• Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is an extremely rare genetic condition that causes premature and accelerated aging.
• Recently, researchers have been able to generate induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with HGPS to better understand the mechanisms of aging and look for new treatments.
• HGPS primarily affects vascular cells, which undergo biomechanical strains in blood vessels.
• However, the impact of these biomechanical strains on aging and vascular diseases has been challenging to study in the lab as most models fail to mimic the biomechanics that cells experience in the body.
• Using a new progeria-on-a-chip model, investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., have developed a way to recapitulate blood vessel dynamics to better understand vascular disease and aging.
• “Vascular diseases and aging are intimately linked yet rarely studied in an integrated approach.

Source: The Hindu