LAUSR

Ageing is a natural phenomenon associated with deterioration in function of multiple tissues. Whilst lifespan increased in the recent years, this has not been concomitant with an increase in healthspan—the average number of years spent in good health. While scientists continue to study the mechanisms of ageing and potential new therapeutic avenues, progress has been made in recognising ageing-associated condition as diseases, e.g. sarcopenia, age-related loss of muscle mass and function, has recently gained an IC code (ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code M62.84) and efforts have been made to classify ageing and/or organismal senescence as a disorder (Calimport et al. 2019). It becomes increasingly clear that dysregulation of the redox balance in our cells and tissues is an important contributor to the age-related decline. Last year, two leading UK learned societies, the BSRA and Biochemical Society joined forces to run a scientific meeting on ‘‘Redox Signalling in Physiology, Ageing and Disease’’. It took place on the banks of the River Tyne in Newcastle, UK, in July 2019 and brought together experts in biochemistry of redox signalling and ageing to discuss the relationship between the two processes. The 3-day conference featured scientific talks by such leading figures in the field as Christine Winterbourn (University of Otago, New Zealand) and Mike Murphy (University of Cambridge, UK) who gave keynote addresses focussing on the mechanisms of redox signalling in health and disease. The meeting was organised into four inter-related sessions. In the first session entitled ‘‘Studying redox changes in vivo; in health, ageing and disease’’ Tobias Dick (DKFZ, Germany) and Cristina Furdui (Wake Forest School of Medicine, USA) highlighted the new tools for measuring reactive oxygen species (ROS) and their application to the development of diagnosis and therapeutic strategies to prevent and treat diseases prevalent in ageing populations such as cancer. A novel mechanism by which redox controls a tumour suppressor p16 was reported by Tobias Dansen (University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands) whilst redox regulation of skeletal muscle function in health and ageing has been discussed by Malcolm V. I. Korolchuk Faculty of Medical Sciences, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Campus for Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5PL, UK e-mail: [email protected]