Ageing: Our Story of Experience

Excellencewith a Purpose

Ageing:ourstoryofexperience

Contents

Taking bold steps into a Changing Age 1

1. Our early pioneers 2

2. Europe’s largest centre of expertise in ageing 5

3. Understanding the science of ageing 8

4. Helping healthy ageing 13

5. Grey matters 16

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NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY – AGEING: OUR STORY OF EXPERIENCE

Newcastle University is a world leader in research into ageing, its causes, and

its social and health consequences.

Through our Newcastle Initiative on Changing Age, the University has created

an inspiring fusion of medical science and social concern to tackle the immense

challenges and opportunities which ageing is generating for humankind.

This publication shows the breadth of our activity and introduces some of our

experts who are paving the way to improving our understanding, treatment and

attitudes to ageing.

Newcastle was one of the first universities to recognise the importance of

studying ageing and the impact created by a rising number of older people

in the population.

Our unique focus has helped raise the profile of ageing as one of the major

issues facing communities in this country and throughout the world.

The pages that follow introduce the people behind our ageing story. You can

read their full interviews on our website: www.ncl.ac.uk/changingage

Taking bold steps into a Changing Age

Newcastle University’s commitment tounderstanding ageing and improvingthe lives of older people extends rightacross the institution. It represents amajor investment by the Universityinto tackling one of society’s greatestchallenges: ageing.

Professor Chris DayPro-Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Medical Sciences

1. Professor Doug Turnbull, Professor of Neurology, Director of the Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle University

2. Professor Lynn Rochester, Professor of Human Movement Science, Newcastle University

3. Dr João Passos (centre), Research in Ageing, Newcastle University

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Newcastle University began its research into ageing with pioneering studies on dementia in

the 1960s and 70s. This early work was led by giants of medical research such as Professor

Sir Bernard Tomlinson, the distinguished neuropathologist, Professor Sir Martin Roth, a

pioneer of Old Age Psychiatry, and colleagues including Dr Garry Blessed and Dr David Kay.

The 1980s and early 90s saw a succession of high-profile appointments and collaborations

begin under the leadership of Professor Jim Edwardson, Director of the MRC Neurochemical

Pathology Unit. Early career appointments included Professors Elaine and Robert Perry who

had made the key discovery that in Alzheimer’s Disease there is a profound loss in the brain

of the chemical messenger acetylcholine – a discovery still the basis of the most effective

symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s.

Further appointments and collaborations across a wide range of disciplines including old age

medicine and social gerontology led in 1994 to the launch of the University’s first multidisciplinary

research institute, The Institute for Ageing and Health (IAH), with Professor Edwardson as

Director – elevating a once ‘Cinderella’ area of research into a major force.

Over the next decade the Institute has grown and now forms the heart of Europe’s largest

multidisciplinary site into ageing – the Newcastle Campus for Ageing and Vitality.

In 2009 Newcastle’s work in the field of ageing gained national recognition with

the award of a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.

1. Our early pioneers

One of the main achievements of the Institute for Ageing and Health was in attracting ProfessorTom Kirkwood – his arrival was a great catalyst,and the work of Jacobson Professor of ClinicalPharmacology, Gary Ford, has helped revolutionisethe way stroke victims are treated.

Professor Oliver Jamesretired Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Medical Sciences

1. From left to right: Professor Ian McKeith (Old Age Psychiatry), Professor Rose Anne Kenny(Geriatric Medicine), Professor Jim Edwardson (Director of the IAH), and Professor John Bond(Social Gerontology) looking at plans for the first IAH building in the 90s.

2. Professor Tom Kirkwood, Associate Dean for Ageing (left), and Professor Chris Brink, Vice-Chancellor (right) of Newcastle University, receiving the Queen’s Anniversary Prize.

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3If we don’t take action quickly enough, in the rightkind of way, then what is unquestionably humanity’sgreatest success – doubling life expectancy in the last200 years – could become a real problem.

