Imminst should collect all data and addresses of researchers and contact them one day for such a purpose.
Great idea! Here is a start (check out this article):
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2007 Apr;1100:21-45.
Genetics of healthy aging in Europe: the EU-integrated project GEHA (GEnetics of Healthy Aging).
Franceschi C, Bezrukov V, Blanché H, Bolund L, Christensen K, de Benedictis G, Deiana L, Gonos E, Hervonen A, Yang H, Jeune B, Kirkwood TB, Kristensen P, Leon A, Pelicci PG, Peltonen L, Poulain M, Rea IM, Remacle J, Robine JM, Schreiber S, Sikora E, Slagboom PE, Spazzafumo L, Stazi MA, Toussaint O, Vaupel JW.
C.I.G.-Interdepartmental Centre "L.Galvani," University of Bologna, Via S. Giacomo 12, 40126 Bologna, Italy. claudio.franceschi@unibo.it
The aim of the 5-year European Union (EU)-Integrated Project GEnetics of Healthy Aging (GEHA), constituted by 25 partners (24 from Europe plus the Beijing Genomics Institute from China), is to identify genes involved in healthy aging and longevity, which allow individuals to survive to advanced old age in good cognitive and physical function and in the absence of major age-related diseases. To achieve this aim a coherent, tightly integrated program of research that unites demographers, geriatricians, geneticists, genetic epidemiologists, molecular biologists, bioinfomaticians, and statisticians has been set up. The working plan is to: (a) collect DNA and information on the health status from an unprecedented number of long-lived 90+ sibpairs (n = 2650) and of younger ethnically matched controls (n = 2650) from 11 European countries; (b) perform a genome-wide linkage scannning in all the sibpairs (a total of 5300 individuals); this investigation will be followed by linkage disequilibrium mapping (LD mapping) of the candidate chromosomal regions; © study in cases (i.e., the 2650 probands of the sibpairs) and controls (2650 younger people), genomic regions (chromosome 4, D4S1564, chromosome 11, 11.p15.5) which were identified in previous studies as possible candidates to harbor longevity genes; (d) genotype all recruited subjects for apoE polymorphisms; and (e) genotype all recruited subjects for inherited as well as epigenetic variability of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The genetic analysis will be performed by 9 high-throughput platforms, within the framework of centralized databases for phenotypic, genetic, and mtDNA data. Additional advanced approaches (bioinformatics, advanced statistics, mathematical modeling, functional genomics and proteomics, molecular biology, molecular genetics) are envisaged to identify the gene variant(s) of interest. The experimental design will also allow (a) to identify gender-specific genes involved in healthy aging and longevity in women and men stratified for ethnic and geographic origin and apoE genotype; (b) to perform a longitudinal survival study to assess the impact of the identified genetic loci on 90+ people mortality; and © to develop mathematical and statistical models capable of combining genetic data with demographic characteristics, health status, socioeconomic factors, lifestyle habits.
PMID: 17460163 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
• CLAUDIO FRANCESCHI, C.I.G. Interdepartmental Centre "L.Galvani," University of Bologna, Via S. Giacomo 12, 40126 Bologna, Italy
• VLADYSLAV BEZRUKOV, Institute of Gerontology, 04114 Kiev, Ukraine
• HÉLÈNE BLANCHÉ, Centre Polymorphisme Humaine, Fondation Jean Dausset, 75010 Paris, France
• LARS BOLUND, Beijing Genomics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 101300 Beijing, China
• KAARE CHRISTENSEN, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense C, Denmark
• GIOVANNA DE BENEDICTIS, University of Calabria, 87030 Rende, Italy
• LUCA DEIANA, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
• EFSTHATIOS GONOS, National Hellenic Research Foundation, GR-11635 Athens, Greece
• ANTTI HERVONEN, Tampere School of Public Health, University of Tampere, 33015 Tampere, Finland
• HUANNING YANG, Beijing Genomics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 101300 Beijing, China
• BERNARD JEUNE, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense C, Denmark
• TOM B. L. KIRKWOOD, , School of Clinical Medical Sciences, Gerontology "Henry Wellcome," University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 6BE Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
• PETER KRISTENSEN, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
• ALBERTA LEON, Research & Innovation Soc.Coop. a r.l., 35136 Padova, Italy
• PIER GIUSEPPE PELICCI, IFOM Fondazione Istituto FIRC di Oncologia Molecolare, 20139 Milano, Italy
• LEENA PELTONEN, National Public Health Institute, 00251 Helsinki, Finland
• MICHEL POULAIN, Research Centre of Demographic Management for Public Administrations, UCL GéDAP, 1348-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
• IRENE MAEVE REA, The Queen's University Belfast, BT 9 7BL Belfast, United Kingdom
• JOSÉ REMACLE, Eppendorf Array Technologies, SA—EAT Research and Development, 5000 Namur, Belgium
• JEAN MARIE ROBINE, University of Montpellier, Val d'Aurelle Cancer Research Center, 34298 Montpellier, France
• STEFAN SCHREIBER, Kiel Center for Functional Genomics, University Hospital Schleswig Holstein, 24105 Kiel, Germany
• EWA SIKORA, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
• PIETERNELLA ELINE SLAGBOOM, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands
• LIANA SPAZZAFUMO, INRCA Italian National Research Centre on Aging, 60121 Ancona, Italy
• MARIA ANTONIETTA STAZI, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
• OLIVIER TOUSSAINT, Facultés Universitaire Notre Dame de la Paix, B-5000 Namur, Belgium
• JAMES W. VAUPEL, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 8057 Rostock, Germany
A few more aging research centers in Germany:
Leibniz Institute for Age Research - Fritz Lipmann Institute (former IMB Jena)
Beutenbergstraße 11 • D-07745 Jena • Germany • Phone: +49-3641-65-6333 • Fax: +49-3641-65-6335 • Email: wissdir at fli-leibniz.de
http://www.fli-leibniz.de/
Max Plank Institute for Demographic Research
Konrad-Zuse-Strasse 1 • 18057 Rostock • Germany
Directors: Prof. James W. Vaupel, Prof. Jan M. Hoem
http://user.demogr.mpg.de/jwv/
http://www.demogr.mpg.de/
Fraunhofer Institute for
Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI
Deutscher Platz 5
04103 Leipzig
Phone: +49 (0) 3 41 / 355 36 - 0
Fax: +49 (0) 3 41 / 355 36 - 109
http://www.izi.fraun...eb/stemcell.htm
