How people get it: Not available as a treatment. Studied in cells and animals.
Part of Age reversal: cell reprogramming
The basics
What it is
Cellular reprogramming turns mature cells into immature cells that can regenerate.
Source: National Institute on Aging: Advances in Aging and Alzheimer's Research ↗
How it's thought to work
In one mouse study, researchers changed an earlier approach to remove epigenetic markers in cells.
Source: National Institute on Aging: Advances in Aging and Alzheimer's Research ↗
What people use it for
The page says that if the results are repeated, this approach could lead to therapies for tissue repair and for reversing aging and age-related diseases in humans.
Source: National Institute on Aging: Advances in Aging and Alzheimer's Research ↗
What the research has found so far
Researchers have shown that youthful function can be restored in many tissues by reversing age-related epigenetic factors. NIA-supported researchers used cell reprogramming to reverse glaucoma-related eye damage and age-related vision loss in aged mice.
Source: National Institute on Aging: Advances in Aging and Alzheimer's Research ↗
On Cell reprogramming and aging, PubMed lists 0 trials in people, 2 studies that watched people over time, 102 animal and lab studies. See the counts and searches
Stage 2 because there is 1 registered trial in people, but no large ones yet.
A stage shows how far research has got, not whether it will work for you. How stages work
Side effects and risks
Reprogramming can be linked to cancer formation when new, immature cells grow aggressively.
Source: National Institute on Aging: Advances in Aging and Alzheimer's Research ↗
Who should be careful, and drug interactions
The research team says the findings must be repeated in further studies, including other animal models, before human studies can begin.
Source: National Institute on Aging: Advances in Aging and Alzheimer's Research ↗
Roughly what it costs
We don't have prices for this yet.
Questions to ask your doctor
- Is Cell reprogramming a sensible option for me, given my health and the medicines I take?
- Could Cell reprogramming interact with any medicine or supplement I already take?
- What side effects should I watch for, and when should I stop or call you?
- How would we tell whether it is helping, and when should we review it?
This is general information gathered from the sources listed, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before starting anything new.
ER-100 by Life Biosciences
Based on the work of David Sinclair, co-founder of Life Biosciences and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. Source ↗
A one-time eye injection that carries three of the four Yamanaka genes (OCT4, SOX2 and KLF4, called OSK) into cells at the back of the eye. A short course of the antibiotic doxycycline switches the genes on for 8 weeks. The aim is to reset the cells' epigenetic markings, the chemical tags that change with age, without changing their DNA. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07290244 ↗
In peoplePhase 1, about 18 adults with glaucoma or NAION (a sudden loss of sight sometimes called a stroke of the eye). One dose in one eye, testing safety first, at increasing doses. Participants are followed for up to 5 years. The trial, NCT07290244 →
The company reported that the therapy restored visual function in monkeys with an NAION-like injury.Company-reported, not peer-reviewed
“the company has demonstrated restoration of visual function and increased nerve axon survival in an NHP model that mimics human NAION deficits in retinal ganglion cells” Life Biosciences press release (ARVO 2023) ↗
The FDA cleared the trial to begin: the first time a partial epigenetic reprogramming therapy was allowed into human trials, according to the company.
“ER-100 is the first ever cellular rejuvenation therapy using epigenetic reprogramming to receive FDA clearance to enter human clinical trials.” Life Biosciences press release, 28 January 2026 ↗
The first participant received ER-100.
“today announced that the first participant has been dosed in its Phase 1 clinical trial of ER‑100” Life Biosciences press release, 9 June 2026 ↗
First results in 3 people with glaucoma at the lowest dose: no safety problems reported through 8 weeks, and early signs of better visual field test results in 2 of them. Not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal.Company-reported, not peer-reviewed
“The data demonstrated that a single intravitreal administration along with daily oral doxycycline was well-tolerated through Day 56 in all three participants and showed preliminary signals of improvement in visual field testing in two participants.” Life Biosciences press release, 8 October 2026 ↗
- Lu et al., Nature, 2020. Switching on OSK in the eyes of mice restored youthful epigenetic patterns and vision in old mice and in a mouse model of glaucoma. PubMed 33268865 ↗
- Yang et al., Cell, 2023. Disturbing cells' epigenetic information sped up signs of aging, including the DNA methylation clock, and OSK reversed these changes. The authors call loss of epigenetic information a reversible cause of aging. PubMed 36638792 ↗
Not yet knownWhether ER-100 is safe at higher doses and in more people, whether any vision gains are real and last, and whether the approach works outside the eye. A Phase 1 trial is designed to test safety, not whether a treatment works.
What experts say
“It gives us a lot of control,” says Rosenzweig-Lipson. “And the ability not just to turn it on, but to turn it off and not leave on expression longer than is necessary to rejuvenate the cells.”
“Since then, Life Biosciences has studied the approach in rodents and monkeys and has not seen serious adverse effects of the treatment, says Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson, chief scientific officer at the company.”
“Reprogramming has a big upside if it can be used safely in people,” says Matt Kaeberlein, co-founder of Optispan, a longevity-focused preventative medicine company in Seattle, Washington. “The technology is still really early, and the potential for catastrophic side effects is high.”
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Recent research
Trials
ClinicalTrials.gov lists 1 registered trials that mention Cell reprogramming, for any condition (the count in The science below). Here we show the ones about aging. See them all ↗
The science
Counted from PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov on Oct 17, 2026, using one search for Cell reprogramming in relation to aging. Each link opens the exact search.
- Randomized trials in people
- 0 search ↗
- Large trials (multicenter or phase 3)
- 0 search ↗
- Phase 3 trials
- 0 search ↗
- Trials in people
- 0 search ↗
- Studies that watched people over time
- 2 search ↗
- Animal and lab studies
- 102 search ↗
- Registered trials
- 1 search ↗
PubMed search used
("partial reprogramming"[tiab] OR "epigenetic reprogramming"[tiab] OR "Yamanaka factors"[tiab] OR OSKM[tiab] OR "in vivo reprogramming"[tiab] OR "cellular reprogramming"[tiab]) AND (aging[tiab] OR ageing[tiab] OR longevity[tiab] OR lifespan[tiab] OR "life span"[tiab] OR healthspan[tiab] OR "Aging"[mh] OR "Longevity"[mh])
Counts are search results, so they include some records that only mention Cell reprogramming. How we count
Cite or share this page
Longevity Verdict. (n.d.). Cell reprogramming (Yamanaka factors): Research stage and evidence. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://longevityverdict.com/treatments/partial-reprogramming
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The badge shows this treatment's current research stage and links back here. It updates by itself when the stage changes.