Abstract: The present disclosure provides an accelerated AD model system for use in the diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The AD accelerated model system may also be used in screening assays for identifying therapeutic agents that correct, or alleviate, one or more of the cell culture phenotypes associated with the development of AD. Such phenotypes include, for example, increased tau phosphorylation, amyloid plaque accumulation, elevated levels of A?42 to A?40 ratio, increased cell death and cell cycle re-entry. The methods and compositions provided herein are based on the discovery that exogenously expressed progerin in neural progenitor cells leads to a robust and accelerated AD phenotype in said cells as they differentiate and that the modified and differentiated cells surprisingly produce factors which generate an aged environment (“aging factors”) for all the cells in their vicinity.