Do you know how old you are？What about your cells？Are they the same age？To solve this problem, a team of researchers at the University of California is developing a way to accurately age cells, a result that could eventually help clinicians assess the health effects of aging and suggest ways to slow it down.

Mihue Jang, a PhD in molecular biology at the University of California, led the study. The multidisciplinary team of engineers and clinicians examined dermal cells from men and women aged between 2 and 86 years under the skin's surface. The researchers hope to design a system that can measure various factors in cells through computational analysis. Based on this information, they can determine an individual's biological age more accurately. "We have combined some of the classic biological markers of aging to try to further elucidate the physiological properties of aging cells." Dr. Mihue Jang said.
Accurate systems allow clinicians to predict the extent to which cells age when treating age-related diseases, allowing doctors to recommend treatments or lifestyle changes, such as exercise or diet changes. This work may help clinicians make skin transplants more successful by matching cells from the donor and transplant site, and predict the progression of some age-related diseases. Mihue Jang and her team hope the work will enable clinicians to measure a person's health.