Muscle strengthening and cell rejuvenation: The hottest longevity studies
TIME magazine's list of the world's 12 most prominent longevity researchers reveals where the science of life extension is heading. Also: who might make next year's list? The science of longevity, a new section.
About the "Science of Longevity" section
Longevity clinics are opening at a dizzying pace, billionaires are investing vast fortunes in new treatments, but what does science really know about longevity and quality of life?
A weekly section will cover this industry in all its aspects — from research to the money that drives it.
This past weekend, Time magazine published its list of leading longevity researchers. A look at the work of the 12 selected researchers allows us to identify significant trends in the field.
Stem cells for body rejuvenation
On the magazine's cover was Japanese Nobel laureate Professor Shinya Yamanaka, who achieved a stunning medical breakthrough: he managed to reprogram mature cells so that they return to a state of pluripotent cells (capable of differentiating back into various cell types).
Yamanaka's discovery offers, apparently, an endless supply of stem cells that every person produces for themselves.
These days, he is working on improving the production methods of these stem cells and writing an ethical code for their use. For example, limiting their use for creating sperm or egg cells for fertility treatment purposes, out of concern that we still do not know what the process means for the genetics of such a cell.
What is already being done with the technology? In March 2026, the Japanese government gave conditional approvals for two new drugs based on cells differentiated from pluripotent stem cells: one for Parkinson's disease and the other for heart failure.
Last May, a trial began for two eye diseases by a company founded by Professor David Sinclair, one of the leaders of longevity research in the USA, who also made the Time list.
In the experiment, a drug based on three out of four factors that create the change causing the cell to "go back in time" will be injected into the eye. For the first time, it will be possible to test if Yamanaka's process can be performed inside the body. The world is waiting for the results.
Today, the experiments are aimed at specific diseases. The hope is that in the future, it will be possible to use the same technologies to rejuvenate cells that have aged even without a specific disease, and thus extend life.
What the genes say
Two Israeli researchers who made the list, Professor Nir Barzilai from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Professor Uri Alon from the Weizmann Institute, are focused on the genetic characteristics of aging. Both study groups of people who live long or maintain particularly good health even in their later years. Barzilai is currently examining the effect of the drug metformin on longevity. By his estimate, the new drugs for treating obesity may also have similar cross-effects.
While Barzilai is examining how more people can approach the age of 115, which is considered the maximum, Alon wants to use genetics to break through this ceiling. These days, he is researching what genetically characterizes women with late menopause, and whether these genes contribute to DNA repair, and perhaps to longevity as well.
The importance of muscles
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, formerly of Washington University in St. Louis and now the owner of a clinic and an independent media powerhouse, believes the world has missed the critical role of muscles in longevity. In treating the elderly, she found that muscles affect the aging not only of the body but also of the brain. In addition, she claims that muscles can contain fat that is not identified in standard fat-to-muscle ratio tests, and therefore, perhaps a portion of the public that is aging in a less healthy way is being missed.
Even today, when she is no longer in academia, Lyon publishes scientific papers. Just recently, her paper on the link between muscularity and sexual function was published. She suggests that physical fitness tests, and specifically strength, should become part of the routine during elderly people's visits to family doctors.
Who will make it next year?
Among the names on the list are also Professor Tony Wyss-Coray from Stanford, who developed a method to measure the aging of each organ separately; Dr. Robert Waldinger from Harvard, whose longitudinal studies showed that social connections are one of the keys to longevity; Dr. Andrea Maier from Singapore, who designed and is now executing a controlled experiment intended to test a series of longevity interventions on biological clocks; and Professor Francesca Duncan from Northwestern, who is examining the importance of the ovary after it has finished its fertility function.
Who might make the list next year? TIME did not provide spoilers, but some hot topics can be identified. For example, integrating AI into diagnosis and personalized longevity intervention, through continuous monitoring and biological clocks.
Next year, the first results are also expected from the trial of the company Retro, among whose investors is OpenAI founder Sam Altman. Its product encourages self-cleaning of unwanted cells (autophagy). Another company, Newlimit, backed by crypto billionaire Brian Armstrong, is trying to perform epigenetic design without returning cells to their youth. It intends to enter clinical trials in 2027.
