Ageing and Neurodegeneration
Protein Aggregation in Ageing
We explore how ageing contributes to protein misfolding, a fundamental driver of neurodegenerative disorders.
Huang, C., Wagner-Valladolid, S., Stephens, A.D., Jung, R., Poudel, C., Sinnige, T., Lechler, M.C., Schloerit, N., Lu, M., Laine, R.F. and Michel, C.H., 2019. Intrinsically aggregation-prone proteins form amyloid-like aggregates and contribute to tissue aging in Caenorhabditis elegans. Elife, 8, p.e43059.
MRE and Machine Learning for Brain Ageing
Using Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) and machine learning, we develop predictive models for brain ageing and cognitive decline.
Träuble, J., Hiscox, L.V., Johnson, C.L., Schönlieb, C.B., Kaminski Schierle, G.S. and Aviles-Rivero, A.I., 2024. Contrastive learning with adaptive neighborhoods for brain age prediction on 3D stiffness maps. Transactions on Machine Learning Research.
Träuble, J., Hiscox, L.V., Johnson, Aviles-Rivero, A.I., C.L., Schönlieb, C.B. and Kaminski Schierle, G.S. and , 2025. Enhancing Brain Age Prediction and Neurodegeneration Detection with Contrastive Learning on Regional Biomechanical Properties. bioRxiv.
Compound Verification for Healthy Ageing
We screen and verify small drug molecules and natural compounds to evaluate their suitability to promote healthy ageing using our advanced analysis pipeline.
Sea cucumber-derived extract can protect skin cells from oxidative DNA damage and mitochondrial degradation, and promote wound healing. B Mazumder, M Lu, H Rahmoune, A Fernandez-Villegas, E Ward, et al. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 180, 2024, 117466.
Sea Cucumber-Derived Peptides Alleviate Oxidative Stress in Neuroblastoma Cells and Improve Survival in C. elegans Exposed to Neurotoxic Paraquat.M LU, A Mishra, C Boschetti, Y Liu, H Huang, et al. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2021, 8842926.
Collaborations
We work with leading ageing researchers, including Dr Della David (Babraham Institute, UK), Prof.
Curtis Johnson (University of Delaware, US), and Prof. Carola Schönlieb (University of Cambridge, UK), to understand brain elasticity and neurological health over time.