Professor Vadim Fraifeld
Vadim Fraifeld, M.D., PhD was an Associate Professor, Head of the Laboratory for the Biology of Aging, and Director of the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Aging at the Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Vadim was a distinguished scientist in the field of aging biology and longevity medicine who made fundamental contributions to the development of modern gerontology, life extension, and research into the mechanisms of aging. His scholarship combined molecular biology, stress physiology, and system-level thinking, constructing a coherent conceptual framework in which adaptive responses to environmental and metabolic stressors play a central role in the modulation of aging trajectories. A top priority of his research was searching for determinants of lifespan and pathways for achieving healthy longevity. Read Israelis excel in finding keys to long life.
Vadim’s research interests focused on the systems biology of aging, the molecular and cellular basis of longevity and age-associated diseases, the genetics of longevity, stem cell biology, cell reprogramming, cellular senescence, wound healing mechanisms, and fibrosis, as well as the search for exogenous and endogenous factors that limit or promote lifespan and the quality of aging.
During his career, Vadim published over 100 scientific papers cited by leading researchers worldwide and was named among the 2000 Longevity Leaders in Research and Academia by the Aging Analytics Agency. Read Human Ageing Genomic Resources: new and updated databases and Wide-scale comparative analysis of longevity genes and interventions.
One of Vadim’s most important achievements was the creation and development of the NetAge database, a unique online resource that systematizes knowledge about microRNA-regulated protein and genetic networks involved in aging, age-associated diseases, and longevity. The NetAge project was widely cited and formed the basis for dozens of studies on the mechanisms of aging and the possibilities of their programmatic control.
He also contributed to the development of the Human Ageing Genomic Resources (HAGR) database, which accumulates data on genes associated with humans and model organisms and their age-related phenotypes, as well as CellAge, a comprehensive database of genes governing cellular aging and repair programs, and MitoAge, a database for comparative analysis of mitochondrial DNA with a special focus on animal longevity. Read MitoAge: a database for comparative analysis of mitochondrial DNA, with a special focus on animal longevity.
Additional database projects he contributed to include DrugAge, a database of aging-related drugs, SynergyAge, a curated database for synergistic and antagonistic interactions of longevity-associated genes, and TiRe, a tissue repair genes database. Read A multidimensional systems biology analysis of cellular senescence in aging and disease and Gray whale transcriptome reveals longevity adaptations associated with DNA repair and ubiquitination.
One of Vadim’s most important contributions was his attempt to construct a comprehensive theoretical framework for new areas of gerontological science. His joint monograph with Khachik K. Muradian, Rejuvenation and Longevity: Introduction to Rejuvenology, was the first fundamental work aimed at identifying, substantiating, and providing practical context for the concept of “rejuvenology,” the science of the mechanisms of rejuvenation and methods for achieving fundamental life extension. In this book, the authors laid the foundations for an optimistic gerontology in which aging is viewed as reversible and rejuvenation as scientifically achievable. Read Have we reached the point for in vivo rejuvenation?
In 2021, Vadim’s research team at Ben-Gurion University made headlines when their large-scale study covering over 320 million people across all 3,139 US counties demonstrated that life expectancy was approximately 2.5 years longer among people living in areas with relatively high versus low background radiation, challenging the prevailing linear no-threshold paradigm in radiation science. Read Background radiation impacts human longevity and cancer mortality: reconsidering the linear no-threshold paradigm.
Vadim served as the Chairman of the organizing committee for the 8th European Congress on Biogerontology, which took place in Israel in 2013 and became a key event for European and global gerontology, bringing together over 140 specialists from 24 countries. Between 2008 and 2014, he was the Scientific Co-manager of the RESOLVE Consortium, a large-scale collaborative project funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which investigated the pathophysiology of fibroproliferative disease in aged individuals.
He was also a Principal Investigator of a Binational Science Foundation (BSF) research grant from 2022 to 2025, in collaboration with Prof. Gadi Turgeman of Ariel University and Prof. Vera Gorbunova of the University of Rochester. Read Mesenchymal stem cells and their derivatives as potential longevity-promoting tools and Small molecules for cell reprogramming: a systems biology analysis.
Vadim served on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including Biogerontology, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (as Associate Editor), Frontiers in Genetics, Network Biology, Oncotarget, Fibrosis, and Ageing and Longevity. He was also a Guest Editor of two Special Issues of Biogerontology: Healthy Ageing and Regenerative Medicine (2013) and Age-related Diseases: Common or Diverse Pathways? (2014). He served as Council Member of the Israeli Gerontological Society and was Chair of its Biological Division from 2014 to 2018. Read The second international conference “genetics of aging and longevity”.
Vadim earned his M.D. (Cum Laude) in General Medicine from Lviv State Medical University in 1974. He earned his PhD in Experimental Gerontology from the D.F. Chebotarev Institute of Gerontology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv in 1989. From 1980 to 1991, he was a Research Scientist at the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Gerontology in Kyiv, where he studied the fundamental aspects of aging at the physiological and molecular levels.
Since 1992, Vadim lived in Israel and was affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he rose from a Researcher in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology from 1992 to 1998, to Researcher B/Senior Lecturer in the Division of Basic Sciences from 1998 to 2005, and then to Researcher A/Associate Professor and Head of the Lab for the Biology of Aging from 2005 onward. He supervised a total of 56 research students, including 15 PhD students, 14 MSc students, 3 Post-Doctoral fellows, and 24 third-year research projects.
Vadim was recognized with the Prochovnik Prize (1996) and the Bergman Prize (2010) from the Israeli Gerontological Society for his studies on the biology of aging, as well as the Scientist of the Year Award from Israel’s 9th TV Channel in 2008.
Beyond the laboratory, Vadim was also a talented writer and author of books for the general public. His book Aliyah (BeitNelly, 2023), written for immigrants to Israel, combined documentary, fiction, and satirical techniques. His other literary works speak for themselves: Alma, the Voice!, Alte Zachen, Amaichel, Instructive Medicine, and Animal Stories. They describe the stages of life in Lviv, Kyiv, and Israel, the psychological and everyday aspects of integrating into a new country, family memories, and interesting anecdotes.
His latest book, Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa — 555 Stories about Everything and a Little Bit of Everything, was published as a Telegram channel before it reached print. The stories are easy to read, filled with warmth and a gentle irony, a fact noted by readers of all generations.
Vadim was born into a family of doctors in Lviv, Ukraine. He passed away on September 20, 2025.
Read Vadim Fraifeld: Researcher, Philosopher, Dreamer. Watch Vadim Fraifeld — Longevity Nation Conference.
Visit his Google Scholar page, Ben-Gurion University profile, ResearchGate profile, Academia page, ORCiD page, and Frontiers Loop profile.