World’s oldest person asked doctors to study her body; cells told a different age
A study of the world's oldest person, María Branyas Morera, revealed that while her physical markers of age were present, her epigenetic clock suggested she was biologically much younger. Researchers analyzed her genome and microbiome to understand her extreme longevity.
Why it matters
Provides scientific insight into the biological mechanisms of aging and the potential for future longevity research.
María Branyas Morera died at the age of 117 years and 168 days. But the findings from a 2025 study titled “The multiomics blueprint of the individual with the most extreme lifespan,” published in Cell Reports Medicine, in which an international team of researchers examined the genome, epigenome, metabolism, proteins and gut microbiome of María Branyas Morera, found a result that shocked them beyond their belief.The researchers collected blood, saliva and stool samples from Branyas when she was 116.
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