Employing NGS platforms to study age-related changes. During the course of an organism’s lifetime, a number of genomic changes occur. NGS allows these changes to be quantified at a whole-genome level. Changes to be DNA, from single nucleotide mutations to large chromosome rearrangements, can be detected (A). Likewise, genome-wide epigenetic changes across the lifespan (or between different lifestyles or diets) can be assayed. Lastly, transcriptional changes with age can be quantified with unprecedented accuracy using NGS (C). Mouse and human figures were drawn using fonts by Alan Carr.