CRISPR screen vs aging atlas: phase imaging wins per dollar; tissue aging is supracellular
anshulkundaje · x · 2026-08-15
A commentary by genomics researcher Martin Bjørn Jensen (reshared by Anshul Kundaje) juxtaposes two recent studies:
- In vitro perturbation screening: The Leonetti lab (CZ Biohub) ran a large cell-line CRISPR screen combining live-cell imaging with scRNAseq to compare phenotype-detection ability. Per dollar, phase imaging performs remarkably well.
- In vivo aging atlas: The Schiller lab and colleagues mapped age-related histopathology changes across organs and tried linking them to blood-based RNAseq signals.
The key caveat: while one might hope to run high-throughput perturbation screens in culture and map them onto in vivo aging to find drugs, the second study found tissue aging is mostly supracellular — changes in cell communities and surrounding structure. Scaling longevity experimentation will therefore require either in vivo screening or methods that map physiology back to cell states.
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