Partial reprogramming, visualized as stateEach point: one epigenetic locus. Closed → open under OSK exposure. Past a threshold, identity markers degrade with it — the boundary in Position 02.
Partial Reprogramming · Epigenetic Clocks · DNA MethylationUpdated Jun 22, 2026 · Alice Krant · VECVO
Research
What VECVO works on
Updated Jun 22, 2026
Two active lines of work, both centered on the same underlying question: what changes
when a cell's epigenetic state is reprogrammed, and which of those changes are causal
to aging rather than correlated with it.
Active directions
01
Partial / OSK reprogramming. Characterizing the boundary between epigenetic age reversal and loss of cell identity under partial reprogramming protocols.
02
Epigenetic clocks. Evaluating what methylation-based age estimators actually track, and where clock predictions diverge from functional aging markers.
Open questions
Q1
Is methylation drift a driver of aging or a downstream signal of some other process?
Q2
What separates reprogramming factor exposure that reverses age markers from exposure that erases cell identity?
Mission
On what VECVO examines
Updated Jun 20, 2026
The pace of longevity research creates pressure to treat findings as more conclusive than the evidence supports.
Mechanisms get described as established before causal structures are resolved.
VECVO exists to examine what remains unresolved — each paper starts from a specific open question,
works through the primary literature, and states a position with explicit acknowledgment of where evidence is incomplete.
Stated positions
01
Epigenetic clocks correlate with biological age across tissues and species, but the causal relationship between methylation drift and aging remains unresolved.
02
Partial reprogramming can reverse epigenetic age markers. The same factors, under different conditions, erase cell identity entirely. The boundary is incompletely characterized.
03
The information theory of aging is a productive framework, not a demonstrated mechanism.
04
Heterochromatin loss with age is reproducible across species. Whether it functions as driver or downstream consequence is not resolved.
People
Alice Krant
Founding Researcher
Independent researcher focused on epigenetic reprogramming and aging biology —
partial/OSK reprogramming, epigenetic clocks, and the mechanisms underlying biological age reversal.