The research on long-lived worms performed by scientists from Skoltech, Gero startup and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) was ranked first among the top 100 papers on Cell and Molecular Biology in Scientific Reports 2019. The top-ranking paper states that aging which is a partially programmable process can be tweaked using simple over-the-counter drugs.

“In our study, we collected a unique dataset involving age-dependent gene-expression data for the wild-type and long-lived C.elegans nematode mutants that were 10x different in lifespan. We then applied machine learning techniques to identify the biomarker of age and predict potential life-extending compounds which we tested experimentally. The best result we were able to achieve with a small molecule intervention was a 30% extension in the nematode’s lifespan. I am happy to see that, despite its non-clickbait title, our paper has garnered the most attention among nearly 700 publications on Cell and Molecular Biology in Scientific Reports 2019,” says Andrey Tarkhov, a PhD student at the Skoltech Center for Photonics and Quantum Materials.

Life extension research sparks increasing interest and gathers pace. Skoltech scientists intend to continue using advanced bioinformatics and ML methods in their research to find anti-aging drugs.