Board of Trustees

David is a Professor at Durham University. His research focuses on ageing in the nematode worm C. elegans. He discovered mutations in bacteria that slow C. elegans ageing by altering bacterial metabolism. He co-founded Magnitude Biosciences, which provides research services in C. elegans to companies across the world. A BSRA Trustee from 2014-2019, he took up the Chair in 2022.

James is a Senior Lecturer in the Medical School at Swansea University. His
research focuses on the biological mechanisms of ageing and uses the African
Turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) as a model of organismal ageing. His
laboratory is characterising the natural neurodegeneration found in killifish as a
model for understanding how neurodegenerative diseases occur in people. James
has been a BSRA member since the beginning of 2024 and Honorary General
Secretary since September 2024.

Sophie is an assistant professor in Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Her research focuses on the mechanisms that lead to skeletal muscle remodelling, with a particular interest on how these mechanisms are impaired in older adults and how they can be improved.

Paul is a Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition and Metabolism at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has a broad range of interests in physiology, nutrition and metabolism. Broadly speaking, his current primary interests are on the integration of exercise and diet in-vivo across the lifespan, with a predominant focus on protein metabolism and musculoskeletal deterioration in ageing.

View Paul’s trustee profile.

Paul is a Reader in Biomedical Sciences at Oxford Brookes University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. His research focuses on the pathogenesis of chronic and age-related disease, and how to improve modelling of disease. He established and ran the MRC Harwell ageing screen and was a member of the management group of the MouseAGE COST action and the ShARM ageing biobank initiative.

Brad is a Reader in Ageing Physiology and co-lead of the Ageing Biology Group at the University of Westminster. His research interests focus on understanding losses in human muscle and metabolic function with ageing, with particular focus on the endocrine signatures of biological ageing.

View Bradley’s trustee profile.

Elizabeth has been committed to improving the quality of life of older people for nearly 40 years. She was Chief Executive of the medical research charity, Research into Ageing. She raised considerable sums, and brought her influence to bear on Government, Research Councils and philanthropists alike. She led it to merger with Help the Aged (now part of AgeUK). In 2002 she was awarded the BSRA’s Lord Cohen of Birkenhead medal and she received the OBE for services to ageing research. In 2013 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science from the University of Brighton; and in 2015 a similar award from Aston University. She is a trustee of the Witney Educational Foundation, and Vice Chair of Homeshare International. She is also full time carer of her 88 year old husband.

Hector is Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering at Faculty of Life Science and Medicine at King’s College London, as well as being director and advisor to several company boards in healthcare and fintech in the UK, Canada, and Sweden. He is Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Oxford Immune Algorithmic, an AI spinout of the University of Oxford.

Founder & CEO, Collider Health; Co-Founder & CEO, Business for Health; Healthy Longevity Champion, National Innovation Centre for Ageing

Babis is a Reader in Genetics, Genomics and Fundamental Cell Biology and Director of Industrial Innovation at Queen Mary University of London, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences.

His research focuses on gene and protein networks implicated in cellular fitness and metabolism with a focus on nutrient-responsive signalling pathways.

Niharika is an assistant professor at the University of Birmingham. Her research group focuses on dissecting host microbiome-immune interactions and investigating the potential of novel microbiome-based therapies to combat immune ageing and improve healthspan in older adults.

Jon is group leader and head of knowledge exchange and commercialisation at the Babraham Institute. His work studies the mechanisms by which cells adapt to new environments, and the connections between adaptation and ageing.

Diana is a scientist and consultant with a PhD in Molecular Genetics from
University of Glasgow, where she explored how ageing, the gut microbiome
and hormones interact to shape our health. In her consulting work, she’s
passionate about turning cutting-edge research into real-world solutions. In
her work with Kirkstall, Diana is committed to advancing preclinical
research by promoting the use of in vitro models to replace animal testing –
driving efficiency, reducing costs, and improving ethical standards. She
believes these technologies are key to unlocking personalized medicine
and delivering treatments that truly work for patients.

Ben is completing his PhD at the University of Sheffield’s Healthy Lifespan Institute, where his research focuses on using extracellular vesicles as a biomarker of senescence.

Ira is an associate professor and laboratory head at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. She has a broad range of interests in geroscience, human physiology and cell biology. Her research focuses on ‘normal’ human brain ageing as well as the processes that fail in the brain during neurodegeneration. Since 2021, Ira also coordinates a part of collaborative Horizon 2020-funded project at the Multidisciplinary Institute for Ageing in Coimbra, Portugal. A BSRA Trustee since 2022.