Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Aging is the inevitable process of growing older that all living organisms experience, involving a multitude of both molecular and cellular changes. The biological explanation of how or why humans age has been of great research interest; however, a strong understanding of these concepts remains unknown. Genetic factors, specifically the DNA sequence we have inherited from our parents, has been attributed as being responsible for approximately 25 percent of the variability with how long people live, the remainder is hypothesized as environmental or lifestyle factors. In addition to the DNA sequence humans possess, there is a particular modification to DNA, called DNA methylation, which can mediate the interaction between environmental factors and cellular functions. We aim to investigate DNA methylation in three unique areas in the world where people live much longer than expected: Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; and Okinawa, Japan. Little research has focused on why or how these individuals are able to live such healthy long lives, but by using technically advanced equipment and data analysis methods we plan to investigate age-related DNA methylation differences that may be associated with the longevity characteristic of this demographic.