Professor of Old Age Psychiatry
Lecturer in Strategic Marketing
Professor of Pharmacology
Head of Department, Population Health Sciences
Professor of Medical Bioinformatics
Professor of Developmental Psychopathology
Professor of Diabetes Nursing
Leader, King's Unilever Bioscience Innovation Hub
Professor of Human & Applied Physiology
Investor Relations Manager, Entrepreneurship Institute
Consultant Endocrinologist
Director, Centre for Innovative Therapeutics
Chair in Social Behaviour & Development
Head of the Centre for Host-Microbiome Interactions
Reader in Nutritional Sciences
Professor of Cellular Signalling
Visiting Professor in Diabetes Care
Director, Ageing Research at King's
Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care, Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine
Professor of Ageing and Health
Entrepreneur in Residence (ARK)
Professor of Neuroscience
Director of the Institute of Gerontology
Member of the Advisory Board of Menzies Australia Institute
Ageing and Society
Established research programme with strong emphasis on multidisciplinary and multiagency work, research on Ageing & Society at King’s is led by the King's Institute of Gerontology and Centre for Global Ageing. Focusing on topics ranging from the social and economic factors associated with the ageing population through to the psychological, biomedical and global aspects of ageing demographics.
King's Institute of Gerontology
Clinical Research and Practice
Through world leading expertise across King's Health Partners and the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, ARK undertakes clinical research in the treatment and care of individuals with age-related diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Aiming to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families, and includes geriatric medicine, control of pain as well as attention to psychological, social considerations in the elderly.
King's Health Partners
Care of the Elderly
Research across several departments at King's focuses on social and clinical research on living well with frailty, dementia communication and improving care experiences in older people. Discovery and innovation to create knowledge and impact nursing, midwifery, and healthcare policy and practice, as well as how we educate those providing care of the elderly. The Cicely Saunders Institute is the first purpose built institute for research into palliative care, policy and rehabilitation.
Cicely Saunders Institute Of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation
Healthy Brain Ageing
The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience focuses on the ageing brain and associated mental health. Research includes the molecular mechanisms and discovery of novel therapies for neurodegeneration, maintenance of mental wellness, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, depression, psychoses, sleep, neuroimaging and digital health informatics. Centres of excellence include the UK Dementia Research Institute and the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases. Commercial collaborations are facilitated through the Centre for Innovative Therapeutics.
King's UK Dementia Research Institute
Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases
Centre for Innovative Therapeutics (C-FIT)
Oral Health
The Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences at King's has a number of ARK affiliated groups has a broad portfolio oral health research directed towards ageing populations, from basic science, through to transnational research, public health and social & behavioral sciences. Focusing on mouth as an ecosystem, the role of saliva, taste sensation and oral microbiome known to be affected by ageing.
Centre for Host-Microbiome Interactions
AI in Ageing Research and Healthy Longevity
Ues of AI technologies within longevity and ageing research is increasing in both academia and industry. To utilise the latest AI advances and accelerate innovation and technology transfer, ARK has partnered with the King's AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare and our industry partners Insilico Medicine and Deep Longevity to establish a Longevity AI Consortium. Machine learning is used to develop longevity and ageing predictors offer new possibilities for diverse data types. This will enable a holistic view aiming to identify novel longevity and healthy ageing biomarkers, accelerate diagnosis of age-related diseases, refine demographic and clinical methods, develop personalised interventions to promote lifestyles for healthy longevity.
King's AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare
Economics of Healthy Ageing
Together with King's Business School, ARK researchers are developing an international network focusing on financial longevity and the economic burden of a global changing population demographics through innovation and opportunities for enhancing productivity of the ageing workforce. We are working with global corporate partners in the pharma, food, insurance and consumer goods sectors to address these issues and to develop commercialization opportunities.
Industry Engagement
The Unilever Bioscience Innovation Hub at King's established in 2020 provides a centre of expertise building on the strengths of the Unilever Framework Agreement. The Hub has bought Unilever researchers and King’s academics together to focus on research in personal care, human biology, microbiology and healthy ageing. Over the last 10 years the Unilever partnership has leveraged over £5m in funding for collaborative projects across King's.
King's Unilever Bioscience Innovation Hub
Entrepreneurship in Healthy Longevity
ARK is uniquely placed to have an Entrepreneur in Residence based in the Department of Informatics at King's focusing on Human Centred Computing, Data Sciences and Digital Health. The King's Entrepreneurship Institute also offers students and researchers support in innovation and commercialization opportunities to tackle novel approaches to enhance healthy longevity.
