Older Australian Twins Study

Project Outlines and Aims

The Older Australian Twins Study (OATS) is a large multi-centre study aiming to discover how our environment and our genes influence our memory and thinking as we grow older. We hope that the results from this study may help in identifying approaches that could slow the ageing process and prevent age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

We are studying twins and their siblings aged 65 years or older. With few exceptions, we invite everyone to participate, regardless of whether they have memory problems or other health problems. We collect information about our participant’s lifetime physical and mental activity, diet, education, physical and psychological health. We can also organise for blood tests and brains scans on our participants, if they wish to have them done. Our aim is to have 1000 participants from New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria by December 2009, and to follow each participant for an initial period of 4 years.

Potential Participants

If you are a twin or the sibling of a twin aged 65 or older, and are interested in learning more about this research please contact us on 1800 81 TWIN (1800 81 8946). All inquiries are confidential.

Staff

Older Australian Twins Study NSW

Study Coordinator

Andrea Lammél

Research Assistants

Fiona Kumfor
Alissa Nichles

Administrative Assistant

Pamela Azar

Older Australian Twins Study QLD

Research Assistants

Natalie Garden
Amanda Toivanen

Older Australian Twins Study VIC

Research Assistant

Simone Mangelsdorf

Administrative Assistant

Christel Lemmon

OATS Investigators

David Ames
Henry Brodaty
Tony Broe
Glenda Halliday
Teresa Lee
Nick Martin
Perminder Sachdev
Peter Schofield
Julian Trollor
Wei Wen
Margie Wright

OATS Collaborators

Bernard Baune
Lesley Campbell
Brian Draper
Diane Fatkin
Katherine Samaras
Katrina Scurrah
Jamie Vandenberg