Direction
Causes of ageing
DNA damage, failing mitochondria, chronic inflammation: ageing has many interacting parts. The challenge is to find which changes drive the others, and where an intervention can make a difference.
The next question
Which changes are causes, and which are consequences?
Inside the researchResearch review
The 2023 Hallmarks of Aging review organizes the field around twelve interconnected processes. Its key test for a mechanism goes beyond association: making it worse should accelerate ageing, and targeting it should help.
What this leaves open. This is a framework for research, not twelve independent switches or a finished explanation of ageing.
Read the paperHallmarks of aging: An expanding universeLópez-Otín et al. · Cell · 2023Side by side
The rated projects, compared
| Project▲ | Promised effect▲ | Evidence▲ | Stage▲ | Strongest case against▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axxium Life | +3 years of life | The evidence base is meaningful but not decisive. | Status is mixed. | The strongest failure case is that the platform mainly produces immunogenicity and promising preclinical signals without enough human efficacy, specificity, or safety for prevention use. |
| LiGHT Team (Lithium as a | +1 year of life | The admissible evidence base is mostly patents and broad field context, not controlled clinical efficacy data for this project. | Early and weakly validated. | The likely failure case is that the apparent promise is mostly patent breadth and preclinical overreach: doses low enough to be broadly safe may be too weak to matter, while doses high enough to work may recreate lithium’s familiar toxicity and monitoring burden. |
| Mitochondrial Bioenergetics and Ketone | +1 year of life | The broader ketone and mitochondrial-energy field has substantial review, animal, cell, patent, and mechanistic literature, plus some clinical-diet context. | Early translational/commercial stage. | The skeptical case is stronger on current evidence: most support here is patents, background reviews, animal or cell studies, and a company-linked announcement. |
| OpenDrugs | +1 year of life | not stated | Status appears to be an operating software platform rather than a concept-stage idea: evidence cites a 'v2.4 stable' release dated 2026-05-07, named team members and collaborating institutions, on-prem enterprise deployment claims, and a live feature set. | not stated |
| Selective aging in Acomys cahirinus: linking regenerative biology to healthy aging mechanisms | +0.5 years of life | The central project evidence is an internal project description reporting behavioral preservation and outlining planned RNA-seq/cell-stress work, but it lacks authorship, publication date, sample sizes, raw results, or peer-reviewed outcome data. | Early-stage and pre-mechanistic. | The project could fail if the apparent phenotype is narrower than advertised, species-specific, or non-causal: preserved behavior may not replicate robustly, regenerative advantages may erode with age in meaningful tissues, transcriptomic differences may be descriptive rather than actionable, and any Acomys-specific programs may not map cleanly onto conserved human intervention targets. |
| VITA (Hospital del Mar Research | +1.5 years of life | The evidence base shows real institutional activity: XPRIZE semifinalist selection, $250,000 funding, a one-year preliminary-data phase, prior PENSA reporting around about 100 volunteers, and an active VITA volunteer study recruiting January-June 2026. | As of May 27, 2025, VITA had been selected as an XPRIZE Healthspan semifinalist and awarded $250,000 for a one-year first phase. | The strongest failure case is that VITA is a bundled intervention whose apparent benefits come mainly from the lifestyle program or from EGCG alone, while lamivudine adds little, adds risk, or is too weak to matter. |
Companies
Companies in this direction
Ambition is what a company claims. Independent replication is what others have confirmed. Read the two columns together: the gap between them is where a promise runs ahead of a result.
