Project R-4631

Transcriptomic profiles related to telomere length within a life course epidemiology context (Research)

Telomeres, the distal ends of chromosomes protect them from structural degradation. Telomere length is highly heritable and erosion leads to an increasingly vulnerable structural integrity of the chromosomes. It is considered a marker of overall biological age compared with chronological age. During my Ph. D. years, I will study gene expression patterns (full gene expression analysis), in association with variation in telomere length in two different age groups: newborns and middle-aged to elderly people. To unravel ageing related pathways at the level of the expression of genes influencing telomere length over the life span is groundbreaking. This must lead to 1/ new biomarker discovery of ageing; 2/ understanding the similarity or differences of gene expression patterns on ageing over the lifespan. Finally, I will study the influence of environmental factors (including diet [folic acid and vitamin D] and air pollution) on the identified ageing pathways. Both my training in biostatistics as well as in biomedical sciences is integrated in my fellowship proposal.

01 October 2013 - 30 September 2017