How Scientists Are Measuring Aging at the Cellular Level

“We illustrate our strategy in brain and liver tissue, demonstrating how cell-type specific epigenetic clocks from these tissues can improve tissue-specific estimation of chronological and biological age.” Aging affects everyone differently. There are two types of aging: chronological aging, which refers to the number of years a person has lived, and biological aging, which reflects how well the body is functioning based on cellular changes. A recent study published as the cover for Volume 16, Issue 22 of Aging reports a new discovery that could revolutionize the way we understand aging and its impact on health. Understanding Biological Age Biological age reflects how well the body is aging and can vary based on lifestyle, genetics, and environmental factors. Traditionally, scientists estimate it using epigenetic clocks, which measure DNA methylation, chemical changes that occur over time. Until recently, these clocks could only provide general estimates by analyzing entire tissues, meaning they could not distinguish how different cell types aged within those tissues. A recent study titled “Cell-type Specific Epigenetic Clocks to Quantify Biological Age at Cell-Type Resolution” aims to change that. Full blog - https://aging-us.org/2025/01/how-scientists-are-measuring-aging-at-the-cellular-level/ Paper DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206184 Corresponding author - Andrew E. Teschendorff - andrew@sinh.ac.cn Video short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjJa5U2-AqQ Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://aging.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Faging.206184 Subscribe for free publication alerts from Aging - https://www.aging-us.com/subscribe-to-toc-alerts Keywords - aging, DNA methylation, epigenetic clocks, cell-type deconvolution, biological aging, Alzheimer’s disease, obesity About Aging-US The mission of the journal is to understand the mechanisms surrounding aging and age-related diseases, including cancer as the main cause of death in the modern aged population. The journal aims to promote 1) treatment of age-related diseases by slowing down aging, 2) validation of anti-aging drugs by treating age-related diseases, and 3) prevention of cancer by inhibiting aging. (Cancer and COVID-19 are age-related diseases.) Please visit our website at https://www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AgingUS/ X - https://twitter.com/AgingJrnl Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/agingjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@AgingJournal LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/aging/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/AgingUS/ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1X4HQQgegjReaf6Mozn6Mc MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM