An international team says this is the first study to uncover this "resilience signature."
As prevalent as dementia is—affecting over 7 million Americans annually, and projected to double in the next 30 years—Northwestern University’s 25-year SuperAger study only gets more timely with time.
The research team studies the biology and behaviors of Americans ages 80 and older who have—or, posthumously, had—brains whose performance on tests of episodic memory was equal to, or even better than, that of people in their 50s. Some individuals in this category even sign off to donate their brains to the research after death, which has helped lead to the team’s discovery of traits like lower rates of brain atrophy. The program has also contributed to the more recent understanding that social engagement tends to be common for these individuals, whereas other research has shown that loneliness is scientifically linked with brain conditions like dementia, as well as earlier death.
Now, in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, the SuperAgers researchers have led a team of 16 scientists to probe into a different area of the brain. In a February 2026 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, they’re reporting that the brains of “super agers” remain strong producers of new neurons even as they age. A representative for Northwestern noted via February 25 email that this “is the first study to identify a genetic difference between SuperAgers and typical older adults.”
“Essentially,” the spokesperson said, “they learned SuperAgers grow neurons in their hippocampus at a rate twice that of their peers and even much younger adults, and 2.5 times that of Alzheimer’s patients.”
The Cleveland Clinic explains that the hippocampus is part of the brain responsible for learning and memory in a variety of ways and stages. Technically, we have two hippocampi in the brain, on the left and right sides within the temporal lobe, near the temples and ears deep within the skull. Along with memory function, the hippocampi work with other parts of the brain that help the brain draw emotional associations based on memories.
The team made this groundbreaking determination from studying “human post-morten hippocampi obtained from different cohorts”—namely, the following:
- young adults with intact memory
- aged adults with no cognitive impairments
- aged adults with extraordinary memory capacity
The team examined almost 356,000 nuclei sequencing profiles from these samples. Among the “super agers,” says study co-author Tamar Gefen, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a neuropsychologist at Northwestern’s Mesulam Institute for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease: “This is biological proof that their brains are more plastic, and a real discovery that shows that neurogenesis of young neurons in the hippocampus may be a contributing factor.” Dr. Gefen also commented: “We’ve always said that SuperAgers show that the aging brain can be biologically active, adaptable, flexible, but we didn’t know why.” This new finding lends more insight.
The team also acknowledged that epigenetic factors can play into this process—meaning, one’s environment and behaviors. Dr. Gefen tells The Healthy: “There have been studies, mainly in animal models, that do show that lifestyle factors … can shape adult neurogenesis by altering ‘epigenetic’ factors.” She calls these “the usual suspects: physical exertion, environmental enrichment, stress management, diet, and the like.”
That said, she’s careful to add, “I unfortunately can’t prescribe a recipe for neuronal regrowth via behaviors with the goal of becoming a SuperAger—we all wish it were that easy.” Dr. Gefen suggests, “A natural next step for scientists will be to identify and measure if and how lifestyle contributes to neurogenesis in humans of all ages.” As part of the process to do that, she says, “We will need to observe how genes involved in neurogenesis are expressed in response to lifestyle and environmental factors.”
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