ARK Entrepruneur in Residence
King’s Entrepreneurship Institute
Longevity Policy and Governance
ARK is a founding member of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Longevity and hosted the launch of "Health of the Nation: National Strategy for Healthier Longer Lives" report in February 2020. ARK continues to support the APPG through the Open Life Data Framework and Business for Health initiatives. The Policy Institute at King's provides evidence and expertise to inform global policy and practice in healthy ageing.
APPG for Longevity Health of the Nation Report
The Policy Institute
Professional Education - Business of Healthy Ageing
An ageing society opens business & organisational opportunities. This short course on the "Business of Healthy Ageing and a Longer Life", organised by King's Business School in association with ARK, explores these opportunities, providing context for the emerging ageing population and provides the frameworks and research insights to turn a changing demographic and customer base into a valuable assets.
Business of Healthy Ageing Course
Paper of the month:
Belsky et al. (2022) DunedinPACE, a DNA methylation biomarker of the pace of aging. eLife 11:e73420
Selected ageing research publications from across King's:
-
Higham, J., Kerr, L., Zhang, Q., Walker, R. M., Harris, S., Howard, D., Hawkins, E. L., Sandu, A-L., Steele, J. D., Waiter, G. D., Murray, A. D., Evans, K. L., McIntosh, A., Visscher, P. M., Deary, I., Cox, S. & Sproul, D., 17 Oct 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Genome Biology. 23, 1, 216. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-022-02787-8
-
GENetic Frontotemporal dementia Initiative (GENFI)
, 1 Jun 2022, In: Neurobiology of Aging. 114, p. 94-104 11 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.02.009
-
Brayne, C. & Moffitt, T. E., Sep 2022, In: Nature Aging. 2, 9, p. 775-783 9 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00277-x
-
Garnica, M., Aiello, A., Ligotti, M. E., Accardi, G., Arasanz, H., Bocanegra, A., Blanco, E., Calabrò, A., Chocarro, L., Echaide, M., Kochan, G., Fernandez-Rubio, L., Ramos, P., Pojero, F., Zareian, N., Piñeiro-Hermida, S., Farzaneh, F., Candore, G., Caruso, C. & Escors, D., 29 Aug 2022, In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 23, 17, 9797. Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23179797
-
Angel, B., Ajnakina, O., Albala, C., Lera, L., Márquez, C., Leipold, L., Bilovich, A., Dobson, R. & Bendayan, R., Aug 2022, In: Journal of Personalized Medicine. 12, 8, 1230. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm12081230
-
GSTT Covid Collaborative , Penfold, R. S., Zazzara, M. B., Österdahl, M. F., Welch, C., Ni Lochlainn, M., Freidin, M. B., Bowyer, R. C. E., Thompson, E. J., Antonelli, M., Tan, Y. X. R., Sudre, C. H., Modat, M., Murray, B., Wolf, J., Ourselin, S., Veenith, T., Lord, J. M. & Steves, C. J., Sep 2022, In: The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. 77, 9, p. 1890-1897 8 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glab295
-
Bhidayasiri, R., Phuenpathom, W., Tan, A. H., Leta, V., Phumphid, S., Chaudhuri, K. R. & Pal, P. K., 11 Aug 2022, In: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. 14, 979826. Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.979826
-
Kosmopoulos, M., Chiriacò, M., Stamatelopoulos, K., Tsioufis, C., Masci, P. G., Kontogiannis, C., Mengozzi, A., Pugliese, N. R., Taddei, S., Virdis, A., Masi, S. & Georgiopoulos, G., Jan 2022, In: Mechanisms of Ageing and Development. 201, 111604. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mad.2021.111604
-
Charlton, K., Ware, L. J., Menyanu, E., Biritwum, R. B., Naidoo, N., Pieterse, C., Madurai, S. L., Baumgartner, J., Asare, G. A., Thiele, E., Schutte, A. E. & Kowal, P., 1 Nov 2016, In: BMJ Open. 6, 11, e013316. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013316
-
Charlton, K. E., Ware, L. J., Baumgartner, J., Cockeran, M., Schutte, A. E., Naidoo, N. & Kowal, P., 7 Jun 2018, In: Nutrients. 10, 6, 736. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10060736
Selected Ageing Research Funding at King's:
1. Mathematical modelling of muscle stem cell behaviour in ageing (Leverhulme Trust),
2. The Sciences of ageing and the culture of youth: 1880 to the present day (MRC Medical Research Council),
3. Comparing the phenotypes and trajectories of human ageing associated with exercise and inactivity: with a particular focus on the biology of skeletal muscle and the immune system (Nadace The JetBrains Foundation),
4. Microvascular dysfunction and inflammation in the brain ageing (Stavanger University Hospital),
5. Decoding the role of follicle stimulating hormone in ovarian ageing (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council),
6. Modelling brain ageing using neuroimaging to improve brain health in older adults (MRC Medical Research Council),
7. The influence of TRPA1 signalling on the response to cold exposure as ageing occurs (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council),
8. Function of post-translational modifications of protein backbones in signalling and molecular ageing (Wellcome Trust),
9. Promoting mental wellbeing in the ageing urban population: determinants, policies and interventions in European cities - MINDMAP (EC European Commission),
10. Epigenetic responses to social and environmental cues in early life and over the life course: impact on healthy ageing in UK population-based cohorts (ESRC Economic and Social Research Council),
11. Lifecourse biological pathways underlying social differences in healthy ageing (LIFEPATH) (EC European Commission),
12. The underlying mechanisms of ageing in the inner ear (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council),
13. Colorado adoption/twin Study of lifespan behavioural development and cognitive ageing (CATSLife) (NIH National Institutes of Health),
14. ATHLOS - ageing trajectories of health: longitudinal opportunities and synergies (EC European Commission),
15. Multi-scale analysis of B cell responses in ageing (MRC Medical Research Council),
16. Mechanisms of vascular smooth muscle cell ageing and calcification (BHF British Heart Foundation),
17. The role of multi-innervated dendritic spines in memory formation in ageing (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council),
18. Exploring frailty, mental health and related outcomes: a multi-cultural population based approach to ageing (MRC Medical Research Council),
19. Midlife pace of ageing in the Dunedin study (MRC Medical Research Council),
20. Pregnant glycaemic control and its effects on healthy development and aging: a role for kisspeptin (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council).
