BUFFALO, NY — August 10, 2026 — A new #essay was #published in Volume 18 of Aging on August 6, 2026, titled “Misha Blagosklonny: a life of ideas.” The article was written by Aging Editorial Board member David Gems from the Institute of Healthy Ageing and Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, United Kingdom, along with Aging Editor-in-Chief Marco Demaria from the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA), University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Rather than presenting new experimental findings, the essay examines the life, scientific contributions, and lasting influence of Mikhail (“Misha”) Blagosklonny, whose ideas had a major influence on modern thinking about the biological mechanisms of aging. Dr. Blagosklonny was trained as a physician and experimental scientist before building an influential career in oncology and aging research after moving to the United States. His work combined cancer biology with theoretical biogerontology, leading to the proposal that aging is driven not primarily by the passive accumulation of molecular damage, but by developmental and growth-related programs that continue beyond their beneficial period. Through what he described as conceptual research, Misha synthesized evidence from diverse experimental studies to generate new hypotheses about aging and reinterpret existing biological observations. A central theme of the essay is Dr. Blagosklonny’s development of the hyperfunction theory of aging. Building on observations that persistent activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway can drive cellular senescence, he proposed that many features of aging arise from the continued activity of biological programs that promote growth and reproduction earlier in life. Rather than viewing aging as an adaptive genetic program, Misha argued that it represents a quasi-program—a genetically determined continuation of normal developmental processes that become harmful later in life. This framework provided a mechanistic explanation linking evolutionary concepts such as antagonistic pleiotropy with molecular pathways that regulate growth, metabolism, and cellular senescence. Full press release - https://www.aging-us.com/news-room/misha-blagosklonnys-scientific-legacy-continues-to-shape-modern-aging-research DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206412 Corresponding author - David Gems - david.gems@ucl.ac.uk Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://aging.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Faging.206412 Subscribe for free publication alerts from Aging - https://www.aging-us.com/subscribe-to-toc-alerts Keywords - aging, hyperfunction, programmatic theory, disposable soma 2, quasi-program, biogerontology, evolutionary physiology, Mikhail Blagosklonny To learn more about the journal, please visit https://www.Aging-US.com and connect with us on social media at: Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/aging-us.bsky.social ResearchGate - https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Aging-1945-4589 X - https://twitter.com/AgingJrnl Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AgingUS/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/agingjrnl/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/aging/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/AgingUS/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/AgingUS/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Aging-US Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1X4HQQgegjReaf6Mozn6Mc MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM