A study reported on Sept. 21, 2026, in Nature Aging described a noninvasive approach to detecting biomarkers of cellular senescence, the state in which cells stop dividing but do not die. MIT researchers combined Raman microscopy with single-cell gene expression data to identify spectral "barcodes" associated with senescent cells. The work was done in mouse cells; the researchers said they were working to adapt it for human tissue.

The team examined skin and lung tissue from 2-month-old and 26-month-old mice. It reported increased lipid synthesis and lipid accumulation in older cells, with the physiological effect not yet known. Senescent skin cells showed changes in pathways tied to muscle contraction and collagen and extracellular matrix remodeling, while aged lung tissue showed increased activity of genes involved in immune activation and inflammation. Analysis of a roughly one-square-millimeter tissue sample took about 30 hours, and the researchers were developing a faster imaging system.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Massachusetts General Hospital and was part of an NIH initiative, the Cellular Senescence Network. The findings are preclinical and do not establish a clinical diagnostic or treatment.