Professor Tom Kirkwood, Dean for Ageing and Director of theNewcastle Initiative on Changing Age, Newcastle University

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At the Campus for Ageing and Vitality we are linking those companies and their ideas to the research base of theUniversity, and helping them build their projects.

Mike Morgan, Business Development Manager ofChanging Age for Business, Newcastle University

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Today, the Newcastle Campus for Ageing and Vitality is a globally unique, large-scale

development bringing together world-leading scientific and medical research with innovative

health care, industry, civic agencies, and the public.

The Campus, created through the Newcastle Biomedicine partnership between Newcastle

University and the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, aims to lead in finding new

solutions to the many challenges and opportunities of ageing populations.

The University’s Institute for Ageing and Health is based in the Academic Quarter where one of

the major funders has been the Wellcome Trust. It features a series of unique facilities including:

the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Biogerontology; the Biomedical Research Centre and

Biomedical Research Unit; and the Clinical Ageing Research Unit where early detection of age-

related disease and intervention treatments is carried out. It also hosts the Newcastle Brain

Tissue Resource. Business and retail quarters are also being developed on the Campus.

Businesses are being helped to take advantage of the massive opportunities to provide older

people – the largest growing section of the population – with the products and services they

need to maintain independent, good-quality lives.

Changing Age for Business was created by the University to provide access to our extensive

expertise to help firms seize those opportunities. This includes incubator space for 15 ‘age-

related’ businesses to work on projects alongside University researchers.

2. Europe’s largest centre of expertise in ageing

For small- and medium-sizedbusinesses it’s about waking up to the fact that the world ischanging around you, with thepopulation ageing and their needsbeing neglected. So you can’tcontinue on in the same fashion,because if you do you will losemarket share.

Graham Armitage, Deputy Director of theNewcastle Initiative on Changing Age

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One of the first companies to locate to the Campus for Ageing

and Vitality is ADL Smartcare. Founded by Newcastle University’s

Professor of Practice, Peter Gore, it matches older people to the

assistive technologies they need to help overcome physical problems

and improve their quality of life. ADL Smartcare was created to

provide local authorities with a much cheaper way of assessing

what older people need to live independently.

We’re about healthy ageing here, so we want to gethelp to people before they’re desperate, becausethat’s how they age better.

Professor Peter Gore, Professor of Practice, Newcastle University

Located next to the research quarter of the Campus is a unique

approach to patient care for older people. Clinics for Research and

Service in Themed Assessment (CRESTAs) are a one-stop shop of

excellence for older people with complex diseases – a first in the UK;

it brings experts in ageing together to treat patients under one roof.

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NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY our ageing story

I’m keen to develop an academic care homeand rehabilitation centre, complete withleading-edge assistive technologies. Thiswould also become a centre of excellence for teaching at Newcastle.

Professor David Burn, Director, IAH

Unravelling the biological reasons why people age is at the heart of our efforts

to address the challenges of ageing.

Our researchers lead the world in explaining the evolutionary genetics of ageing

and in harnessing state-of-the-art techniques to unpick the complex molecular

mechanisms that lead to age-related frailty, disability and disease. The pioneering

work of our Centre for Integrated Systems Biology of Ageing and Nutrition has

inspired a growing number of groups worldwide.

Newcastle University was first to identify dementia with Lewy bodies more than

20 years ago, and it continues today to explore treatments for this and other forms

of dementia such as Alzheimer’s Disease. The Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource is

one of the leading repositories for tissue from aged brains in the world. Researchers

use the tissue to investigate why brain cells degenerate to cause dementia.

As cells age, they may cause fibrosis, or scarring, in any organ of the body. We are

discovering how fibrosis interacts with so-called “senescent” cells, to undermine

the capacity to regenerate tissue in damaged organs as people get older. Global

research on cellular senescence, fibrosis and tissue inflammation is gathering pace

and our expertise is playing a key role in potentially important breakthroughs.

