Technion Researchers Unite to Promote Healthy Aging

As global life expectancy rises, a pressing question emerges: How can we maintain health and vitality in our later years? This question is at the heart of the Technion’s latest initiative — the Healthy Aging Institute, a groundbreaking endeavor that challenges traditional boundaries in academic research.

The Healthy Aging Institute was born from a desire to dissolve the academic silos that have long separated researchers in various fields. With the Technion now entering its second century, President Uri Sivan is pushing for a transformative shift — one that unites researchers across disciplines around shared, high-impact goals, or “grand challenges.”

“As we confront the grand challenges of the 21st century, it’s crucial to break down the walls between different fields,” says Sivan. “When we collaborate across disciplines, we multiply our impact. This new approach is a big departure from the way we’ve worked for the past 100 years, and it will open new doors for innovation.”

In tackling the challenge of healthy aging, Technion researchers from diverse fields are combining their expertise in ways never before seen. The Technion’s unique positioning — at the intersection of life sciences, engineering, and medicine — provides the perfect foundation for this multidisciplinary approach.

Prof. Sivan’s vision for a Healthy Aging Institute taps into the Technion’s strengths in both research and practical application. The institute will explore aging from multiple perspectives, recognizing that improving life for an aging population requires both scientific breakthroughs and societal shifts.

Professor Shai Shen-Orr ’99, an associate professor in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, has been appointed as the institute’s inaugural head. He emphasizes that the Healthy Aging Institute will confront one of the most complex and urgent challenges in modern medicine.

“By 2050, the global population of people aged 60 and over is expected to exceed 2.1 billion, with half a billion individuals over 85,” explains Shen-Orr. “Lifespan is increasing, but what about the quality of those additional years? Our goal is to close the gap between lifespan and what we call ‘healthspan’ — the years in which individuals remain healthy and independent.”

The questions the Healthy Aging Institute is tackling transcend individual fields of study. How can we design urban spaces that are more accommodating for the elderly? How can robotics improve assisted living? What role can technology play in combating isolation in aging populations?

“To answer these questions, we need to harness all the resources Technion has to offer,” says Sivan. “Our affiliated hospitals, medical school, world-class engineering departments, expertise in data science, and commercialization arm — all of these resources allow us to approach the challenge of aging in a holistic way.”

This collaborative, multidisciplinary model is already making waves at the Technion. Shen-Orr notes that the creation of the institute has sparked a cultural shift within the University, fostering unprecedented collaboration.

“Since the institute launched, my professional world has expanded,” says Shen-Orr. “I’m now sitting in meetings with colleagues from biomedical engineering, computer science, architecture, and industrial engineering. We’re all tackling the same fundamental problems, and the openness among departments has been exhilarating. It’s not just productive; it’s fun.”

One of the institute’s signature projects is the Lifespan Cohort study, a 10-year longitudinal research initiative that will track 1,000 individuals as they age. Researchers will monitor a wide range of factors, from cellular behavior and physiology to social interactions, while providing interventions to assess their effects.

The cohort study will offer a comprehensive view of aging, with a particular focus on how factors like immune system health might influence cognition, for example. This multidimensional approach will allow researchers to identify meaningful patterns and interventions that could promote healthier aging across various domains.

Prof. Sivan is optimistic that the interdisciplinary focus of the Healthy Aging Institute will lead to breakthrough advancements in the field. “There is immense power in focusing on one grand challenge,” he says. “In this case, that challenge is healthy aging. With the Technion’s broad expertise and our collaborative mindset, we’re uniquely positioned to make significant progress — and to distinguish ourselves on the global stage.”