Preventing and delaying age-related cognitive decline

Ángel Barco

Instituto de Neurociencias, UMH-CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain

Increasing life expectancy has inevitably led to a higher incidence of age-related diseases, which represents an enormous challenge to the health system. Great efforts are therefore focused on trying to prevent or delay age-related cognitive decline with the aim of increasing the quality of life in the later stages of life.

Both genetic inheritance and environmental conditions are known to influence cognitive ability. Environment enrichment is associated with better learning, better memory and healthier ageing, while environmental impoverishment is associated with the opposite effects. One of the possible mechanisms by which the environment influences our cognitive abilities, particularly early in life, are epigenetic changes in the brain.

In this project, the researchers will focus on the hippocampus, a brain area linked to cognitive abilities, with the aim of identifying and assessing the biological relevance of epigenetic changes in chromatin, the genetic material of the cell found in the nucleus, associated with differential performances in cognitive tasks.

Epigenetic basis of gene-environment interactions underlying variation in Cognitive capabilities and their Decline with Age

€498,000