SINGAPORE – A new facility for clinical trials looking into healthy ageing and the prevention of age-related diseases has opened at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
The 350 sq m centre supporting healthy longevity research has state-of-the art equipment to evaluate, among others, skin and scalp health.
A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (Dexa) machine, which allows for a non-invasive assessment of bone mineral density and body composition, will arrive soon, said Professor Andrea B. Maier, director of the NUS Academy for Healthy Longevity, which was established around 1½ years ago.
The clinical trial centre comes under it.
“Our goal is to make sure that we can diagnose the biological age and biological ageing process of ageing individuals,” Prof Maier told the media ahead of the official opening on Oct 10.
The researchers at the centre will look into various ways of addressing that process, including by very precise lifestyle interventions based on one’s gut microbiome, for instance.
“If you (put) two 40- or 50-year-olds next to each other, you will see huge differences, even though they have the same chronological age… biologically, they are very different, because the pace of ageing can be different,” said Prof Maier.
“The question is, can we measure the pace of ageing – why they age, how much they age, and where the ageing process actually occurs?”
Healthy longevity medicine, known in the scientific community as precision geromedicine, aims to optimise health and healthspan by addressing the biological process of ageing throughout a person’s life.
It is a rapidly evolving field as researchers around the world strive to uncover the secrets to delaying ageing.
Prof Maier said the centre is currently holding four trials, including one that will test a personalised regimen combining exercise, targeted supplements and lifestyle coaching on 20 participants by the end of 2025.
Mr Nicholas Singh, the first to sign up for it, is keen to see what he can do to stave off ageing, now that he’s 52 years old.
He does not exercise, but he will have to spend one hour at the centre’s gym doing not just cardiovascular exercise but also resistance training and cognitive exercises three times a week, among other things.
Dr Jozo Grgic (left) from the NUS Academy for Healthy Longevity guiding Mr Nicholas Singh as they test his stamina and VO2 max.
PHOTO: NUS MEDICINE
Another study at the new centre focuses on the effect of daily multivitamin and mineral supplementation intake on the biological age of relatively healthy middle-aged individuals over a one-year period.
The centre has already recruited 205 out of 400 target participants.
Facilities doing research on healthy ageing already exist in Singapore.
Prof Maier said: “We want to bring good trials towards the scene, and we want to bring good education to the scene. Education is being done by universities, and we needed an academy, and that was the reason to establish that.”
There is the Centre for Health Longevity (CHL), helmed by Professor Brian Kennedy, that opened in 2022 under the National University Health System (NUHS).
And a Healthy Longevity Research Clinic
opened in Alexandra Hospital (AH) in 2023
.
Prof Kennedy is also the director of the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme at NUS Medicine.
It aims to delay ageing through developing biomarkers to measure ageing, testing interventions to slow ageing, and creating implementation strategies to extend healthy life expectancy in Singapore.
Meanwhile, the clinic at AH, which runs twice a week, is staffed by a multidisciplinary team that includes physicians and health coaches, among other experts.
They attend to self-referred patients, and the aim is not just to extend patients’ lifespan, but to understand the complex interplay between genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors that contribute to healthy ageing, said Dr Laureen Wang, who heads the AH clinic.
She said that Singaporeans are keen on the idea of longevity medicine, but they may not have a complete understanding of what it is about. Many opinions on this topic are shaped by social media, and regulation and frameworks are required in this field, she added.
