Turning back time with epigenetic clocks
I used to work in genomics. I think the quest to have a universal epigenetic measure of ageing will end up in a dead end.<p>Ageing is relative to a starting point and the variability between people in terms of phenotype is huge.<p>By way of analogy, would it be possible to come up with a universal measure of ageing for cars? Cars are a complex system made of thousands of components, each of which can age differently over time. Each car make and model will age in a different way. Some of the components even slightly improve in performance over time as they “break in”.<p>The best way to measure epigenetic ageing is relative to a starting point. There are few studies that follow the same people over time (longitudinal) because it’s difficult and expensive to pull off. We’ll eventually get there though.