| Company▲ | Ambition▲ | Independent replication▲ | Stage▲ | Headquarters▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AgeCurve AgeCurve is building an AI-driven multiomics aging drug platform to decode aging cell by cell. | 8 | 3 | – | Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| Arrive Bio Arrive applies in-vivo target screening with machine learning to age-related diseases. | 7 | 1 | – | San Francisco, California, United States; Singapore |
| Calico Calico studies aging biology and age-related diseases to develop interventions that help people live longer, healthier lives. | 7 | 4 | – | South San Francisco, Calif. |
| Cosmica Biosciences Cosmica builds precision longevity intelligence tools that make aging measurable, understandable, and actionable. | 8 | 2 | – | United States |
| Genescient Genescient develops therapeutics targeting chronic diseases of aging using evolutionary genomics and massive selective screening. | 7 | 2 | – | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Gero Gero develops therapeutics targeting the physics of aging using real-world medical data and physics-informed AI models. | 8 | 3 | – | Singapore |
| Gordian Biotechnology Gordian discovers therapies for complex age-related diseases using a proprietary in vivo drug discovery platform. | 8 | 2 | – | United States |
| Insilico Medicine Insilico Medicine uses generative AI and automation to transform drug discovery and development for longevity and sustainability. | 8 | 4 | public | Boston 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 126, Cambridge, MA 02138 |
| Integrated Biosciences Integrated Biosciences uses optogenetics, chemistry, and AI for small molecule therapeutic discovery in age-related diseases. | 7 | 3 | – | Redwood City, California, United States |
| Lyceum Pharmaceuticals Lyceum uses evolutionary genomics and experimental evolution to discover drugs for chronic diseases of aging. | 8 | 2 | seed | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| OccamzRazor OccamzRazor uses digital science for drug discovery targeting brain aging, starting with Parkinson’s disease. | 8 | 0 | – | New York City, New York, United States |
| Rejuvenate BioMed AI-enabled clinical-stage biotech developing combination therapeutics to delay the onset of multiple age-related diseases. | 7 | 4 | series b | Belgium |
| Yuva Biosciences Yuva Biosciences develops AI-discovered compounds that improve mitochondrial health for aging and aging-related diseases. | 7 | 2 | – | Birmingham, Alabama, United States |
Projects
Projects in this direction
| Project▲ | Stage▲ | Strongest case against▲ |
|---|---|---|
| Axxium Life Axxium Life presents itself as a developer of AI-powered active immunotherapy biologics aimed first at Alzheimer’s prevention and other chronic diseases, using peptide-based vaccines intended to induce patients’ own antibodies against targets such as amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein. | Status is mixed. | The strongest failure case is that the platform mainly produces immunogenicity and promising preclinical signals without enough human efficacy, specificity, or safety for prevention use. |
| LiGHT Team (Lithium as a LiGHT Team appears to center on low- or trace-dose lithium as a neuroprotective strategy for dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and related brain-aging conditions. | Early and weakly validated. | The likely failure case is that the apparent promise is mostly patent breadth and preclinical overreach: doses low enough to be broadly safe may be too weak to matter, while doses high enough to work may recreate lithium’s familiar toxicity and monitoring burden. |
| Mitochondrial Bioenergetics and Ketone Mitargos appears to be a US startup commercializing an R-1,3-butanediol ketone drink, MiDR1V3, and linking it to a UC San Diego-led XPRIZE Healthspan semifinalist project that plans to test whether ketone-based interventions can improve mitochondrial function and physical, cognitive, and immune outcomes in older adults; however, the supplied evidence is mostly patent/IP and review literature plus a company-linked press release, so project-specific efficacy remains unproven. | Early translational/commercial stage. | The skeptical case is stronger on current evidence: most support here is patents, background reviews, animal or cell studies, and a company-linked announcement. |
| OpenDrugs OpenDrugs appears to be an AI-enabled, evidence-first longevity compound database and research workspace built by OpenLongevity for researchers, with search, comparison, visualization, research boards, and candidate-generation workflows across aging-related substances rather than a therapeutic program of its own. | Status appears to be an operating software platform rather than a concept-stage idea: evidence cites a 'v2.4 stable' release dated 2026-05-07, named team members and collaborating institutions, on-prem enterprise deployment claims, and a live feature set. | – |
| Selective aging in Acomys cahirinus: linking regenerative biology to healthy aging mechanisms This project argues that the Cairo spiny mouse, Acomys cahirinus, may be a useful mammalian model for healthy aging because older animals reportedly retain spatial memory and motor learning better than conventional lab mice while also showing unusual regenerative traits. | Early-stage and pre-mechanistic. | The project could fail if the apparent phenotype is narrower than advertised, species-specific, or non-causal: preserved behavior may not replicate robustly, regenerative advantages may erode with age in meaningful tissues, transcriptomic differences may be descriptive rather than actionable, and any Acomys-specific programs may not map cleanly onto conserved human intervention targets. |
| VITA (Hospital del Mar Research VITA is a Barcelona-based, XPRIZE Healthspan semifinalist project from Hospital del Mar Research Institute, CRG, and IrsiCaixa that proposes a multimodal healthy-aging intervention centered on lamivudine, EGCG, and lifestyle change for older adults at risk of cognitive decline. | As of May 27, 2025, VITA had been selected as an XPRIZE Healthspan semifinalist and awarded $250,000 for a one-year first phase. | The strongest failure case is that VITA is a bundled intervention whose apparent benefits come mainly from the lifestyle program or from EGCG alone, while lamivudine adds little, adds risk, or is too weak to matter. |
People
People in this direction
- Cynthia Kenyonscientist · through Calico
Her C. elegans daf-2 longevity work helped establish aging as genetically regulable and catalyzed modern aging-biology research; later led aging research at Calico.
