This special episode features a panel discussion moderated by Chris Patil at the 2023 SynBioBeta conference. The panel brings together leaders from the synthetic biology and longevity communities to explore opportunities for collaboration and cross-pollination between these fields. Panelists discuss the talent bottleneck in longevity research, challenges in translating new discoveries into therapies, the need for improved communication and education, and a shared vision for transforming health and society. The conversation covers existing resources for learning about longevity science, as well as calls to build new communities and networks to accelerate progress. Overall, the panel makes a compelling case that by coming together, synthetic biologists and longevity advocates can achieve breakthroughs that neither field could accomplish alone.

Guests:

• Nathan Cheng, Longevity Biotech Fellowship
• Stephanie Dainow, Lifespan.io
• Daniel Goodman, UCSF
• Kat Kajderowicz, MIT/Whitehead

The Details

• The talent shortage in longevity research and need to attract people from outside the field
• Challenges in developing model systems and translating discoveries from simple organisms to humans
• The role of improved communication, education and “edutainment” in enabling progress
• Existing online resources and communities in longevity science and synthetic biology
• The Time Fellowship and opportunities to get involved for students and early career researchers
• Visions for how synthetic biology could enhance longevity research, including new tools for measurement and diagnostics
• Hopes for progress in the short, medium and long term, from gaining years of healthspan to far future transformational changes
• The importance of breaking down silos, incentivizing collaboration and taking action to achieve ambitious goals

Quotes:

Quotations have been lightly edited for clarity.

Nathan Cheng

• “A lot of people here asked me the difference between working on diseases of aging versus aging itself. And I think a lot of people aren't aware that age-related diseases like cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, even cancer — these are late-stage manifestations of the aging process itself.”
• “I think it's incumbent on us within the longevity community to go seek out the tool developers because they are inundated with all this interest from other players in other fields.”

Stephanie Dainow

• “When it comes to aging, a lot of people you are under the impression that you're born, you will age there probably will be suffering, and then you will die. And that is the cycle of life. Right? That's kind of a standard. And I think this field is pushing that narrative in a direction that is uncomfortable because we're not used to it.”
• “Incentive structures matter. And in longevity, there aren't a lot of organizations that have products yet — forget the supplements, I'm talking about therapeutics — and that means that there aren't business development people, which means there's no selling, which means there's no marketing, which means there's no focus on articulation of the best way to create a narrative around the value prop.”

Dan Goodman:

• “Synthetic biology has lots to offer, as far as measurement and diagnostics and being able to cheaply and at scale measure the effects of aging and the effects of longevity therapies on large populations.”
• “As we get more comfortable, and we get more and more skilled at deploying these tools for disease, it'll be to the point that healthy people will be willing to take these sorts of therapies. and we can do so much to modify the body and immune system to affect longevity.”

Kat Kajderowicz:

• "Often I find folks working on problems really directly relevant to aging and longevity, but they don't consider themselves as being part of the field, or they're the only person in their lab, where they don't really have a community."
• "Find folks who you get along with and trust — find good mentors. There's so many great resources as well, so you can learn and get to the speed at which you are able to know which questions to ask.”

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BioAge Labs Website bioagelabs.com

BioAge Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BioAge Labs LinkedIn

Longevity Biotech Fellowship

Lifespan.io

Twitter handles of the panelists:

• Nathan Cheng - @realNathanCheng
• Stephanie Dainow - @sdainow
• Dan Goodman - @dbgoodman
• Kat Kajderowicz - @KKajderowicz
• Chris Patil - @DoNotGoGently

In this episode of Translating Aging, host Chris Patil is joined by Dr. Courtney Hudson-Paz, the Founder and Program Director of the Time Initiative, an organization whose mission is to build a network of undergraduate leaders in aging biology.

Courtney takes us on a journey into the world of aging biology and the mission of the Time Initiative, highlighting how this groundbreaking organization is cultivating the next generation of leaders. She shares her insights into the importance of early engagement in scientific research, the challenges faced by longevity research, and the transformative potential of geroscience. 

In addition, Courtney explains how the core component of the Time Initiative's program, the Time Fellowship, offers a unique opportunity for talented individuals to engage in impactful research, community-building, and mentorship. She notes the pressing need to address age-related diseases and describes the Time Initiative's efforts to create a diverse and inclusive ecosystem in aging biology. She also celebrates the fact that the contributions of ambitious young minds in the field have the potential to accelerate scientific progress and significantly reshape the field of aging biology.

In this podcast, you will learn about the mission and impact of the Time Initiative and discover the strategic importance of early engagement in scientific research and the transformative potential of geroscience. You will also gain insights into the Time Fellowship, as well as the importance of building a diverse and inclusive ecosystem in aging biology, and the role it plays in shaping the future of the field.

