AI tissue clock estimates biological age of individual organs

VIENNA, Austria — Researchers in Austria have developed an AI-powered “tissue clock” that estimates the biological age of individual organs from microscopic images. The method is based on the finding that organs do not age at the same rate. A team from the Medical University of Vienna’s Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Medical Research and the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Molecular Medicine Research Center analyzed more than 25,000 images covering 40 tissue types from 983 people, encompassing approximately 480 million digital sections. Age was the most prominent factor affecting tissue structure across the different organs. The researchers observed early acceleration in aging markers in the lungs, kidneys, pancreas and adrenal glands between the ages of 20 and 40. The strongest aging signals were found in brain tissue. The team also compared gene-expression patterns in blood samples with tissue images, identifying potential biomarkers that could eventually allow organ age to be estimated through blood tests alone. The method was also able to determine organ age in conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, vasculitis and diabetes.