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3. Understanding thescience of ageing

Twenty years ago people wouldhave said there’s nothing you cando about dementia. Now we are ina position where there are manythings we can do. Each has alimited effect, but including drugtreatments and other things, weare making a change.

Professor Ian McKeith Professor of Old Age Psychiatry

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY our ageing story

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For so many diseases of importance in today’s medicine, age is the single biggest risk factor. Our

research on the basic science of ageing is beginning to discover the deep links that connect ageing

and disease, which seem likely to open whole new approaches to therapy in the future.

Arthritis is one of the commonest complaints in old age, with 70 per cent of those aged over 70 suffering

from it in one or more joints. Our specialists are examining why the cartilage in joints fails to replenish

itself as we age, resulting in the painful condition osteoarthritis. They are searching both for the causes

of arthritis and therapies for preventing or treating it. This includes modifying stem cells to produce

cartilage. Newcastle’s Professor Andrew McCaskie and his engineering colleague Professor Kenneth

Dalgarno lead a multidisciplinary team creating novel ‘scaffolds’ in which the stem cells can grow.

Major funders of this research have included the Medical Research Council and Arthritis Research UK,

which has funded the Tissue Engineering Centre.

If you can find ways of promotingregeneration when it is diminished,as in an older person, then youwill be able to counteract thefibrotic process.

Professor Derek MannProfessor of Hepatology, Newcastle University

We need good imaging, so we can tellhow quickly joints are deteriorating.We need good biomarkers to tell uswhat is happening in the joint. And weneed new treatments that will preventthe damage. If we succeed in thesethings it will make a huge difference to a very large number of people.

Professor Tim Cawston, William Leech Professor of Rheumatology and Director of the Centre forIntegrated Research into Musculoskeletal Ageing


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Genetics is also being harnessed to probe the factors that lie behind the inheritance of human

longevity. Newcastle is part of a major European effort – the Genetics of Healthy Ageing (GEHA)

project – which is trying to track down the genes that influence longevity and health.

The GEHA study has now recruited nearly 3,000 families across Europe in which two or more

brothers and sisters have lived past 90.

One of the clues to the complex causes of ageing could be found in the malfunctioning of tiny

organelles within the cells of our bodies. Investigations into mitochondria, which are responsible

for converting fats, carbohydrates and oxygen into energy, have shown that our cells contain fewer

mitochondria if we lead sedentary lives, or become less energetic as we grow older.

Our research at the Wellcome Trust Centre suggests that damage to mitochondrial DNA is one of

the things contributing to the ageing process and that regular exercise could be one of the things

that can help improve mitochondrial function.

Probe even deeper into our cells and we find telomeres – complex strands of molecules found

on the ends of chromosomes in the nucleus of body cells. They can be likened to the protective

plastic caps found at the ends of shoelaces.

Pioneering research at Newcastle has revealed how oxidative damage shortens these telomeres,

possibly causing age-related diseases. Our medical teams are now using telomere lengths as a

biomarker – that is, as a way of identifying the risk of age-related diseases developing.

Newcastle’s reputation as a centre of excellence in ageing is helping to attract researchers from

across the world eager to work alongside established experts in this growing field and with

access to the best facilities.

When João Passos, from Portugal, was looking for a university where he could study for his

doctorate, he could have chosen anywhere in the world. He chose, however, to come to

Newcastle and is now carrying out independent research in cellular ageing and has brought

colleagues from Portugal to bolster his team.

What is ageing? At the cellular level,there’s something about that cellwhich makes it grow old and notrepair itself. A potential solution to this is the stem cell, which canrenew itself while turning into thecells of the organ of which it is part.

Professor Patrick ChinneryProfessor of Neurogenetics, Director of theInstitute of Genetic Medicine

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There is some evidence that once we get past a certain age themitochondrial mutations in tissuesbegin accumulating more rapidly.