- George Churchscientist · through Cosmica Biosciences
Led and founded major synthetic biology and genomics efforts with public work on aging reversal, gene therapy, and longevity biotechnology companies including Rejuvenate Bio.
- Alex Zhavoronkovpopulariser · through Insilico Medicine
- Matt Kaeberleinscientist · through NeuroAge Therapeutics
- Andrea Maierscientist · through Rejuvenate BioMed
Physician-scientist advancing precision geromedicine and healthy longevity
- Jamie Justicescientist · through Cosmica Biosciences
Clinical geroscientist accelerating trials that target biological aging
- Anne Brunetscientist · through Calico
Geneticist uncovering the molecular mechanisms of longevity
- Vadim Gladyshevscientist · through Gero
Redox biologist mapping the mechanisms and signatures of aging
- Eric Verdinscientist · through Rejuvenate BioMed
- Peter Fedicheventrepreneur · through Gero
Gero founder applying physics to aging.
- Nir Barzilaiscientist · through Cosmica Biosciences
- Tony Wyss-Corayscientist · through Teal Omics
Neuroscientist decoding how systemic aging affects the brain
- Jim Mellonentrepreneur · through Relation Therapeutics
Co-founded Juvenescence and publicly framed longevity as an investable biotechnology thesis through the book Juvenescence and substantial company-building activity.
- Martin Borch Jensenentrepreneur · through Gordian Biotechnology
Chronology
What happened, and when
- Grant
Rejuvenate BioMed
Wellcome Leap
- Grant
Yuva Biosciences
Southern Research
- Venture round
Yuva Biosciences
$7.5M · VentureSouth
- Series A
Gero
$6M · Melnichek Investments
- Series B
Rejuvenate BioMed
Rejuveron
- Series C
Insilico Medicine
$255M · Warburg Pincus, Sequoia Capital
- Convertible note
Insilico Medicine
Deep Knowledge Ventures
Hypotheses
Hypotheses under test in this direction
Published by the Omega Point engine and tagged to this direction by a classifier; the gap each one attacks is named under it
- Resident daughter cells may restrain epithelial invaders by replacing their renewing positionsOct 10, 2026In older-donor epithelial mosaics, resident daughters may restrain invaders by replacing their renewing positions. Selectively changing and restoring replacement must predict invader growth in held-out repairs; failure would bound the mechanism or reject its proposed predictive reduction
- Damaged old proteins may impair new muscle material by joining newly forming complexesOct 10, 2026In aging human muscle, intact damaged old proteins could join newly forming contractile complexes and impair new material beyond ordinary mixture effects. A sensitive test showing no such impairment, with selective exclusion validated, would weaken the mechanism for the chosen protein.
- Cell fusion may restore growth control through resident genes in aging epithelial tissueOct 10, 2026In older-donor epithelial mosaics, fusion with resident cells may restore growth control in invasive descendants through retained resident alleles. Selective fusion or allele tests showing no effect, with adequate event detection, would limit this proposed protection in the tested setting.
- Clearing damaged muscle material may erase positional cues needed for ordered replacementOct 10, 2026In older human muscle, removing damaged material before copying its spatial pattern could impair ordered replacement and later force. Normal organized recovery after verified selective pattern erasure, with alternative cues intact, would weaken the proposed need for that information
- Loss of mucosal barriers may let microbial toxins create mutations that drive invasionOct 10, 2026In older-donor intestinal epithelial mosaics, barrier loss may expose surviving renewing cells to microbial toxins that create invasion-causing mutations. Failure to show increased exposure, surviving new mutations or their causal role in invasion would bound this mechanism in the tested setting
- Muscle renewal may cause lasting loss by disconnecting critical force-transmitting routesOct 10, 2026In aging human muscle, renewal may sever critical force-transmitting routes before replacement, causing lasting loss. A selective null in a preidentified vulnerable layout would weaken this mechanism; temporary force loss or bypass rescue alone would not establish it
- Dead resident cells may feed invasive lineages during epithelial repairOct 10, 2026In older-donor epithelial mosaics, retained dead-cell material may fuel extra survival or growth of an existing invasive lineage. Verified selective interruption of its metabolic use without loss of that extra output would bound the feeding contribution, provided injury responses and alternative nutrition remain intact.
