Biological Basis of Aging and Related Diseases
Explore the health challenges arising from an increase in longevity that is not matched by an increase in years of disease-free living and understand the growing burden of multi-morbidity associated with this gap
← Back to courses- CIVIS focus area
- Health
- Open to
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- Master's
- PhD candidates/ students
- Field of studies
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- Medicine and Health
- Type
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- Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
- Course dates
- 10 February - 13 June 2025
The "Biological Basis of Ageing and related Diseases" programme is designed to explore the fundamental biological mechanisms that underlie ageing and its associated diseases. It integrates key concepts from molecular biology, genetics, epigenetics, physiology, and pathophysiology to provide a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the ageing process and its impact on human health.
The participants of the BIP will:
- understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning ageing;
- explore the physiology of ageing: analyze how aging affects different organs, systems and physiological functions;
- examine pathophysiological aspects of aging-related diseases: identify major diseases associated with ageing, such as cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer;
- develop practical research skills: learn and apply techniques for studying ageing and agerelated diseases;
- foster critical thinking and scientific communication: critically evaluate scientific literature on aging and disease;
- internationalization and networking personal communication.
Moreover, this BIP is synergistic with a range of EU COST network activities (e.g. BenBedPharma) and EU Marie Curie International Training Networks ( e.g. MINDSHIFT), which involves participation from applicants in the BIP application. These offer a potential for further networking and potential training and career pathway and progression for students in this BIP to further their training in European labs of excellence, addressing a major EU healthcare and socio-economic challenge.
Main topics addressed
- Session 1: Introduction to Aging Biology - an overview of the ageing process and its meaning from a biological perspective
- Session 2: Molecular and Cellular Basis of Ageing - the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive the ageing process
- Session 3: Physiological dysfunction in Aging - the physiological changes that occur with aging and their impact on health
- Session 4: Aging and Related Diseases - the pathophysiological mechanisms of major age-related diseases
Presentation and discussion of Final Projects
Participants will select a topic related to “Biological Basis of Ageing and Related Diseases”. Thereafter, they will:
- perform a bibliographic review on the selected topic;
- write a summary of 5 pages maximum on the bibliographic review;
- perform an oral presentation with the main findings on the selected topic.
Learning outcomes
This comprehensive program equips participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to the field of aging research and addresses the pressing health challenges associated with an aging population.
At the end, the participants:
- would have gained awareness of the biological of ageing and its consequences in an ageing society;
- would have achieved a thorough understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying ageing;
- will be able to explain how ageing affects different physiological systems;
- will be able to recognize the pathophysiological basis of major age-related diseases;
- will exhibit critical thinking and effective communication in scientific contexts.
- would have gained interpersonal & networking transversal skills in an international environment.
Dates: 10 February - 13 June 2025 | Total workload: 100 hours |
Format: Blended | ECTS: 4* |
Location: Glasgow, UK | Language: English (B2) |
Contact: Paul.Shiels@glasgow.ac.uk; civis@glasgow.ac.uk |
*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.
Physical mobility
The physical mobility part will take place between 9 to 13 June 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. The activities involve 20h of face-to-face activities, distributed across workshops and seminars where students can interact with experts in the field, participate in hands-on activities, and network with fellow learners.
Proposed schedule:
9 June 2025
- registration and reception
- overview presentation
- Aging in the animal kingdom: why, how and how not to age.
- Aging and Planetary health
10 June 2025
- The Geroscience Hypothesis: future interventions in aging
- The Hallmarks of aging
- interactive session on canonical hallmarks and non-canonical hallmarks of aging
- discussion of translational use of hallmarks and exceptions to the rule
- exercise for students on identifying hallmarks and way they might have evolved.
11 June 2025
- Genetic disorders and aging:
- group Interactive session/ tutorials/ Meet the experts session ECRs – face to face
12 June 2025
- Lifecourse trajectories and comparative aging
- Longitudinal studies in aging
- Biomarker identification and validation
- Biomimetics to study aging- what the natural world tells us about human aging
- Animal models and human clinical trials
- Computational modeling and big data analyses
- exercises
13 June 2025
- tutorial/ presentation and discussion of Day 4 exercise
- wrap-up and perspectives
- farewell
Social events will also be organized for students and teachers, allowing exchanges of opinions, cultures and creation of networking for further collaboration. These events include visits to the Hunterian Museum, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, The Burrell Collection, The People’s Palace and a traditional Scottish Celiidh.
