European experts debate the latest advances in aging and age-related disease at CINBIO

CINBIO, the University of Vigo’s Centre for Research into Nanomaterials and Biomedicine, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence, this week played host to research staff from a number of EU member countries in a scientific forum organised by the European project TwinFlag. The event was an opportunity to debate the latest advances in biomedicine and research into aging and age-related diseases.   

The TwinFlag project is coordinated by the Centre for Innovative Medicine in Lithuania. The other consortium members are University College Dublin in Ireland and CINBIO’s CellCOM research group, led by María Mayán, a newly appointed researcher at the University of Vigo. With 1.5 million euros in funding from the European Union, the primary aim of TwinFlag is to develop new diagnostic methods and therapies for degenerative joint diseases such as osteoarthritis.

The event, open to the entire research community at the University of Vigo, got underway this morning with a workshop on the fundamentals of immunohistochemistry techniques, delivered by Mar Haz Conde, a senior technician in Pathological Anatomy and Cytodiagnosis at the Galician Health Service (SERGAS by its Galician initials).

Thursday will see the ‘Meet the Experts’ interdisciplinary session with the participation of Verónica Salgueiriño (CINBIO), Noel Queipo (CINBIO), Carlos Spuch (IIS Galicia Sur), and María de la Fuente (IDIS). The speakers will provide insights into enhancing the transversal skills of participating researchers, addressing topics such as the role of women in science, scientific communication, the importance of mental health, and advice on entrepreneurship and transferring research outcomes to industry.

Aging populations are one of the greatest challenges facing Europe and the world. With life expectancy now double that of our great-grandparents, the number of individuals over 80 years of age is expected to increase six-fold by 2100. This demographic shift poses significant challenges for healthcare resources and medical care. In Spain, more than 20% of the population is over 65.