- Conflicts between gene reading and copying may cause lasting genome injury in the intestinal liningOct 10, 2026In older humans, activity during maintained training could promote intestinal cell replacement; later gene reading during copying could cause inherited genome injury and impair renewal despite better mobility. No activity-induced replacement or consequential overlap would contradict the initiating mechanism
- Damaged connective-tissue paths may spread failure between otherwise capable muscle regionsOct 10, 2026In some aging humans with postinfectious exertional intolerance, a damaged connective-tissue path could spread failure despite early rehabilitation gains. Testing must demonstrate mechanical transmission; absent reproducible regions or a vulnerable path would weaken the proposal.
- Rebuilding after exertion may enable a tissue pathogen reservoir to produce new pathogensOct 10, 2026In some aging humans with postinfectious exertional intolerance, rebuilding may enable new pathogen production before injury and delayed loss despite early gains. Verified suppression without less new injury in an adequately sensitive window would constrain ongoing infection dependence, but not test rebuilding’s role
- Regeneration may delete protective T cells through antigen presentation and favor harmful clonesOct 10, 2026In a proposed older-adult human colonic epithelial mosaic with the donor's own immune cells, regeneration could delete protective T cells and leave a lasting surveillance deficit. Restored coverage despite deletion would refute that persistent-deficit link
- Liver energy demand from lactate recycling may sustain a costly muscle–liver feedback loopOct 10, 2026In a subset of aging humans, liver energy demand from recycling muscle lactate into glucose could sustain muscle activity after stress. Adequate tests showing no demand-driven return signal or only stable delayed recovery would reject the proposed self-maintaining loop in the tested setting.
Forecasts
What the forecasts expect here
This month
Reported recently
- Anthropic used Claude to determine the structure of a bacterial virus protein assembled into a vault, a barrel-shaped particle of unknown function; the preprint reports that both viral and bacterial proteins form these barrelsNov 6, 2026Claude helped identify bacterial and phage proteins that assemble into vault-like barrels and determine the structure of a phage vault, revealing clues to their evolution and function.
- A pig liver with eight gene edits supported six macaques with surgically induced liver failure for 74–144 hours outside the body, a preprint reportsNov 5, 2026An eight-gene-edited pig liver supported six macaques with induced liver failure for 74–144 hours via extracorporeal perfusion, without hyperacute or acute rejection.
- Venture capital firm a16z published “The State of Longevity” without mentioning “aging,” prompting James Peyer to say that “longevity” has lost its useful meaningNov 5, 2026James Peyer argues that “longevity” has become a vague wellness label, urging researchers to use precise terms such as geroscience, aging biology, and life extension.
- AI agents run DNA experiments at Shanghai’s AutoDNA laboratory, while humans maintain the equipmentNov 5, 2026AI agents at Shanghai’s AutoDNA laboratory designed and executed DNA experiments, optimizing synthesis and coordinating instruments while humans maintained equipment.
- A review in Geriatrics proposes defining aging as a loss of self-correction, the body's ability to respond to a challenge and recover, and measuring it through recovery after exertionNov 5, 2026A review defines aging as declining self-correction and proposes measuring biological resilience by tracking recovery after exertion or other challenges.
- Aubrey de Grey explains why he wants mice to live longer: he expects an 8–12-month gain over the four-month record to prompt scientists to put dates on treatments for aging and celebrities to persuade the publicNov 5, 2026Aubrey de Grey expects combined interventions to extend mouse lifespan by 8–12 months, hoping the result will spur scientific timelines, public advocacy, and government action.
- Senator-elect El-Sayed and Representative Ansari call for an AI pause as users on X debate its impact on treatments for disease and agingNov 5, 2026US lawmakers’ calls to pause frontier AI sparked debate over whether safety restrictions could delay AI-assisted treatments for disease and aging.
- Richard Hodes will retire as director of the US National Institute on Aging on December 7 after 33 years in the role, during which its budget grew from $400 million to $4.6 billion, according to NIHNov 5, 2026Richard Hodes will retire after 33 years leading the NIA, where the budget grew from $400 million to $4.6 billion, largely driven by dementia funding.