{"id":403406,"date":"2025-09-06T19:31:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403406\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T19:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:31:17","slug":"researchers-can-accurately-tell-someones-age-using-ai-and-just-a-bit-of-dna-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403406\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers can accurately tell someone\u2019s age using AI and just a bit of DNA"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem<\/a>, scientists created a new way to tell someone\u2019s age using just a bit of DNA<\/a>. This method uses a blood sample and a small part of your genetic code to give highly accurate results. It doesn\u2019t rely on external features or medical history like other age tests often do. Even better, it stays accurate no matter your sex, weight, or smoking status.<\/p>\n

Bracha Ochana and Daniel Nudelman led the team, guided by Professors Kaplan, Dor, and Shemer. They developed a tool called MAgeNet that uses artificial intelligence to study DNA methylation patterns. DNA methylation is a process that adds chemical tags to DNA<\/a> as the body ages. By training deep learning networks on these patterns, they predicted age with just a 1.36-year error in people under 50.<\/p>\n

How DNA Stores the Marks of Time<\/p>\n

Time leaves invisible fingerprints on your cells. One of the most telling signs of age in your body is DNA methylation\u2014the addition of methyl groups (CH\u2083) to your DNA. These chemical tags don\u2019t change your genetic code, but they do affect how your genes behave. And over time, these tags build up in ways that mirror the passage of years.<\/p>\n

\"450K\/EPIC<\/p>\n

450K\/EPIC age-associated DNA methylation sites are often surrounded by additional CpGs correlated with age. (CREDIT: Cell Reports)<\/p>\n

What makes the new method so effective is its focus. Instead of analyzing thousands of areas in the genome<\/a>, MAgeNet zeroes in on just two short genomic regions. This tight focus, combined with high-resolution scanning at the single-molecule level, allows the AI to read the methylation patterns like a molecular clock. Professor Kaplan explains it simply: \u201cThe passage of time leaves measurable marks on our DNA. Our model decodes those marks with astonishing precision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small Sample, Big Insights<\/p>\n

The study, recently published in Cell Reports<\/a>00729-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124725007296%3Fshowall%3Dtrue), used blood samples from more than 300 healthy individuals. It also included data from a 10-year follow-up of the Jerusalem Perinatal Study, which tracks health information across lifetimes. That long-term data, led by Professor Hagit Hochner from the Faculty of Medicine, helped the team confirm that MAgeNet works not just in the short term but also across decades.<\/p>\n

Importantly, the model\u2019s accuracy held up no matter the person\u2019s sex, body mass index, or smoking history\u2014factors that often throw off similar tests. That consistency means the tool could be widely used in both clinical and non-clinical settings.<\/p>\n

Related StoriesFrom Medicine to Crime Scenes<\/p>\n

The medical uses are easy to imagine. Knowing someone\u2019s true biological age can help doctors make better decisions about care, especially when signs of aging don\u2019t match the number of candles on a birthday cake. Personalized treatment plans could become more effective if based on what\u2019s happening at the cellular level, not just what appears on a chart.<\/p>\n

But this breakthrough also has major potential in the world of forensic science. Law enforcement teams could one day use this method to estimate the age of a suspect based solely on a few cells left behind. That\u2019s a big step forward from current forensic DNA tools, which are good at identifying a person but struggle with age.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives us a new window into how aging works at the cellular level,\u201d says Professor Dor. \u201cIt\u2019s a powerful example of what happens when biology meets AI.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A schematic view of targeted PCR sequencing following bisulfite conversion, facilitating concurrent mapping of multiple neighboring CpG sites at a depth >5,000\u00d7. (CREDIT: Cell Reports)<\/p>\n

Ticking Clocks Inside Our Cells<\/p>\n

As they worked with the data, the researchers noticed something else: DNA doesn\u2019t just age randomly. Some changes happen in bursts. Others follow slow, steady patterns\u2014almost like ticking clocks inside each cell. These new observations may help explain why people age differently, even when they\u2019re the same age chronologically.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about knowing your age,\u201d adds Professor Shemer. \u201cIt\u2019s about understanding how your cells keep track of time, molecule by molecule.\u201d<\/p>\n

This could also impact the growing field of longevity research. Scientists are increasingly interested in how biological aging differs from the simple count of years lived. The ability to measure age so precisely from such a small DNA sample may become a key tool in developing future anti-aging therapies<\/a> or drugs that slow down cellular wear and tear.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A deep neural network for age prediction from fragment-level targeted DNA methylation data. (CREDIT: Cell Reports)<\/p>\n

Why This Research Changes Everything<\/p>\n

The method created by the Hebrew University team marks a turning point in how we think about aging, identity, and health. In the past, DNA told us who we are. Now it can tell us how old we truly are\u2014and possibly how long we\u2019ll stay healthy. The implications stretch from hospital rooms<\/a> to courtrooms.<\/p>\n

As the world faces rising healthcare demands from aging populations, tools like MAgeNet offer a smarter, faster way to assess risk, track longevity, and understand what aging really means. It\u2019s no longer just a number on your ID.<\/p>\n

Thanks to AI and a deep dive into the chemistry of life, age has become something you can measure with stunning accuracy, from the inside out.<\/p>\n

Note: The article above provided above by The Brighter Side of News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like these kind of feel good stories? Get The Brighter Side of News\u2019 newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, scientists created a new way to tell someone\u2019s age using just a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[139088,14042,139093,69346,139092,104821,267,1451,139091,139090,139089,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-403406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-cell-reports","9":"tag-credit","10":"tag-daniel-nudelman","11":"tag-dna-methylation","12":"tag-dna-stores","13":"tag-genetic-code","14":"tag-genetics","15":"tag-hebrew-university-of-jerusalem","16":"tag-magenet","17":"tag-professor-kaplan","18":"tag-professors-kaplan","19":"tag-science","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115159019308372887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}