Domestic researchers say they have developed a chemical compound that can suppress the aging process in normal somatic cells.

A team headed by professor Kim Tae-kook at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Monday that an injection of the compound into old cells that no longer divide led to the restart of mitosis, or cell division.

Normal somatic cells in humans are programmed to die due to the so-called Hayflick Limit that restricts cell division to an average of 50 to 60 times before dying.

Kim said the breakthrough came as a result of his team's magnetic nanoprobe technology developed last year. The technology allows the confirmation of the efficiency of a candidate material for new drugs.

The findings appeared on the Monday online edition of the journal Nature Chemical Biology.