As we age, we don’t recover from injury or illness like we did when we were young. But new research from UCSF has found gene regulators—proteins that turn genes on and off—that could restore the aging body’s ability to self-repair.

The scientists looked at fibroblasts, which build the scaffolding between cells that give shape and structure to our organs.

Fibroblasts maintain this scaffolding in the face of normal wear, disease, and injury. But over time, they slow down, and the body suffers.