GoKawiilHarvard and Altos Labs studies link aging to loss of cell identity, not just wear and tear
New research from Vadim Gladyshev's team at Harvard, published in Nature, and a related Cell paper from Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte's group at Altos Labs proposes that aging is driven significantly by cells losing their specialized identity, not solely by accumulated molecular damage. The papers describe a three-tier regulatory system—fast, intermediate, and slow layers—that normally locks in a cell's epigenetic identity, and suggest that breakdown of the slow layer leads to a 'mesenchymal drift' marked by fibrous scarring and inflammation.