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Ageing Research Translation: a new era for UK geroscience

Nature Aging volume 2, pages 867–868 (2022)Cite this article

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These are exciting times for aging research. Average life expectancy has risen dramatically in many countries over the last century and our understanding of aging across the life course, from different disciplinary perspectives, is growing. However, improvements in healthy life expectancy (healthspan) have not kept pace with improvements in lifespan, and inequalities in healthspan, between countries and socioeconomic groups, are stark1. The UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030) is shining a spotlight on this global issue. The UK government has responded by setting two ambitious targets: (1) ensuring that people enjoy at least five additional healthy, independent years of life by 2035 and (2) narrowing the healthspan gap between the richest and poorest2.

If advances in the biology and epidemiology of aging are to positively impact healthspan and reduce inequalities, an effective translational pipeline is needed — from laboratory and population studies, through early and later phase clinical studies, and onward into clinical practice and policy. Some challenges must be overcome to realize this vision, a key one being insufficient collaboration between different research disciplines3. Insights in one area often do not inform progress in other areas. Promising interventions have yet to progress through the translational pathway, and some solutions are currently not deployable in the clinic4.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. AGE Research Group, Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Miles D. Witham, Rachel Cooper & Avan A. Sayer

  2. NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Miles D. Witham, Rachel Cooper & Avan A. Sayer

  3. Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Musculoskeletal Science and Sports Medicine Research Centre, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Rachel Cooper & Kelly A. Bowden Davies

  4. School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Sandra Ortega-Martorell

  5. Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Claire E. Stewart

Authors
  1. Miles D. Witham
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  2. Rachel Cooper
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  3. Kelly A. Bowden Davies
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  4. Sandra Ortega-Martorell
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  5. Claire E. Stewart
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  6. Avan A. Sayer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miles D. Witham.

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Competing interests

The authors lead the UK Research and Innovation funded ART (Ageing Research Translation) of Healthy Ageing Network (grant BB/W018209/1).

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Witham, M.D., Cooper, R., Bowden Davies, K.A. et al. Ageing Research Translation: a new era for UK geroscience. Nat Aging 2, 867–868 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00288-8

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