2026 Scientific Meeting of the Canadian Translational Geroscience Network
October 22–23, 2026
CONFERENCE
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Isabel MacInnes Ballroom, Walter Gage residence and Gage Suites at UBC
Frailty, biological clocks, environmental exposures and clinical trials shaped a programme connecting ageing research with healthcare and community practice.
A third annual meeting in Vancouver
The Canadian Translational Geroscience Network (CTGN) held its third annual scientific meeting on October 22–23, 2026, in Vancouver. Hosted by the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging at the University of British Columbia, the hybrid event was based in the Isabel MacInnes Ballroom at Walter Gage residence and Gage Suites on UBC’s Point Grey campus.
Following the inaugural meeting in Montréal in 2024 and the second meeting in Toronto in 2025, this edition continued the network’s focus on connecting ageing research with clinical practice, community settings and health policy. Schouela CEDurable contributed as a partner organization.
Biomarkers, frailty and the biology of ageing
The biomedical geroscience programme opened with Dr. Alice Kane’s keynote topic: multiomic markers of frailty in mice and humans, including metabolic and DNA-methylation signatures. Her abstract distinguishes frailty from chronological age and considers how these measures could help identify differences in health and resilience.
Dr. James Nelson’s keynote abstract draws on two decades of the National Institute on Aging’s Interventions Testing Program. It examines how the lifespan effects of candidate interventions in mice vary by sex and age, and what these differences mean for translation to human studies.
The agenda paired these topics with “How to Use and Interpret Biological Clocks,” a workshop on what the tools measure, their strengths and limitations, and their possible research and clinical applications. It named Dr. Hannah-Ruth Engelbrecht as moderator, with Dr. Alice Kane, Dr. Jennifer Ailshire, Dr. Michael Kobor and Dr. Colin Farrelly as panellists.
Designing clinical research around function and frailty
Dr. Gustavo Duque moderated the Clinical and Population Geroscience Research session. Its programme included Dr. Sara Espinoza’s keynote, “A Translational Geroscience Approach to Frailty: From Concept to Clinical Trial.” Her abstract uses research on metformin and frailty to examine participant selection, clinically meaningful outcomes and the challenges of designing interventions to preserve independence.
The programme also included a workshop on developing a clinical geroscience trial protocol, with Dr. Alexandra Papaioannou as moderator. Its outline focuses on how a trial targeting biological processes of ageing differs from a conventional disease-specific trial, with attention to its objectives, interventions and outcomes.
Environmental exposures and healthy ageing
The second day’s Innovations in Geroscience programme broadened the scope to the environments in which people age. Dr. Emilia Lim’s keynote topic was how ageing, smoking and air pollution shape lung tissue. Her abstract draws on digital pathology and spatial transcriptomics to study changes relevant to cancer development.
Dr. Jennifer Ailshire’s abstract examines associations between outdoor heat exposure and biological ageing, using epigenetic clocks and clinical biomarkers. It also considers differences between women and men, placing the topic within the wider question of unequal vulnerability to a warming climate.
The programme also included Dr. Colin Farrelly’s keynote, “The Geroscience Perspective on One Health.” Its abstract connects healthy human ageing with animal and environmental health, considering environmental and lifestyle approaches alongside potential pharmacological interventions. This perspective extends the meeting’s scope beyond individual treatments.
Industry, innovation and implementation
The final thematic session’s programme examined routes from research to application. Dr. Peng Leong’s keynote abstract describes the development of a therapeutics company using longitudinal human data to identify potential drug targets, with attention to biomarkers, clinical endpoints and the realities of drug development. Sarah McCullough’s abstract explores challenge-based innovation through XPRIZE and the role of incentive prizes, partnerships and research networks in advancing new approaches.
Schouela CEDurable’s Scientific Director and CTGN Chair, Dr. Gustavo Duque, delivered “Translating Geroscience into Practice and Policy: Implementation of ICOPE Quebec.” His presentation highlighted ICOPE Québec, based on the World Health Organization’s Integrated Care for Older People approach, as an example of person-centred care in community settings. The presentation abstract describes digital health tools, personalized care pathways and community resources as ways to support the identification of declines in intrinsic capacity and connect older adults with appropriate services. The initiative aims to support coordinated care, independence and quality of life.
Dr. Ajinkya Ghagre’s abstract describes a synthetic thymic niche as a research strategy for age-related immune decline. It outlines injectable thymus-like hydrogels intended to support immune-cell development, with the aim of advancing the approach toward preclinical development. This remains a research strategy rather than an established treatment.
Research exchange across career stages
The short oral programme added further perspectives: Rami Hammad on serum C-terminal agrin fragment as a candidate biomarker of age-related neuromuscular decline in men and its association with physical activity, Dr. Vincent Marcangeli on mitochondrial calcium handling in ageing skeletal muscle in women, and Elaine Xiao on the distinct roles of sex and gender in respiratory health. Dr. Annalijn Conklin’s submitted abstract examines changes in social connections and physiological determinants of ageing in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.
The poster programme complemented these topics with work on senescence, exercise, hearing, lung ageing and Alzheimer’s disease mechanisms. Together with the workshops and networking periods, these sessions provided space for exchange across disciplines and career stages. The abstract book preserves the research questions, methods and findings reported in the submitted work.
Schouela CEDurable thanks the host team, organizing committee, speakers, trainees, partners and sponsors for their contribution to the meeting and to knowledge exchange in translational geroscience.
Programme and abstracts
Both meeting documents are in English.
