Published on: Feb 26, 2026
For decades, scientists have tackled chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease one by one. Now, many researchers are asking a bigger question: can we slow aging itself? To do that, they first need to understand what drives age-related changes in the body.
In a study published in Science, researchers at The Rockefeller University created one of the most comprehensive atlases of aging to date. By analyzing nearly 7 million individual cells from mice across 21 tissues and three life stages, they mapped how aging reshapes thousands of cell subtypes at both cellular and molecular levels.
Led by Junyue Cao, the team identified over 1,800 distinct cell subtypes and discovered that aging alters not only how cells function, but also their abundance. About a quarter of cell types showed major population shifts with age with some muscle and kidney cells declining, while immune cells expanded. Notably, many of these changes began as early as midlife.
At the genetic level, hundreds of thousands of DNA regulatory regions shifted with age particularly those linked to immune function, inflammation, and stem cell maintenance. These findings challenge the idea that aging is random deterioration, instead pointing to coordinated biological programs.
The researchers suggest that targeting immune signaling molecules such as cytokines could potentially slow aging processes across multiple organs opening new doors for future anti-aging therapeutics.
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