing. Reduced cerebral blood flow in ageing is caused, among other things, by hypertension, arteriosclerosis (i.e. stiffening of the arteries) and plaque formation. Arterial stiffness is predictive of cognitive decline, is a critical risk factor for cerebrovascular accidents, and has been linked to heightened risks for Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. The elasticity of cerebral arteries is influenced by lifestyle factors, including cardiorespiratory fitness. Monica will discuss data obtained in their laboratory with ne

Our ability to perceive the world around us can be affected by a number of factors including the nature of the external information, prior experience of the environment, and the integrity of the underlying perceptual system. A particular challenge for the brain is to maintain a coherent perception from information encoded by the peripheral sensory organs whose function is affected by typical, developmental changes across the lifespan. Yet, how the brain adapts to the maturation of the senses, as well as experiential changes in the multisensory environment, is poorly understood. Over the past f

Hilde Loge Nilsen discusses research on ageing, cellular repair and proposals to extend healthy life. Conversation in Norwegian.

Age-associated dementias are neuropathologically characterized by the identification of hallmark intracellular and extracellular deposition of proteins, i.e., hyperphosphorylated-tau, amyloid-β, and α-synuclein, or cerebrovascular lesions. The neuropathological assessment and staging of these pathologies allows for a diagnosis of a distinct disease, e.g., amyloid-β plaques and hyperphosphorylated tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropathological assessment in large scale cohorts, such as the UK’s Brains for Dementia Research (BDR) programme, has made it increasingly clear that the ageing

Reducing protein intake (and that of key amino acids) extends lifespan, especially during mid-life and early late-life. Yet, due to a powerful protein appetite, reducing protein in the diet leads to increased food intake, promoting obesity – which shortens lifespan. That is the protein paradox. In the talk I will bring together pieces of the jigsaw, including: specific nutrient appetites, protein leverage, macronutrient interactions on appetite and ageing, the role of branched-chain amino acids and FGF-21, and then I will conclude by showing how these pieces fit together and play out in the mo

The balance between excitation and inhibition in the central nervous system is fundamental for its development and optimal functioning, with defective and/or altered GABAergic signalling (through Cl-permeable GABAA receptors) found implicated in diverse neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. A major role in the maintenance of the excitation and inhibition balance is played by the Na+-dependent Cl-importer NKCC1 and the Na+-independent Cl-exporter KCC2. These cation chloride co-transporters modulate the intracellular chloride concentration and they are dysregulated or mutated in a wide v

Ageing has been defined as a gradual functional decline with a progressive physiological integrity loss, increasing the organism’s vulnerability to death. Otherwise, this described deterioration is the major risk factor for most current human pathologies, including neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and diabetes. However, in the last decades, non-pharmacological treatments like physical exercise have provided general health benefits against ageing decline. In this study, we aim to analyze how lifestyle factors such as physical exercise can modify the molecular expres

Temporal prediction is the ability to anticipate the occurrence of events, and has been shown to optimize behavior, e.g., reducing reaction times. Recently, optimized behavior has been associated with a phase adjustment of ongoing neural oscillations aligning with the expected onset of upcoming stimuli. In ageing, there is some evidence that these mechanisms might be altered; however, findings are inconsistent. Thus, we aimed to investigate how anticipatory oscillatory markers of temporal prediction change with ageing, adapting a previously used temporal prediction task while measuring electro

Ageing is the greatest risk factor for cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. A characteristic of ageing is the loss of proteostasis. Neddylation maintains proteome homeostasis, it is involved in neuronal differentiation and its deregulation is linked to neurodegenerative diseases. The role and mechanisms of Neddylation with physiological ageing remain still unclear.We studied the expression and impact of neddylation on ageing and cognitive decline. We found that neddylation increases with age in the hippocampus neurogenic niche both in human and mouse samples. Aged, but not young, Nae1+/- h

Ageing is accompanied by changes in brain intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) and cognitive decline. Although the connection between resilience and cognitive performance in older adults has been explored, the neural mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. Processing speed is vital for daily functioning and independence among older adults Specifically, how resilience impacts intrinsic FC within brain networks and individuals' processing speed has yet to be thoroughly addressed. To uncover this question, we recruited 102 healthy ageing individuals aged 60-79 to complete a rest