Sanne Stegen
Researching the Epigenetic Age to Clear the Path for More Science-Based Prevention
Sanne Stegen heads the Ghent University Research for Aging Young (aka GRAY), an interdisciplinary research consortium comprising more than thirty experts from seven faculties and thirteen departments at Ghent University. They pool all their expertise on the pathology of ageing and conduct research into, among other things, the effect of a healthy lifestyle on your epigenetic age (i.e. how old your cells, tissue and organs appear to science, regardless of your chronological age).
“We have known for some time that a healthy lifestyle gives us more healthy years,” Stegen said recently in Eos Science on the subject, “but the effect of a specific lifestyle intervention on a person’s life is difficult to fully fathom. Our research is entirely in line with disease prevention, which we are strongly committed to at GRAY. We want to help ensure that at least ten per cent of the budget within the health sector goes towards science-based prevention by 2030.”