Generation Scotland

📢 New research from our team, just published in Nature Aging!

Why do we age? And why do some species live so much longer than others? A key piece of the puzzle may lie in our stem cells.

🧬 All the different ways DNA methylation changes with age can be explained by a single underlying mechanism: stem cell division dynamics.

🕰️ People who age faster epigenetically, such as smokers, show a distinct biological signature suggesting their stem cell compartment is smaller and/or divides more rapidly.

🐭🐬🧑 Similar trends are seen between species too: across 11 mammalian species, longer-lived animals have higher stem cell pool-to-division ratios, indicating stem cell dynamics may be a key evolutionary driver of lifespan.

This work used methylation data from Generation Scotland participants. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to this incredible resource. 🙏

Read the full paper:
Crofts et al. (2026): https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-026-01125-y

📢 New research from our team, just published in BMC Psychiatry!

When treating depression, antidepressants don't work equally for everyone — some people spend years trying multiple medications before finding one that helps. Understanding who experiences this treatment resistance, and why, is key to helping people find effective treatment sooner.

But to study Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD), we first need to agree on how to define it, and it turns out that choice changes everything.

A huge thank you to all the Generation Scotland volunteers whose data makes this research possible. 🙏

🔗 Read the paper:
Iveson et al. (2026): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-026-08085-y