Relative contributions of age and frailty to respiratory infections

Aging is associated with increased incidences of frailty, the excessive vulnerability to stressors, meaning higher susceptibility to infections and other diseases, and more severe outcomes. To measure frailty, clinical indexes have looked at the general health of a person. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding organ- and disease-specific effects of frailty.

This project focuses on respiratory infections, which inflict a high toll on older adults, using a mouse model of frailty to understand how the lung immune system changes with age, and with frailty. Research will focus on lung macrophages, which are the first line of defence against respiratory infections, to help understand what distinguishes a frail lung from a healthy one, and how these differences impact resistance to infection, which is crucial. This will allow the identification of potential targets for preventive or therapeutic interventions to alleviate respiratory infection burden in older adults.