• Evolutionary Medicine
  Taking the view that ageing is an unavoidable consequence of selection for reproductive performance early in life, Evolutionary Medicine has the great potential to offer important scientific contributions and a viewpoint for the understanding of ageing. Primarily, the group studies how human life spans are affected by dietary restrictions and insulin growth factors. In the long term, this ALH group aims to establish the first world-wide research and training program in Evolutionary Medicine and to set the agenda for this developing field.
• Neurodegeneration
  At the molecular and cellular level, studies have shown that oxidative stress is a major cause of neurodegeneration leading to brain ageing, cognitive decline and dementia. This ALH group brings together researchers from multiple disciplines to further our understanding of how oxidative stress at the cellular level translates into brain ageing such as memory loss.
• Health Policy Challenges
  The feasibility and effectiveness of a policy related to ageing in any given country must be assessed on the basis of an analysis of context, specifically, the interaction between demographic trends, formal policy, institutional change, and cultural values. The ALH group analyzes societal adjustment to the health consequences of demographic ageing so as to develop a framework for assessing the effectiveness of different health and long-term care policy models.

Interdisciplinary Aspects of Healthy Aging

The course was designed for Masters-level students who are keen on gaining more diverse research experience in the Aging field of study.  Students will strengthen their basic research concepts and principles ranging from the humanities, social sciences, epidemiology, neurology, physiology to molecular biology.  The course is rooted in the research and teaching environment in CEHA, and will substantially reflect the group's interdisciplinary focus.  Applications will be open on 9 January - 2 March and the summer course will run in July.  More details are available at www.iaruni.org/gsp.

Research at iHAN is based upon three fundamental hypotheses, each of which relates to the substantial variation in overall energy consumption in the brain:

• That partial uncoupling of mitochondrial function and the resulting differences in individual energy production result in significant inter-individual differences in RONS (reactive oxygen and nitrogen species), damage and repair processes and that these differences contribute directly to variations in aging.
• That there is a direct relationship between inter-individual differences in brain energy utilization, brain morphology and/or activity.
• That there is a direct relationship between energy consumption in the brain and the aging process that can be established by aligning population-based observation of aging processes with measures associated with brain energy consumption.

The iHAN organizing committee formally met for the first time in Singapore in September 2009 to initiate collaboration between researchers in Denmark, Singapore and Australia, which expanded to include researchers from other Universities.

Aging, Longevity and Health:

• Prof Xiaoying Zheng, Peking University
• Prof Stephen C. Stearns, Yale University
• Prof Sarah Harper, University of Oxford
• Prof Kenneth Howse, University of Oxford
• Prof Hiroko Akiyama, The University of Tokyo
• Prof Kaarin Anstey, Australian National University
• Prof Barry Halliwell, National University of Singapore
• Prof Albert Gjedde, University of Copenhagen
• Prof Vilhelm, A. Bohr, University of Copenhagen

Center for Healthy Aging:

• Prof Lene Juel Rasmussen, University of Copenhagen - Managing Director
• Prof Vilhelm Bohr, University of Copenhagen - Associated International Researcher

iHAN Key Representatives:

• Prof Albert Gjedde, University of Copenhagen
• Prof Peter Little, National University of Singapore
• Prof Marc Budge, Australian National University
• Prof Anders Rodell, Aarhus University Hospital