Parental Age, the Social Environment, and Lifelong Health (CRAM_U26DTP)

This exciting PhD will examine how parental age and the social environment interact to shape offspring health in a wild mammal, by combining epigenetic sequencing, bioinformatics, fieldwork, and statistical analysis.

Health and performance decline with age in humans and other animals, but the consequences for offspring of older parents remain unclear. Since individuals age at different rates, intergenerational effects are unlikely to result from parents’ chronological age, but from their biological age (the age their condition reflects). New epigenetic clocks based on DNA-methylation provide a powerful way to accurately estimate biological age for the first time. The social environment also exerts strong effects on health across species, raising the possibility that social conditions could buffer, or exacerbate, the effects of aged parents.

You will generate epigenetic clocks of biological age and characterise social environments, health, and fitness in meerkats (Suricata suricatta), to ask:

 Do parental chronological or biological ages predict offspring health, survival, and reproduction?
 Are epigenetic clocks more accurate when calibrated against chronological age, remaining lifespan, or phenotypic declines?
 Can favourable social environments compensate for the ill-effects of older parents?

The Kalahari Meerkat Project offers an excellent opportunity to answer these questions and pursue new research directions. You will have access to rich data with matched blood samples from hundreds of individuals, and carry out additional fieldwork to update datasets.

At the University of East Anglia, you will join a friendly, collaborative community of world-class researchers, with strengths in ageing research. Your training will include molecular biology (epigenetic sequencing), computation (bioinformatics, machine learning, statistical analysis), working with animals (radio-tracking, animal handling/sampling), and deep knowledge of evolutionary biology and gerontology. The Norwich Research Park Biosciences DTP offers additional training under the Vitae Research Development Framework, which provides a personal development plan tailored to your needs and aspirations.