Professor Doug Turnbull Professor of Neurology, Director of the Centre forBrain Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle University

We are at a point now where wesignificantly better understand whatageing in a multicellular organismreally is, and where it comes from.

Professor Thomas von ZglinickiProfessor of Cellular Gerontology, Newcastle University

When I came to Newcastle I wasimpressed by everything I saw. All aspects of ageing are beingresearched here, so this is the place I want to be.

Dr João Passos Research in Ageing, Newcastle University

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An eating pattern which hasplenty of fruit and vegetables, not too much meat, some fish, nottoo much fat and modest alcoholconsumption, is associated withpeople living longer.

Professor John MathersProfessor of Human Nutrition

There is an interesting andemerging body of work thatshows that moving and keepingactive is critical to protect us aswe age. The more we can givepeople tools to allow that tohappen, the better.

Professor Lynn RochesterProfessor of Human Movement Science,Newcastle University

It would be difficult to findanywhere in this countrywhere there would be the sameprofessional buzz, skills mixand facilities to do this asthere now is in Newcastle.

Professor Louise Robinson Professor of Primary Care and Ageing,Newcastle University and GP

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In addition to understanding the science of ageing, our researchers are

exploring how changes in lifestyle and behaviour can have a major impact

on how we age. One important area is understanding how nutrition

influences the accumulation of damage to cells as we age and finding

interventions to limit the effect of this damage.

The Newcastle Livewell programme is focusing on how to help people

modify their behaviour in relation to three components: diet, physical activity

and social connectedness to improve healthy ageing.

One of the biggest threats to our health and well-being is inactivity. The cost

of treating diabetes is a staggering £10.3 billion a year – around 10 per cent

of the entire NHS budget. However, patients with type 2 diabetes can walk

45 minutes every day and get the same improvement in blood glucose

control as from a major class of drugs.

Our research shows very clearly that movement in older people improves

balance, physical performance and cognition.

We’ve got the top qualified clinical physical activityand exercise team in the UK. We work together to tacklea simple problem: how to move more and sit less.

Professor Mike Trenell, Director of MoveLab, Newcastle University

Working closely with MoveLab, our movement scientists have developed

sophisticated technologies and techniques for measuring gait and analysing

the results. This is providing valuable insights into the locomotive and

cognitive functions of the brains of people who may be suffering from the

early stages of conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease and dementia.

Predicting the onset of diseases could enable researchers to develop

interventions to slow down the rate at which they take hold and improve

the lives of patients.

One of the potential tools, which is being piloted in Newcastle, is developing

specific computer games for the Microsoft Kinect system, with its

movement sensor, for use by Parkinson’s sufferers.

Another area of research is looking into the cause of blackouts among

older people. This tests the effectiveness of a drug called Adenosine,

used throughout the world to manage fast heart rates.

4. Helping healthy ageing

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Fear of falling is one of the most widespread problems among older people,

confining many to their homes, causing them to suffer prolonged periods of

social isolation.

Around 30 per cent of all older people suffer from falls and, as a consequence,

about half of them develop a fear of falling. Novel cognitive behaviour

therapy is being investigated at Newcastle to improve older people’s sense

of confidence and well-being, enabling them to get out and about again.

Newcastle now has great influence nationally andinternationally. There’s more powerful work that needsto be done across a whole swathe of medical disciplines,given the changing demographic over the next 20 or 30 years.

Dr Steve ParryClinical Director, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Our research into ageing is also influencing the care patients receive in their

doctor’s surgery. A goal is to create a centre of excellence at Newcastle

University for training GPs, hospital staff, community nurses and others

in all aspects of dementia care.

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Imagine a kitchen where most of the fittings and utensils – the fridge, oven,

kettle, pans, carving knives and even the floor – are fitted with sensors that

can monitor your every move.

That describes the Ambient Kitchen developed by digital scientists and

engineers at Newcastle University through the Social Inclusion through the

Digital Economy (SiDE) programme.

