The Human Ageing Genomic Resources

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Ageing is a major biomedical challenge of the 21st century and research on the biology and genetics of ageing has an unparalleled potential to improve quality of life and health. The Human Ageing Genomic Resources (HAGR) are a collection of online databases and tools designed to assist basic research on ageing. This project aims to maintain, update and enhance HAGR to sustain its world-leading status and continue serving the scientific community with high-quality data.In a remarkable series of recent breakthroughs, a number of genes capable of altering the ageing process have been identified in animal models and even a few in humans. This is a fascinating and important area of research, yet there is a tremendous number of genes being associated with ageing and longevity that keeping track of them all is becoming increasingly difficult. To help researchers address these issues we created various databases of genes related to longevity and/or ageing. Numerous researchers employ our gene databases in their work as an informational website and/or as a tool for data-mining and for interpreting experimental results.Although finding mechanisms of ageing conserved between model organisms and humans is important, the diversity of ageing rates between similar species is remarkable. Understanding why different species age at different rates may provide key insights into the mechanisms of human ageing. Also part of HAGR is a database of ageing in animals with over 4,000 species, featuring the most accurate and complete collection of longevity records available in any format. Our database is an essential resource for researchers working on comparative and evolutionary studies of ageing to identify factors or features that correlate with species longevity.The HAGR databases are widely-used by ageing researchers worldwide and have been invaluable in many different types of studies. Indeed, HAGR has been cited over 500 times. Besides, our online resources receive over 30,000 visitors per month, showcasing HAGR's importance in the field. All HAGR databases are open access and also provide users with the possibility to export, download and reuse the data for their own analyses.