The long-term health of the elderly presents many challenges. Ageing is a complex, multi-faceted process with environmental and genetic factors and a key component of the biological toolkit is the array of disease models available. The outputs of any study are only as good as the model employed. Dr Potter will summarise the challenges we face in studying ageing using animal models; from the the range of conditions we need to model to the variability in ageing seen even between individuals from inbred strains, as well as the methodologies used to study and measure ageing. Dr Miwa will discuss how premature ageing caused by radiotherapy is rescued by senolytics and the senostatic metformin in mice.