Approved Research

Identification of epidemiological and genetic factors in ageing and ageing-related diseases.

Lay summary

Ageing is a process in which the structure and function of the body gradually degenerate with age and the probability of death increases. In this process, the incidences of chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc.), immune-mediated diseases, and neurological disorders increase by ageing. The heritability of ageing or longevity is estimated to be 15-33%, but it is not sufficient to explain the heritability of ageing. The study design of the candidate gene approach, GWAS, and multi-level analysis (single variant, gene-level, pathway-level) can support the explanation of missing heritability. In this study, we aim to identify the epidemiological and genetic factors associated with ageing (frailty, physical performance, hormone level, etc.) and ageing-related diseases (obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune-related disease, neurological disorders, etc.).