ITN SmartAge

We are pleased to introduce to you our European research network ITNSmartAge. SmartAge is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded by the Horizon2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. Our interdisciplinary team, in which 16 academic institutions and companies from 10 European countries are working together, includes researchers from medicine, psychology, bioinformatics, nutrition and life sciences. All of them are working together on the topic of the gut-brain axis and are training international, young scientists in the process. The working hypothesis for our concept is that cognitive functions in old age are strongly influenced by the microbiota-gut-brain interplay. Different interventions (activity, different diets and Metformin) and their possible counteraction to the cognitive decline with increased age are investigated thoroughly. Therefore, various methods will be used (reaching from molecularbiological techniques such as OMICS studies, multi-tissue approaches, mice experiments, human studies to computational analysis and Gut-on-a-chip models) as an interdisciplinary approach to ultimately improve the quality of life of old people and to save costs in the health system by understanding and exploiting the microbiome as moderator between the gut and the brain.