Uri Alon

At a glance

• Professor in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot) and one of the founders of systems biology.
• Known for ‘network motifs’, recurring building blocks in gene networks, and for the textbook An Introduction to Systems Biology.
• Applies this approach to ageing: the ‘saturating removal’ model holds that damage (such as senescent cells) is produced ever faster than the body can clear it, which would explain why disease risk rises exponentially with age.
• In 2026 he published a damage-accumulation model in Nature Aging that explains different ageing patterns across species, and co-authored an analysis in Science putting the heritability of lifespan at around 50% — far higher than earlier estimates.
• Also works on prediabetes, the immune system and stress, each time with simple mathematical models.
• Relevant because his work offers a clear framework for why ageing accelerates and where interventions might matter most — though these are models that still need testing.