Of mice and men: WSU team first to mimic our DNA end caps in rodents to study aging on the cellular level
3 a.m.
Scientist have long tried to unlock the secrets of helping people live longer at the cellular level, where aging occurs in gradual increments triggered by the shortening of telomeres, the caps on each end of our chromosomes. Over time as cells divide, those telomeres slowly get shorter, and that is in part how we get old. A Washington State University Spokane research team is the first to create a way to study the process in genetically-engineered mice by making them have more human-like telomeres, a breakthrough because mice normally have telomeres up to 10 times longer.