Virtual part
The program includes 15h of face-to-face virtual meetings, spreaded along 10 weeks: 10 February - 20 May 2025 (1.5 h/week).
Video lectures and webinars on state-of-the-art topics will be a relevant but limited part of the course (30%). Instead, problem-based learning and presentations by the students will be implemented (guided by the tutors):
- to study and present key publications and critically assess strengths and limitations of seminal papers in aging research;
- to resolve interactive quizzes to reinforce understanding;
- to present themselves and apply for a fellowship;
- to produce and present a visual abstract or a public engagement poster.
Students will be provided once a week with virtual activities such as video lectures, webinars, discussion of seminal papers in aging research, group discussions, self-paced learning activities in Moodle, interactive quizzes to reinforce understanding.
A series of webinar masterclasses/ meet the expert will be provided in advance of the face to face activity.
Requirements
This course is open to students at CIVIS member universities, participating in a MSc program or PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology, Biotechnology, Genetics, Biomedicine, Pharmacy or similar in the field of Health sciences.
Needed skills:
- awareness of the biological of ageing and its consequences in an ageing society,
- thorough understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying ageing,
- ability to explain how ageing affects different physiological systems,
- ability to recognize the pathophysiological basis of major age-related diseases,
- critical thinking in scientific contexts,
- effective communication in scientific contexts,
- interpersonal & networking transversal skills in an international environment.
Also, the participants should have excellent English skills (B2-C1) and and be computer-literate persons.
NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility
To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.
Students from CIVIS’ strategic partner universities in Africa cannot apply for participation in this course.
Application process
Send your application by filling in the online application form by 31 October 2024, including:
- CV
- Motivation letter
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Level of english (According to CEFR)
Applications will be evaluated according to the correct academic background to undertake the programme, required level of proficiency in English and how participation will enhance the candidate's professional development and career path, as well as the willingness of participants to fully participate in all aspects of the course.
Assessment
Students need to attend at least 80% of the activities of the program to be evaluated. The virtual and physical component of the program will have an equal contribution (35%) to the final assessment of the students and the Final Research Project will represent 30% of the final mark. Evaluation will be assed as follows:
1. Virtual component (35% total marks)
- individual questionnaires, quizzes and self-paced learning activities in Moodle: 40%
- teamwork & presentations: 60%
2. Physical component (35% total marks)
- individual Questionnaires, quizzes and self-paced learning activities in Moodle: 40%
- teamwork & presentations: 60%
3. Evaluation of the Final Research Project: (30% total marks)
Blended Intensive Programme
This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.
GDPR Consent
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Trainers:
- Prof. Paul Shiels, expert in Geroscience, School of Molecular Biosciences & Institute of Cancer Sciences - University of Glasgow, UK
- Prof. Violeta Ristoiu, Faculty of Biology - University of Bucharest, Romania
- Prof. Stephane Baudry, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences - Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
- Prof. Maria Isabel Sánchez Pérez, expert in Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
- Prof. Manuela García López, Faculty of Pharmacology - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
- Prof. Brian Mujuni, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) - Makerere University, Uganda
- Prof. Günter Lepperdinger, Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences, Division of Genetics, Department of Cell Biology - Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria.
Contributors:
- Prof. Manuela G. López, expert in pharmacology and neurodegenerative diseases, Faculty of Medicine (dept. Pharmacology) - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
- Prof. Concepcion Peiró, expert on vascular inflammageing and vascular cell senescence, Faculty of Medicine (dept. Pharmacology) - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
- Dr. Moses Okee, expert in Nanotechnology Key roles in Cancer Therapy - Makarere College of Health Sciences & Biological Sciences - University of Makerere, Uganda
- Prof. Helen Minnis, expert on Early Life Ageing, the bio-exposome and the impact of adverse childhood exposures on adult health trajectories, School Of Health & Wellbeing - University of Glasgow, UK
- Prof. Alberto Sanz, expert on mitochondrial biology and neurodegeneration, School Of Molecular Biosciences - University of Glasgow, UK
- Prof. Kostas Tokaitidis, expert on mitochondrial biology and disease, School Of Molecular Biosciences - University of Glasgow, UK
- Emilie Combet, expert on nutritional biology and diseases of ageing - University of Glasgow, UK
- Adam Dobson, expert on model organisms of ageing, University of Glasgow, UK
- Colin Selman, expert on Life course ageing, mouse models of ageing and metabolism - University of Glasgow, UK
- Prof. Adoración Gomez Quiroga, expert on Drug synthesis - Faculty of Sciences (dept. of Inorganic Chemistry) - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain