Research aims to stave off aging issues

A £50m research initiative, aimed at giving people ’50 active years after 50’ has been launched at Leeds University.

Recent research, published in The Lancet, found that more than half the children born in the UK and other wealthy nations will live to 100 years old.

While improvements in healthcare, diet and lifestyle are helping people to live longer, the human body still degenerates with age, reducing quality of life and an individual’s ability to contribute to society.

'50 active years after 50' is responding to this trend by developing new medical devices and regenerative therapies, ensuring that people can continue to be as active during their second half-century as they were in their first.

The research will focus on those areas most affected as people age – namely joints, spine, teeth, heart and circulation – and will develop new technologies for tissue engineering and regeneration, longer-lasting joint replacements and spinal interventions.