During this Tuesday Talk, we learned from Philip Awadalla (Governing Body Fellow, Cellular Life), who is also a Professor of Molecular Genetics in Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Population Health and a group leader at the Big Data Institute. Beyond talking about his own work, Professor Awadalla highlighted his team of more than 12 researchers and students behind a lot of his lab’s research. In particular, he noted that Jasmine Kang and Nick Cheng were students who contributed greatly to the findings discussed in his presentation.
‘Longevity science’
Professor Awadalla began with the world of ‘longevity science’. He also asked us what we thought of when we heard that term.
Many of us mentioned tech culture and the people who put a lot of money into the dream of ‘living forever’. But this scientific area is much deeper and much more profound.
Our presenter noted two main areas of this research:
- One focuses on cells and molecules
- The other focuses on groups of people, studying them over time
Although the Awadalla Lab sits pretty solidly in the second group, he encourages the importance of both approaches. He believes that we need a mix of the two to really tackle the global challenges that affect how long we live and how healthy those years are.
Example: Canada’s huge health database
We were given an example using CanPath, which is a huge health database. Around 1 in 100 Canadians voluntarily take part and share their health data. Over 10,000 participants identify as First Nations members (Indigenous groups in what is now Canada). This marks an important step in the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in health research. Professor Awadalla also reminded us that it’s essential to protect the data of Indigenous communities and that research should be carried out with and through them.
With CanPath, researchers can look at people’s health data over time and compare it with the data they have about the environments in which the participants have lived. This helps them see patterns in how our environments can impact our cells, our ability to stay healthy, and our risk of developing diseases like cancer. This process could improve how early we detect certain diseases – such as particularly challenging cancers. It could lead to longer lives for more people.
Live longer or live healthier?
Professor Awadalla then asked us to think about healthspan versus lifespan. Which should we prioritise? We generally agreed that we want to extend healthy life, not just life itself. However, some people brought up the ethical and social questions that continue to come up about humans living longer (especially if it’s just a select population). These questions are often dismissed or ignored.
Many of us shared the excitement around more effective predictive and preventative healthcare. On the other hand, we also recognised that it could conflict with parts of the environmental crisis. This crisis is a ‘polycrisis’ (i.e. it’s formed of many distinct yet overlapping crises). How does this fit in with climate change? Biodiversity loss? Ecosystem and food system collapse? Human poverty and injustices?
Reducing harm to people is wonderful. But how does longevity fit into the larger puzzle of human life and our impact on the planet?
