~ Ovidius, Metamorphoses ~

• The NetAge website has been launched

  The NetAge website, launched today, on June 15^th 2009, at http://netage-project.org, gives visitors a wealth of information about the microRNA-regulated protein-protein interaction networks which are involved in complex processes of aging and age-related diseases, and ultimately in the determination of longevity.

  By making these resources available online, we hope to provide the scientific community with a solid platform for biogerontological research, and encourage greater participation in systems biology experiments. This, in turn, might shed more light on the public and private mechanisms of aging and could open a new avenue for inspiring the attempts on life span extension, a major goal of biogerontology.

• The NetAge project

  It has become increasingly clear that biological systems function as complex networks and, therefore, the network-based approach could be especially useful for the analysis of complex, multi-factorial traits and processes.

  The network-based approach was previously used in our lab for the study of aging, longevity and age-related diseases (ARDs). We showed that longevity- and ARD-associated genes may act in a cooperative manner by forming protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks.^[1-4]

  The NetAge project^[5] was aimed at (i) extending our previous study towards developing a more adequate integrative network model, a miRNA-regulated PPI networks^[6], and at (ii) building a publicly available database for networks associated with aging, longevity, ARDs, and related processes.

  The database is available through the NetAge website, which provides the necessary bioinformatics tools for searching and browsing the networks, as well as showing network info and statistics. We hope that using NetAge, currently fragmented data on genes/proteins/miRNAs could be integrated and analyzed, thus contributing to a better understanding of the key players of aging, longevity. NetAge could also be important for the determination of potential drug targets.

  1. Budovsky A, Abramovich A, Cohen R, Chalifa-Caspi V and Fraifeld V. Longevity network: Construction and implications.
        Mech Ageing Dev 2007;128:117-124.
  2. Budovsky A, Tacutu R, Yanai H, Abramovich A, Wolfson M, and Fraifeld V. Common gene signature of cancer and longevity.
        Mech Ageing Dev 2009; (1-2):33-39.
  3. Wolfson M, Budovsky A, Tacutu R, and Fraifeld V. The signaling hubs at the crossroad of longevity and age-related disease
        networks. Int J Biochem Cell Biol 2009; 41(3):516-520.
  4. Wolfson M, Tacutu R, Budovsky A, Aizenberg N, and Fraifeld V. MicroRNAs:Relevance to Aging and Age-related Diseases.
        Open Longevity Science 2008; 10, 66-75, doi:10.2174/1876326X00802010066.
  5. Tacutu R, Budovsky A, Fraifeld VE. The NetAge database: a compendium of networks for longevity, age-related diseases and
        associated processes. Biogerontology 2010. [Epub ahead of print]
  6. Tacutu R, Budovsky A, Wolfson M, Fraifeld V. MicroRNA-regulated protein-protein interaction networks: how could they help in
        searching for pro-longevity targets? Rejuvenation Res 2010; 13(2), doi:10.1089/rej.2009.0980 (in press).

• Website guide and user cases

  Because we want our visitors to have the best experience possible while surfing our website, we’ve created a very friendly and comprehensive guide, which includes explanations, user cases and frequently asked questions, to help you start and get used to NetAge.

  Also, our team is always happy to Help/Guide you. We’re here to answer any questions you may have and do our best to accommodate your needs. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.

• How to cite us

  The correct citation of the database is as follows:

  Tacutu R, Budovsky A, Fraifeld V. The NetAge database: a compendium of networks for longevity, age-related diseases and associated processes. Biogerontology 2010.