Meeting reports

Abstract

Metabolism of ageing was a joint venture between the Biochemical Society and British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA). Originally planned to be held in Birmingham in 2020, the on-going pandemic necessitated a move to a virtual format, with emphasis on providing a forum for early-career researchers to present and network. We had over 100 delegates join the online talks and networking sessions from across the globe including Australia and the West Coast of the USA, despite the time differences.Over the course of the 3 days of the meeting, we heard many fascinating talks from both junior and more senior scientists on how changes in metabolism impact on health during ageing. The meeting opened with a plenary talk by Nektarios Tavernarakis from the FORTH Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in Crete, Greece, on the role of dysfunctional mitochondria in ageing and neurodegeneration. Sessions then followed on cellular metabolism and ageing, metabolism and the ageing immune system, metabolism and the ageing brain, and nutrition, exercise and interventions that impact on metabolism and ageing. A second plenary talk by John Speakman from the University of Aberdeen/Chinese Academy of Sciences focused on factors that confound metabolic studies on ageing in mammals such as body temperature and body composition.Alongside the more traditional format of a scientific meeting, we also ran an interactive early career researcher (ECR) session on public engagement and a public seminar on intergenerational care. Both events were well received with great feedback from the attendees. We also heard from our meeting sponsors, BBSRC, about UKRI funding opportunities for ageing research.Prizes were awarded for the two best posters presented at the meeting and the best ECR oral presentation was awarded the Korenchevsky Prize from the BSRA. The standard of student/ECR presentations was extremely high. All the talks stimulated interesting and lively discussions and it was great to see so many participants actively engaged in the virtual networking space. And some of the tools used to encourage ECR participation in discussions in this virtual setting, e.g., anonymous online questions, will be actively encouraged in future in-person meetings.