SiDE is devising assistive technologies that could help people with age-

related conditions and help them live for longer and more safely in their

own homes.

Creative arts are playing an increasingly powerful role in helping the public

become aware of ageing and its challenges and also to change perceptions

of older people.

A major exhibition, Coming of Age – the Art and Science of Ageing,

commissioned powerful new works by three leading artists who were

inspired by spending time with Newcastle University researchers. The

exhibition also showed how ageing affected famous artists, such as Renoir

and Degas, and featured striking nude images of older people.

Our researchers are also studying the impact of the arts on older people’s

well-being. One project involves a popular dance from the streets of Mexico

which is shown to improve the behaviour and mood of people with dementia.

What we do is to design cutting-edgedigital technologies and apply them inways that technology companies typicallydon’t yet do.

Professor Paul WatsonProfessor of Computing Science and Director of SiDE,Newcastle University

What we hope to show through our ‘AgeingCreatively’ project is that visual arts, musicand creative writing can have a measurableimpact on the well-being of older people andcombating social isolation.

Professor Eric CrossDean of Cultural Affairs, Newcastle University


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Influencing policy and changing attitudes to older people is an important

area of our work into ageing, which has included the BBC Reith Lectures,

advising the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee,

and the UK Foresight Report on ‘Mental Capital Through Life’. A key

feature of our effort includes capturing the views and experience of older

people and shaping services to better suit their needs.

Major changes will be needed in the way health and social care services

are provided and in how resources are spent. Our research is providing

the evidence to improve health and social services and offering medical

understanding and guidance to the pensions and insurance industry.

The mental capital and experience of older people is a vast resource that

society needs to harness for the common good. The Newcastle Initiative

on Changing Age is focused on the challenges of ageing and demographic

change, and also the need to value much more seriously the experience

and knowledge of older people and engage with them to a much greater

degree. This is distilled in the Newcastle Charter for Changing Age.

The University has hosted the Regional Forum on Ageing, since its creation

in 2005, and provides a voice on issues of concern to older people –

influencing government thinking.

The University has also established two flagship projects that provide

a unique insight into older people and ageing.

The Newcastle 85+ Study, launched in 2006, has made an exceptional

contribution to filling the previous gap of detailed knowledge about the

health and well-being of those aged 85 and over. It is one of the most

comprehensive studies of its kind in the world, combining the great power

of our multidisciplinary expertise in ageing with the distinctive qualities of

the National Health Service as a framework for such research.

VOICE North – Valuing Our Intellectual Capital and Experience – is a group

of over 1,500 older people across the North East of England, recruited by

Newcastle to help with our research. They are a formidable force in offering

ideas, advice and guidance on issues affecting older people.

5. Grey matters

What is happening, certainly withinthe UK at the moment, is that lifeexpectancy is increasing, but healthylife expectancy at older ages is notincreasing as fast.

Professor Carol JaggerAXA Professor of Epidemiology of Ageing,Newcastle University

There is nothing else that I knowof in Europe or globally wherethere is such diversity of activityfocused around such an importantsocietal challenge – ageing anddemographic change.

Dr Lynne Corner Director of Engagement, NICA

My major interest now is thequestion of how society candraw on the intellectual andmental capital, and the lifetimeexperience of its older people.

Professor Jim Edwardsonretired founding Director of the IAH andChair of Voice North

Contact us:

Newcastle Initiative on Changing Age

2nd Floor, Newcastle Biomedical Research Building

Newcastle University

Campus for Ageing and Vitality

Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5PL

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 1142

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.ncl.ac.uk/changingage

This brochure is for information and guidance purposes only. Details are correct at the time of printing (January 2013).

Photography by Mike Urwin.Designed by GDA, Northumberland. Printed by Statex Colour Print.

© Newcastle University, 2013. The University of Newcastle upon Tyne trading as Newcastle University.

Ageing: Our Story of Experience

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