Measuring brain and body biological age to predict health outcomes and disease risk during ageing

Supervisors

David Sharp (Brain Sciences)
Ben Glocker (Computing)
Paul Matthews (Brain Sciences)
James Cole (Brain Sciences)

As the global population ages, a better understanding of the ageing process is essential to help combat the rising burden of age-related disease. Using UKBiobank brain and heart imaging data, in combination with physiological, behavioural and genetic measures, this project will characterise ageing from a biological perspective. Cutting-edge ‘machine learning’ techniques will be developed into a healthcare tool for identifying people at increased risk of age-related ill-health, before symptoms are visible. This ‘big data’ software will have applications in health screening and clinical trial design, and allow us to better understand positive and negative influences on the human ageing process.