Automated screen finds drugs that help worms resist heat
A screen of 2,782 drugs approved by US regulators identified 31 that reproducibly increased heat-stress resistance in worms.
bioRxiv
In experiments in Caenorhabditis elegans worms, researchers screened 2,782 drugs approved by US regulators. They developed an open-source system that used artificial intelligence to score survival automatically from the worms’ body posture. The goal was to speed up the search for drugs that slow aging.
The screen identified 31 compounds that reproducibly increased resistance to heat stress. The abstract describes this resistance as a known predictor of longevity. Follow-up experiments confirmed that many of the compounds extended worm lifespan. Several compounds also showed activity against senescence in human cells. Senescence is a state in which cells stop dividing.
Why it matters
Drugs that slow aging may help delay multiple chronic diseases. The researchers suggested that faster screening could accelerate the search for drugs with such benefits.
Caveats
The main screen measured heat-stress resistance, not lifespan. These worm and human-cell results do not establish benefits in people, and the preprint has not been peer-reviewed.
- Fda-approved drugs
- Machine learning
- Resources: datasets, atlases and tools
- Cellular senescence
- Posture-based survival score
- C. elegans
The paper
Geroprotective drug discovery with an AI-enabled assay for heat resistance
bioRxiv · 10 Aug 2026 · Preprint, not peer-reviewed