More funding awards at King's on ageing
Ageing Research at King's Lectures
ARK hosts events on ageing and healthy longevity across a broad spectrum of themes with a life course approach with UK and international speakers from academia, industry, foundations and governments. Talks have covered themes including entrepreneurship, commercialization, digital innovation, social impact and economics of ageing and government policy, biomarkers of ageing, age-related conditions, physical activity, nutrition, basic and clinical ageing research.
ARK Lecture Series
ARK Longevity Week 2022 Event
The ARK hybrid event "Data-Driven Longevity: Digital technologies for collaborative innovation and healthy longevity" on 18 November included a keynote lecture by Sarah Harper, Director, Institute of Ageing, University of Oxford and talks by ARK academic and industry partners. The program and recordings are available below.
Longevity Week 2022 - Data Driven Longevity
SleepCity at King's partners with ARK
The Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre (SleepCity) at King's is a collaboration between Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and Sleep Disorders Centre at Guy’s Hospital. ARK related projects will explore the role of sleep on cognitive ageing, neurodegeneration and interventions for healthy longevity.
Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre
ARK Partners with Centre for Mental Health Research & Innovation
King's new Centre for Mental Health Research & Innovation led by Allan Young, Vice Dean, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, will be developing a partnership with ARK. In collaboration with the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and COMPASS Pathways, research in the Centre will include psychedelics, cannabinoids and new models of care for mental and cognitive wellness in ageing societies.
Centre for Mental Health Research and Innovation
Longevity Centre collaborates with ARK to identify biomarkers of healthy ageing
The Longevity Centre (Germany and Poland) and International Institute of Longevity (Liechtenstein) will develop collaborations with ARK to utilise AI informatics for the identification of biomarkers of healthy ageing and to develop personalised lifestyle interventions. The research will by funded by industry partners and EU grants involving academics across King's.
International Institute of Longevity
ARK partners with RADAR-AD
ARK is pleased to partner with Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse - Alzheimer’s Disease, a platform led by Prof Dag Aarsland, Head of Old Age Psychiatry at King's, to transform patient care through remote assessment using mobile technologies to identify digital biomarkers for predicting deterioration. This consortium of academic and industry members is funded by the European Commission Innovative Medicines Initiative.
Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse - AD
Longevity Week 2021 - Innovations in Consumer Longevity Data
ARK hosted "Innovations in Consumer Longevity Data: A Global Perspective" on 19 November, highlighting the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (keynote by Ritu Sadana, WHO) and the Open Life Data Framework (APPG for Longevity). Organisations represented included University of Zurich, National University of Singapore, AXA Health, Legal & General, Nestle Health Sciences Institute, Deep Longevity, Insilico Medicine and Longevity Science Foundation. The event was opened by Prof Reza Razavi, King's Vice President (Research).
ARK Longevity Week 2021 Event
Zurich Healthy Longevity Innovation Cluster - ARK Strategic Partnership
ARK has established a strategic partnership with the University of Zurich (UZH) Innovation Hub to facilitate academic exchange and industry engagement between King's and UZH through their Healthy Longevity Innovation Cluster, Dynamics of Healthy Ageing Research Priority Program and WHO Healthy Ageing Centre. The UK Embassy in Bern celebrated the partnership in late September 2021 by hosting an event including UZH Vice President (Research), King's Global Envoy (Health) and Head of WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing.
