Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have characterized how cellular senescence—a biological process in which aging cells change how they function—is associated with human brain structure in both development and late life.

The study, published in Cell, provides new insight into how molecular signatures of cellular senescence that are present during development and aging mirror those associated with brain volume and cortical organization.

Understanding brain structure is a central challenge in neuroscience. Although brain structure changes throughout life and is linked to both aging and neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, the underlying molecular processes involved—including cellular senescence—are not defined.