Diagnostic Test for Aging

So far, there is no DNA marker for age, but Dutch researchers have found a way to estimate age based on T-cells found in blood.  This marker is a molecule called “signal joint TCR excision circles,” which is a short-lived protein occurring during thymopoiesis.  Because the marker diminishes over a person’s lifetime with slowing immune response, measuring the amount present in a sample can predict age by plus or minus nine years.   MORE

Image Credit: Department of Forensic Molecular Biology, Erasmus MC and Technology Review