MIT learns to find aging "zombie cells" in tissue by a light "barcode" without destroying the sample
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Publication time restored from the build log. . Updated: .
SI is helping to see aging at the level of individual cells, a first step toward finding and treating it.
Researchers combined Raman microscopy (analysis of scattered light) with spatial RNA sequencing and, using a computational model, produced a "barcode" that can identify senescent cells in the skin and lungs of old mice (26 months versus 2 months for young ones): they accumulate fats, collagen turnover changes in the skin, and immune activity rises in the lungs. The work was published in Nature Aging; in future the method could underpin endoscopes that find such cells directly in the body, which matters for fighting cancer, osteoarthritis and type 2 diabetes.
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