Researchers report that they have turned blood cells taken from an 80-year-old donor into neural stem cells with a molecular age below 20. That amounts to reversing more than 60 years of cellular aging in the laboratory, a feat they describe as a rejuvenation breakthrough.
The work provides a new way to investigate how cells regain youthful characteristics. Rather than simply resetting a cell's identity, the process appears to also reset aspects of its biological clock, at least as measured by molecular markers.
The findings could have implications for future studies of aging and regenerative medicine. While the results are confined to lab-grown cells, the method may allow scientists to ask sharper questions about what drives aging and whether it can be reversed at the cellular level.