A strong start for MetAGE - the Cluster of Excellence for Healthy Ageing

The MetAGE kick-off event took place on 6 October 2025 and was attended by more than 100 researchers and representatives from the University of Graz, the Medical Universities of Graz and Vienna and Joanneum Research.

Over the past year, more than 20 postdocs and 30 PhD students have been recruited to the cluster - and are now starting their individual research projects within this interdisciplinary network.

The event centred on the introduction of the research cluster to our invited guests and team members. Representatives from industry and universities, the province of Styria, the city of Graz and our main funding body, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), emphasised the social importance of aging research and the relevance of this new Cluster of Excellence in their welcoming speeches.

Our research priorities and synergies were also presented by our Board of Directors. The scientific highlight was the guest lecture by Dr Samuel Klein (Washington University in St. Louis), who impressively highlighted the complexity of metabolic diseases - in particular obesity - and showed how much targeted research is still needed to fully understand their influence on the aging process.

The following days were also marked by intensive and targeted collaboration: the research groups took the opportunity to get to know each other better, share their knowledge, create synergies, and deepen their cooperation in order to jointly advance the latest findings.

We look forward to many more inspiring discussions, productive collaboration - and, of course, successful research results!