Ageing research in Greece is well established. Research groups located
in universities, research institutes or public hospitals are studying
various and complementary aspects of ageing. These research activities
include (a) functional analysis of Clusterin/Apolipoprotein J, studies
in healthy centenarians and work on protein degradation and the role of
proteasome during senescence at the National Hellenic Research
Foundation; (b) regulation of cell proliferation and tissue formation, a
nationwide study of determinants and markers of successful ageing in
Greek centenarians and studies of histone gene expression and
acetylation at the National Center for Scientific Research,
‘Demokritos’; (c) work on amyloid precursor protein and Presenilin I at
the University of Athens; (d) oxidative stress-induced DNA damage and
the role of oncogenes in senescence at the University of Ioannina; (c)
studies in the connective tissue at the University of Patras; (f)
protcomic studies at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center ‘Alexander
Fleming’; (g) work on Caenorhabditis clegans at the Foundation for
Research and Technolog;(h) the role of ultraviolet radiation in skin
ageing at ‘Andreas Sygros’ Hospital; (i) follow-up studies in healthy
elderly at the Athens Home for the Aged; and (j) socio-cultural aspects
of ageing at the National School of Public Health. These research
activities are well recognized by the international scientific community
as it is evident by the group’s very good publication records as well as
by their direct funding from both European Union and USA. This article
summarizes these research activities and discuss future directions and
efforts towards the further development of the ageing field in Greece.
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