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Understanding the progressive deterioration of the body experienced with age – and, more importantly, how to slow down, halt or reverse this process – has for years been a prized goal for biologists.
The EU-funded AGELESS project sought to make new inroads into this challenge by uncovering the molecular mechanisms of halted ageing in a unique model system – bats.
Of all mammals, bats are exceptional in their surprising longevity in relation to their body size and metabolic rate.
While some of the final results of the AGELESS are still awaiting publication, findings released so far indicate that bats have evolved better mechanisms to prevent and repair age-induced cellular damage than other mammals.
‘Our research shows that bats are able to maintain cellular homeostasis over time,’ says Emma Teeling of University College Dublin in Ireland who received a European Research Council grant for her project. ‘The mechanism that underlies their extended life span is their ability to deal with, and remove, molecular damage.’
It is possible that two genes in particular – ATM and SETX – may drive this, she adds.
AGELESS had to develop new molecular techniques and tools to carry out the tasks it set itself.
Its work is being propelled forward by the participating scientists and may lead to further discoveries that could provide new solutions to slow down the ageing process, as well as fight cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
‘If we want to solve some of the grand challenges that society faces – cancer, ageing, infectious diseases – the solution is already out there in nature. We just need to look in the right places,’ says Teeling.