A WORLD-CLASS research unit where scientists will try to unlock the mysteries of the ageing process has opened in the region.

The Henry Wellcome Laboratory for Biogerontology at Newcastle University will house one of the world's foremost research teams.

The university's Institute for Ageing and Health is already the largest of its kind in Europe.

North scientists will step up their efforts to understand the changes that happen to our cells and make us more vulnerable to frailty, disability and disease as we grow older.

Solving such a problem could dramatically improve life for elderly people.

Appropriately, the facility was opened by one of the pioneers of ageing research, who travelled from the US to attend the ceremony.

Dr Leonard Hayflick, from the University of California, in San Francisco, made one of the most significant early discoveries that even cells grown outside the body undergo an ageing process.

Scientists said there was an urgent need to find out more about how the extra years of life we are enjoying could be of the highest quality.

Tom Kirkwood, Professor of Medicine at Newcastle University and head of the gerontology team, which will use the laboratories, said: "Better understanding of ageing is essential if we are to address the challenges of age-related disability and disease and improve the quality of life for older people.

"Our research focuses on the mechanisms of ageing and why damage to key molecules such as DNA and proteins leads to chronic disorders in later life."

Research by Prof Kirkwood's group has already shown that ageing involves the accumulation of several distinct kinds of molecular damage in human cells and tissues.

Now the aim is to bring together a team of biologists, mathematicians and computer scientists to work on the science of ageing.

Newcastle researchers, led by Professor Thomas von Zglinicki, have thrown light on why human cells age.

Each time a cell divides, there is gradual shortening of structures called telomeres that protect the ends of the chromosomes from unravelling. Prof von Zglinicki has shown that the rate at which telomeres shorten is influenced by "free radical" stress, which is linked not only with our genetics, but also with the kind of food we eat.