ARK Strategic Partnership with University of Zurich
Biological ageing R&D with Muhdo Health
ARK has established a collaboration in healthy ageing and informatics with Muhdo Health a consumer epigenetics platform. Together with ARK academics and industry partners, Muhdo aims to develop the next generation of technologies to better assess biological age by integrating biomarkers with lifestyle and environmental data through advanced data analytics.
ARK biological aging research with consumer epigenetics
Nobel Laureate Prof Sir Peter Ratcliffe speaks at Metallomics and Oxygen Symposium
The London Metallomics Facility and ARK jointly hosted a symposium on 5 May 2021 featuring a keynote lecture by Prof Sir Peter Ratcliffe FRS, Director of Clinical Research at the Francis Crick Institute and Director of the Target Discovery Institute at Oxford University. He won the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019 jointly with William Kaelin (Harvard University) and Gregg Semenza (Johns Hopkins University), for their 'discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability'. Prof Reza Razavi, King's VP (Research) gave the vote of thanks.
London Metallomics Facility
International Longevity Policy & Governance Summit - Longevity Week 2020
ARK hosted the Second Longevity Policy and Governance Summit as part of Longevity Week 2020, with the theme to address the challenges of ageing societies globally we can strive to ensure healthier, longer lives can be achieved by all. The keynote lecture was given by Prof Sir Robert Lechler, King's Provost and Senior VP (Health).
Longevity Policy and Governance Summit 2020
AI for Longevity Summit - Longevity Week 2019
ARK hosted the first AI for Longevity Summit at King's on 12 November 2019. This event included participation by financial institutions, insurance and technology companies and policy makers from across the public and private sectors. This summit led to the establishment of the Longevity AI Consortium and highlighted the importance of AI for R&D in healthy ageing. Prof Reza Razavi, King's VP (Research) and Director of the AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare participated in the summit.
Agenda for Longevity AI Summit 2019
International Longevity Policy & Governance Summit - Longevity Week 2019
ARK hosted the International Longevity Policy and Governance as part of Longevity Week 2019, bringing together policy experts, representatives of government bodies, healthcare and finance ministries, executives of healthcare and financial corporations to discuss initiatives for enhancing longevity. The event highlighted the international response to harnessing the opportunities of an ageing demographic, with lessons learned and shared across countries from a policy perspective – taking societal, cross sector and government approaches.
Agenda for Longevity Governance 2019
Insilico Medicine and ARK collaborate in AI for Healthy Longevity
Insilico Medicine, a biotech company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing next-generation artificial intelligence, announces its partnership with ARK - dedicated to enhancing multidisciplinary research collaborations across King’s and King’s Health Partners to better understand the mechanisms of ageing and improving health-span.
Insilico Medicine and ARK partnership for healthy ageing
Funding for ARK research on physical activity for healthy longevity
ARK researchers in the Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences at KCL have been awarded £1.5m by Nadace The JetBrains Foundation to explore the effects of inactivity on physiological function. In collaboration with University of Birmingham, researchers examined the health of older adults who regularly exercised and the impact this had on ageing.
How exercise in old age preserves the immune system
ARK Research funding of £1.5m on healthy human ageing
Vascular Healthy Ageing Research at King's BHF Centre of Excellence funded by BIRAX
The King's School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences (Prof Manuel Mayr) together with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Prof Eli Keshet) were awarded funding in 2019 by the British Council BIRAX programme for a novel approach to combat age-associated deterioration of vascular function. Given the multiple roles of the vascular system, they propose that certain interventions can be geroprotective.
BIRAX funding award to King's for Cardiovascular Ageing
Launch of BIRAX Ageing Programme
The British Council UK-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Programme in Healthy Ageing was launched at the BIRAX conference hosted by ARK in September 2018. The conference was opened by David Quarrey, British Ambassador to Israel, Prof Lord Robert Winston & Prof Ruth Arnon, Co-Chairs, UK-Israel Science Council, Christian Duncumb, Director, British Council Israel and Prof Reza Razavi, King's Vice President (Research).
BIRAX 2018 Ageing Conference hosted by ARK
Keynote Event - Prof Sir Edward Byrne and Prof Sir Salvador Moncada
On 31 May 2018 ARK hosted a keynote event with talks by Prof Sir Edward Byrne AC, President & Principal of King’s and Prof Sir Salvador Moncada FRS, FMedSci, School of Medical Sciences, University of Manchester. Prof Byrne spoke about mitochondria in ageing and Prof Moncada highlighted his distinguished research on nitric oxide in physiology and pathophysiology. Prof Sir Robert Lechler, Provost & Senior Vice President (Health) and Executive Director, King's Health Partners gave the vote of thanks.
ARK Keynote - Sir Edward Byrne & Sir Salvador Moncada