As Nature Aging celebrates its fifth anniversary, the journal asks some of the researchers who contributed to the journal early on to reflect on the past and the future of aging and age-related disease research, the impact of the field on human health now and in the future, and what challenges need to be addressed to ensure sustained progress.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
J.C.I.B. is an employee of Altos Labs. D.W.B. is an inventor of DunedinPACE, which is licensed to TruDiagnostic, from which he receives royalties. He serves on scientific advisory boards for Hundred Health, WNDRHLTH, Hooke Clinic and X-Prize for Healthspan. D.B.D. reports an issued patent for methods to improve cognition; has consulted for Unity Biotechnology and S.V. Health; co-founded Jocasta Neurosciences to study klotho; and has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Simons Foundation, the American Federation for Aging Research, the Glenn Medical Foundation, Unity Biotechnology and philanthropic sources. E.F.F. is a co-owner of Fang-S Consultation AS (organization number 931 410 717) and NO-Age AS (organization number 933 219 127); he has a materials transfer agreement (MTA) with LMITO Therapeutics Inc (South Korea), a cooperative research and development agreement with ChromaDex (USA), a commercialization agreement with Molecule AG/VITADAO, an MTA with GeneHarbor (Hong Kong) Biotechnologies Limited and a data license option agreement with Hong Kong Longevity Science Laboratory (Hong Kong); he is a consultant to NYO3 (Norway), AgeLab (Vitality Nordic AS, Norway) and Hong Kong Longevity Science Laboratory (Hong Kong). J.N.F. is an employee of Nestlé Research, part of Société des Produits Nestlé SA. V.G. is a member of the scientific advisory boards for DoNotAge, Elysium, GenFlow Bio and WndrHlth. O.H. is an employee of Lund University and Lilly. S.H. is a founder and paid consultant of the non-profit Epigenetic Clock Development Foundation that licenses the following patents. The Regents of the University of California are the sole owner of patents and patent applications directed at epigenetic biomarkers for which S.H. is a named inventor. S.H. is a principal investigator at the Altos Labs, Cambridge Institute of Science, a biomedical company that works on rejuvenation. M.K. is co-founder and CEO of Optispan, Inc. and co-founder of Ora Biomedical, Inc. He is employed by Optispan and has equity in both companies. D.W.L. has received funding from, and is a scientific advisory board member of, Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, which seeks to develop selective mTOR inhibitors for the treatment of various diseases. T.E.M. is an inventor of DunedinPACE, licensed by Duke University and the University of Otago for commercial uses. The DunedinPACE algorithm is open-access for research uses. D.A.S. is a co-founder, advisor to, board member of, investor in and/or inventor on patents licensed to Life Biosciences, EdenRoc Sciences/MetroBiotech, InsideTracker, Caudalie, Galilei Biosciences and Paradigm 88. Additional information on D.A.S.’s affiliations can be found at https://sinclair.hms.harvard.edu/david-sinclairs-affiliations. C.E.T. has research contracts with Acumen, ADx Neurosciences, AC-Immune, Alamar, Aribio, Axon Neurosciences, Beckman-Coulter, BioConnect, Bioorchestra, Brainstorm Therapeutics, C2N Diagnostics, Celgene, Cognition Therapeutics, EIP Pharma, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Fujirebio, Instant Nano Biosensors, Merck, Muna, Nitrase Therapeutics, Novo Nordisk, Olink, PeopleBio, Quanterix, Roche, Sysmex, Toyama, Vaccinex and Vivoryon. She is editor in chief of Alzheimer Research and Therapy, and serves on editorial boards of Molecular Neurodegeneration, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation and Medidact Neurologie/Springer, and is committee member to define guidelines for cognitive disturbances and one for acute neurology in the Netherlands. She has consultancy or speaker contracts for Aribio, Biogen, Beckman-Coulter, Cognition Therapeutics, Danaher, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Merck, Neurogen Biomarking, Nordic Biosciences, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Olink, Quanterix, Roche, Sanofi and Veravas. B.V. is founding president of the IHU HealthAge (Research National Agency, France 2030) Toulouse University Hospital and an investigator in clinical trials sponsored by several industry partner. He has served in the past 3 years as a scientific advisory board member for Biogen, Alzheon, Novo Nordisk, Lilly, Eisai, Roche and Johnson & Johnson without personal compensation. K.A.W. is an associate editor for Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association and Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, and is on the editorial board of Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. K.A.W. is on the board of directors of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. K.A.W. has given unpaid presentations and seminars on behalf of SomaLogic. A.E.W. is a scientific co-founder of Bolden Therapeutics. M.X. has a financial interest related to senolytics. Patents on senolytic drugs (including PCT/US2016/041646, filed at the US Patent Office) are held by the Mayo Clinic. A.Z. is the founder, the CEO and a shareholder of Insilico Medicine, a global AI-powered longevity biotechnology company. He is also a shareholder in Haut.AI, an AI skincare company, and shareholder in Regent Pacific (0575.hk), the owner of Deep Longevity, a company he co-founded; and advisor to LongeVC, a longevity-focused venture fund. All other authors declare no competing interests.
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ambrosio, F., Artyomov, M.N., Austad, S.N. et al. Past, present and future perspectives on the science of aging. Nat Aging 6, 6–22 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-01046-2
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-01046-2
