New Measurement of Biological Age

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a new model that could show how aging occurs at a genetic level. These findings could better predict how old someone actually is and any kind of disease that can come from aging itself. The researchers in this particular study focused on DNA methylation which is a life-long process where a methyl group is either added or taken away from the cytosine molecule in DNA. This either supports or suppresses gene expression and activity. "The scientist's found that an individual's 'methylome'- the entire set of human methylation markers and changes across a whole genome-predictably varies over time, providing a way to determine a person's actual biological age from just a blood sample." In younger individuals, this methylation is very distinct in some areas and then not in others. However, as aging occurs methylation gets blurrier. This blurring also does not occur at the same rate for all people, thus making it easier to determine a person's biological age.



What I found to be most interesting was that the researchers stated that forensics can use this process to determine how old an individual is just from a blood or tissue sample. One of the researchers on the team also had this to say, "The next step is to look to see whether methylation can predict specific health factors, and whether this kind of molecular diagnosis is better than existing clinical or physical markers." Overall, I feel that this new study is very promising for finding treatments for many different kinds of diseases and possibly even be able to slow down the aging process at a cellular level.