Harnessing the Power of Big Data to Address the Societal Challenge of Aging

The continuous increase in life expectancy and the numbers of years we spend with illness cause profound upheaval to all of us. Age is the most important risk factor for most chronic disorders, including diabetes, cancer and dementia, but it is not well understood why that is so. I will bring together a group of excellent researchers with various types of expertise to make the best out of the exceptional data on health and disease that are stored within Denmark’s official registries. Within a tight legal and ethical framework, we will use modern computer-assisted analyses to better understand the aging process and learn how to interfere in the underlying biomolecular processes. The purpose of our work is to prevent and delay infirmity in old age, to shape personalized therapies and to live healthier for longer.

The project is led by Professor Rudi Westendorp who presents the involved research and its potential in a video here (external link).