Duke AI Tool Aims to Uncover the Cells Behind Aging
Duke researchers led by Zhicheng Ji have developed DeepScence, an AI tool that identifies senescent cells, which play a major role in aging and age related disease.
Senescent cells stop dividing but do not die off as they should, lingering in the body where they can drive inflammation, tissue damage and diseases like cancer and fibrosis. Because senescence is a cell state rather than a distinct cell type, these cells have been hard to identify. Zhicheng Ji, assistant professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics, and his team built DeepScence around the genes most strongly associated with cellular aging, allowing it to detect senescent cells across species, cell types and experimental platforms. Published in Cell Genomics, the work could help guide treatments that target these cells. Ji also emphasized the need for clear safeguards on how AI is used in research.
Read more here: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke-university-professor-ai-cell-aging-deep-science-artificial-intelligence-20251028