Loss of Cell Identity Drives Human Aging

Two new papers, one published today in Nature by Vadim Gladyshev and colleagues at Harvard, and a recent one in Cell by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte and his team at Altos Labs, have provided a new model for the biology of aging, and what might be done to reverse it. Until recently we accepted that aging of cells was due to “wear and tear” like rusting out a car. The idea that accumulated damage is the principal pathway for cell aging is now complemented by the loss of cell identity model. We don...