The Asklepios project in perspective: the population on its way to ageing

The Asklepios project was developed by a consortium of researchers from the Ghent University in close collaboration with a group of exceptionally motivated primary care physicians (GPs) of the twin cities Erpe-Mere and Nieuwerkerken. These communities are situated on both sides of the busy motorway from Brussels to Ghent. The GP's were highly committed to show that they were able to actively collaborate and to provide the necessary men and women for a top scientific project'. Serendipitously, a number of key necessary strengths were present at that moment and time at Ghent University. In the departments of cardiology and public health, there was an extensive expertise in cardiovascular epidemiology, hypertension, non-invasive haemodynamic, and cardiovascular function testing. Furthermore, the planned project provided an ideal population-based testing ground for a number of physiological questions that grew out of a long-standing collaboration with civil engineers, who had built up a leading expertise in biomedical and biomechanical modelling of the cardiovascular system. Furthermore, the inherent interest in ageing was the link to a new partnership with experts in telomere biology and epigenetics...

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