Objective Given the ageing population in Europe, it is critical to understand the mechanisms involved in growing old. Our ability to reduce the impact of ageing in humans might be best studied in equally long-lived animals. Predicting future changes in longevity patterns might depend on our ability to develop indicators of how old we really are and how many healthy years we have ahead of us, and how those indicators depend on our health history across decades.My study will be the first linking lifelong disease history with physiological and molecular measures of ageing in a mammal as long-lived as humans. I will examine how different molecular ageing markers (telomere dynamics, oxidative stress and telomerase activity) interact with lifelong disease and reproductive history, and current endocrinological measures of stress and reproduction. This helps to better grasp both the mechanisms of ageing and their consequences on senescence rates, thus providing exceptional opportunities to identify the exact role of these markers in evolutionary processes and how they determine ageing rates and individual variation in senescence rates. It would also help us to establish which molecular markers best represent individual health history and to understand how health history can predict ageing rates. To do so, I will combine the world's most comprehensive demographic data on Asian elephants with bi-monthly health and disease records across life and with molecular ageing markers and hormonal correlates of stress and reproduction (N~240). I will determine: Q1.How does health decline with age? Q2.How does lifelong disease exposure and current health link with ageing markers? Q3.How does reproduction affect age-specific declines in health and current ageing markers? Q4.How does early stress affect age-specific declines in health and current ageing markers? Fields of science social sciencessociologydemographymortalityhumanitieshistory and archaeologyhistorynatural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biologymedical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiologynatural sciencesbiological scienceszoologymammalogy Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2014-EF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2014 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD Net EU contribution € 183 454,80 Address Firth court western bank S10 2TN Sheffield United Kingdom See on map Region Yorkshire and the Humber South Yorkshire Sheffield Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 183 454,80