The bowhead whale is the second-largest animal on Earth and has the longest lifespan (more than 200 years). Their size and longevity inform the research of Vera Gorbunova, PhD, and her husband Andrei Seluanov, PhD, both professors of biology at the University of Rochester, where Dr. Gorbunova directs the newly launched Upstate New York Nathan Shock Center and its Frozen Zoo Biobank Resource Core and Dr. Seluanov leads the Live Animal Resource Core.

Their work, published October 29, 2025 in the journal Nature (“Evidence for improved DNA repair in long-lived bowhead whale”) and covered in The New York Times and The Guardian, may contribute to greater understanding of the aging process, cancer resistance, cell regeneration, and DNA repair in people.

“People used to think we can’t improve DNA repair, that it’s already optimal, but the whale does it better than we do,” Dr. Gorbunova said in The Guardian article.

The eight Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging are located across the country and funded by the National Institute on Aging’s Division of Aging Biology.