Lysosomal Health in Ageing studies a powerful anti-ageing process called autophagy that occurs in the body’s lysosomal system. This system works throughout our lifespan to repair damage and keep our cells clean and healthy.

This clearance system does not work well in dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease and this leads to the accumulation of toxic substances in the brain that could drive disease. The group's goal is to develop interventions that increase autophagy earlier in life to prevent dementia.

The group uses diverse approaches to develop interventions that reduce the risk of developing dementia. This vision is enabled by a research program that has strong capability in both laboratory-based and clinical research.

Lysosomal Health in Ageing is currently investigating:

  • Development of methods that can be used to measure autophagy in humans,
  • Applying nutrition and nutrition-based biochemistry (principally mTOR-related pathways) to enhance autophagy and lysosomal system function in the brain to prevent dementia later in life, and
  • Investigating the role of autophagy in the brain’s immune system (primarily brain cells called microglia), which is known to play a crucial role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.