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Today, he and his colleague Tamara Tchkonia, a molecular biologist at the Mayo Clinic, are leaders in a growing movement to halt chronic disease by protecting ...

[reported notable improvement](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396418306297) in the ability of participants to stand up from a chair and walk for six minutes. In other words, the emergence of senescent cells in aging people isn’t necessarily a problem in and of itself. It may be a long shot, but to many researchers, the possibility of nixing walkers and wheelchairs for many patients makes it one worth taking. For example, if a person has senescent cells in their heart, they could take a medicine that targets only those cells, leaving any other senescent cells in the body — which still might be doing some good — alone. [jumped on the anti-senescence bandwagon](https://sub.longevitymarketcap.com/p/018-a-tour-of-all-senolytics-companies), notes Paul Robbins, a molecular biologist at the University of Minnesota Medical School. And treating two-year-old mice — the equivalent of a 75- to 90-year-old human — with D+Q every other week Each drug worked best on senescent cells from different tissues, the scientists found, so they decided to use them both, in a combo called D+Q, in studies with mice. During normal wound healing, they turn senescent, releasing compounds that both promote the repair of the tissue and call immune cells to come in and destroy them. Serrano, meanwhile, looked at cells in an organ that exists only in embryos: a temporary kidney called the mesonephros that forms near the heart. Scientists have found a handy way to identify many senescent cells by using stains that turn blue in the presence of a lysosome enzyme called beta-galactosidase, that’s often overactive in these cells. While researchers like Kirkland don’t expect to extend lifespan, they hope to lengthen the “healthspan,” the time that a person lives free of [disease](https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/autoimmune-disease-protect-against-covid-19). Keyes, now at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Strasbourg, France, focused on mouse and chick embryonic limbs, where a thread of temporary tissue forms across the future toe-tips.