The University of Surrey has built an artificial intelligence (AI) model that identifies chemical compounds that promote healthy ageing — paving the way towards pharmaceutical innovations that extend a person’s lifespan.
In a paper published by Nature Communication’s Scientific Reports, a team of chemists from Surrey built a machine learning model based on the information from the DrugAge database to predict whether a compound can extend the life of Caenorhabditis elegans — a translucent worm that shares a similar metabolism to humans. The worm’s shorter lifespan gave the researchers the opportunity to see the impact of the chemical compounds.
The AI singled out three compounds that have an 80 per cent chance of increasing the lifespan of elegans:
- flavonoids (anti-oxidant pigments found in plants that promote cardiovascular health),
- fatty acids (such as omega 3), and
…
