Anti-aging science has matured from a fringe pursuit into a mainstream research program aimed at extending healthspan — the years we remain strong, independent, and mentally sharp.
That matters because aging is the biggest risk factor for many chronic diseases, and the economic drag of frailty, disability, and long-term care grows as populations get older.
National Academies researchers describe a potential “longevity dividend”: better health across the life course can translate into workforce and fiscal gains, not just lower suffering.
If the average person’s healthspan could be extended five years, the economic upside could be enormous. A natural aging economic model estimated that slowing aging enough to raise life expectancy by one year is worth about $38 trillion to the U.S. economy, and ten years about $367 trillion, driven by higher productivity and lower disease burden.
Today’s field spans several lanes: lifestyle interventions with strong evidence (exercise, nutrition, sleep); drugs that target aging-related pathways (still under testing); and “damage-repair” approaches aimed at hallmarks of aging such as cellular senescence.
That’s where the work of Blake Rasmussen, PhD, at UT Health San Antonio’s Barshop Institute, fits. His lab focuses on skeletal muscle physiology and metabolism, studying why muscle weakens with age (sarcopenia) and how pathways like mTORC1 nutrient signaling and responses to physical activity affect muscle and metabolic resilience.
More recently, his team has helped advance an XPRIZE Healthspan project testing whether low-frequency ultrasound can “rejuvenate” senescent cells—an intriguing idea supported by early laboratory and animal findings, but now moving into human trials where safety and real-world benefit must be proven.
Guest:
Blake Rasmussen, PhD, is a physiologist and aging researcher at UT Health San Antonio, where he is Chair and Professor of the Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology and is affiliated with the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies.
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This episode will be recorded on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.
