Friday, January 13, 2023

A major milestone in understanding aging

Plus more health news |

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Scientists are one step closer to rewinding the clock on aging
By Alice Park
Senior Health Correspondent

Even if there isn’t a fountain of youth, scientists are getting closer to figuring out the biology behind what drives aging—and, ultimately, how to reverse it. Yesterday, David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and his team published findings that represent an important advance in understanding what causes cells to age. Yes, the work involved mice, but what the group described in the study is intruiging: a clock that can accelerate aging in the animals and then reverse it through gene therapy that makes the aged mice biologically youthful again. Here are the highlights of the work:

  • The underlying idea is that epigenetic changes—that is, changes in how DNA is activated in different cells by environmental as well as other factors—can, over time, go awry and make cells age faster.
  • Sinclair’s team injected mice with certain genes that seem to partially reset the epigenetic instructions in the older animals’ cells—a process somewhat similar to the way computers shed corrupt connections with a reboot.
  • Whether the same process can work safely in human cells isn’t clear, but the team is now testing it in the lab.

READ THE STORY.

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ONE LAST READ
Recognizing the signs of seasonal affective disorder

Millions of Americans suffer from winter-pattern seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, triggered by dark, dreary weather. In a visual piece for the Washington Post, Lindsey Bever and Lauren Tierney describe the symptoms, including a change in sleep habits and craving carbs, as well as treatment options.

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A quick programming note: The Health Matters newsletter will be off on Monday Jan. 16 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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Today's newsletter was written by Alice Park and edited by Angela Haupt.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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