{
  "id": 1711544,
  "title": "New gene activity tool measures biological age of cells and screens aging-related compounds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/new-gene-activity-tool-measures-biological-age-of-cells-and-screens",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-18T13:00:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gene-tool-biological-age-cells.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University have created a new tool called Pasta that predicts a cell's biological age by examining its gene activity. This tool, detailed in an Advanced Science journal article, can help identify substances that affect cellular aging.\n\nAging significantly increases the risk of various diseases, but current methods for measuring cellular aging are not reliable. To address this, the researchers developed Pasta, a freely available tool that calculates a cell's biological age based on gene activity patterns. The tool was trained on over 17,000 tissue samples from healthy individuals and then tested across numerous independent datasets.\n\nOne of Pasta's key advantages is its broad applicability to various tissues, cell types, and laboratory techniques. By using gene expression data—already commonly produced in numerous research studies—Pasta enables researchers to track cellular changes over time and gain insights into the aging process's underlying mechanisms.\n\nPasta successfully distinguished between older, senescent cells and younger, stem cell-like cells. When applied to over 3 million gene profiles from public databases containing cells exposed to thousands of drugs and genetic alterations, the tool identified compounds and signaling pathways that either accelerated or slowed down cellular aging. Some of these findings were later confirmed in laboratory experiments using human cells.\n\nThe researchers believe that Pasta will revolutionize aging research and drug discovery. Potential applications include identifying new treatment candidates for age-related diseases and cancer. However, further research is needed to translate these findings into clinical treatments.",
  "summary": "Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University have developed a new tool that estimates a cell's biological age by analyzing its gene activity. In an article published in the journal Advanced Science, they also demonstrate how the tool can be used to identify substances that influence cellular aging.",
  "key_points": [
    "Pasta tool predicts biological age of cells via gene activity patterns",
    "Developed by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University",
    "Successfully identifies aging-related compounds and signaling pathways"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}