Objective
Senescence, the age-related deterioration in physiological function during adulthood, is a major cause of late-life disease and mortality in human and wild animal populations. Recent laboratory studies have identified key molecular pathways underpinning senescence, but we lack understanding of how environmental and genetic variation interact to shape these pathways and their evolution. Long-term studies of wild animals offer powerful systems to address this knowledge gap. Currently, this potential is limited by a lack of methods to measure relevant biological pathways in the wild and availability of life-long samples paired with suitably detailed genetic, environmental and fitness data.
‘Biological ageing clocks’ combine minimally invasive sampling, machine learning and ’omics data to robustly predict age, health and mortality risk across human populations. The power of epigenetic and immune ageing clocks to help predict and understand human senescence is well established, but their application in the wild remains limited.
ECOAGE will generate new large-scale methylation and immunological data from one of the most detailed studies of a wild animal available, the St Kilda Soay sheep project. Using 41 years of blood sampling and data collection, we will test how interactions among genetics, environmental conditions and epigenetic ageing shape among-individual differences in adult fitness. We will use new immunological data to build the first immune ageing clock for a wild animal and test how changes in immune function during adulthood influence survival and reproduction under natural infection pressures.
ECOAGE will build a powerful bridge between field-based studies of ageing and laboratory and human research focussed on the molecular basis of senescence, transforming our understanding of why senescence varies under natural conditions and how this variation shapes the evolutionary ecology of wild populations.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology evolutionary ecology
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence machine learning
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.