By Akanksha
May 02, 2026
Ageing increases risk for diseases like dementia and heart conditions, making it a key driver rather than separate illnesses to treat.
Scientists are testing whether resetting cells can tackle disease at its root, instead of treating conditions one by one.
In labs, cells from older people have been reset to a younger state, showing the idea can work under controlled conditions.
In mice, some ageing signs have reversed, and damaged organs have been repaired and reimplanted in animal studies.
In March 2026, an early safety trial began to test if this method can treat vision loss caused by glaucoma.
Current research is not aiming to reverse ageing entirely but to see if specific tissues can be safely repaired.
People live longer but often with illness, and since age is the biggest risk factor, researchers want to target ageing directly.
About $20 trillion is already spent worldwide on products claiming to slow ageing, showing strong demand for solutions.
Scientists use Yamanaka factors to reset cells; partial resets keep function, while full resets turn cells into stem-like states.
No approved treatments exist yet; risks like uncontrolled growth and unknown long-term effects mean human use is still some way off.