Outline

• The Time Initiative’s mission to inspire and cultivate future leaders in aging biology by supporting undergraduates
• The need to expand the talent pool and workforce to drive progress in aging research
• The potential of geroscience and rejuvenation biotech to transform human health and society
• Collaborative efforts with the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) 
• Events, resources, and opportunities available through The Time Initiative to educate students about aging research
• The Time Fellowship program: 
• Open to all disciplines 
• All-expenses paid annual retreat 
• Community group and mentorship opportunities
• $8,000 grants for summer projects
• Comparing The Time Initiative to similar organizations also focused on community building in longevity science
• Advice and resources for students interested in aging research and geroscience
• A vision for The Time Initiative’s growth and future impact on the field

Quotes:

“Our motivation is really the same motivation of the field, right? We all see that the world is aging rapidly, we already have a billion people suffering from age related diseases.”

"By focusing on undergrads, we're really investing in the future of the field... nurturing the next generation of leaders, innovators, and researchers."

“I think what makes it unique is the focus on really early stage talent, and going after people that aren't already interested in aging, as well.”

“The idea of the geroscience hypothesis is so compelling, that I feel like just the exposure is enough.”

“I want to firmly establish it as a key driving force in the field of aging. I want to grow our networks of fellows, our mentors and our partners. I envision a future where our fellows are empowered by this experience through our program and they become influential figures in the field.”

"The opportunities and possibility of the impact we can have in people's lives...is worth that extra funding and really deserves extra attention."

"I want them conducting cutting-edge research and pioneering innovative treatments."

"Stay curious. Be bold. Ask the questions, look for answers. Educate yourself, build your network, and believe in your potential."

"Enabling future leaders in aging is about more than just providing them with knowledge and skills. It's about instilling them with a sense of purpose and a desire to make a difference."

“I'm constantly fighting against underestimating my capacity for impact. But in learning to let go of that all of these really incredible opportunities have come my way. And it's really made room for me to just continually grow and learn.”

“I envision a future where our fellows are empowered by this experience through our program, and they become influential figures in the field. I'm really excited about the future and the roles that the Time Initiative and our fellows will play in shaping it.”

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Time Initiative

Jacob Kimball is the Head of Research and co-founder of NewLimit, a company aiming to develop epigenetic reprogramming therapies to treat age-related diseases and extend human healthspan.

In this episode, Chris and Jacob have an in-depth discussion about NewLimit’s mission and approach. They explore how NewLimit is leveraging epigenetics and machine learning to search for new ways to reverse cell aging without changing cell identity. NewLimit is systematically testing combinations of biological factors that can reprogram cell age, using both biological experimentation and computational modeling at scale, and Jacob shares insights into the cutting-edge science and technology behind this work: how functional genomics allows NewLimit to run hundreds to thousands of experiments in a single dish, how machine learning is used in their research, and the challenges of translating epigenetic reprogramming from the lab to the clinic. 

Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the promise of epigenetic reprogramming to revolutionize how we treat aging and age-related disease. 

The Finer Details:

• Epigenetics as a regulator of gene expression in cell differentiation and aging
• NewLimit’s mission and approach to tackling the challenges in aging research through epigenetic reprogramming
• The potential for age reversal built into our biology
• How NewLimit is using machine learning and biological experimentation in combination to generate new hypotheses and discoveries
• The potential for epigenetic reprogramming to improve the function of the aging immune system The biggest challenges in translating these discoveries to medicines, including delivery, pharmacokinetics, and ensuring safe and durable effects
• A vision for how rejuvenation biotech could transform health and society in the coming decades if key breakthroughs are made

Quotes:

"Epigenetics is this layer of regulation that tells your cell, ‘Which genes can I use from my genome, at which times?’"

"Our goal as a company is to increase human health span, and the way I like to frame that more colloquially is we want to increase the number of happy, healthy years each person gets to spend on Earth."

“Even with just those sorts of data available, we're already able to build models that perform better than randomly searching through the experimental hypothesis space, and already performed better than our rough heuristics about which interventions might be most impactful.” 

"We know that you can actually just express these four genes and reprogram even an old cell all the way back to an embryonic-like state, which not only changes the cell's type, the role it's playing, but also its age."

"Our approach is trying to discover ways we can reprogram cell age without reprogramming cell type."

"The challenge that we run into is that there are so many combinations that very quickly it would become intractable to line up enough test tubes to test them all.”

"Transient interventions could have durable phenotypic benefits for a patient. However, that space hasn't been explored very richly. We know very little about just how long some of these interventions last."

“I think what I'm strongly hopeful for is that, if such medicines are to exist, that you can actually increase the number of happy, healthy years each one of us gets.”

“I think in the next five to 10 years, we're going to see some of the first applications of this technology and the clinics, some of the first proof points, that these interventions actually can benefit patients in a material way.”

“What I hope that means for someone like myself is that the number of years in which I can plausibly consider hiking the John Muir Trail increases in a measurable way. And likewise, for those of you with other hobbies, I hope that these sorts of experiences from which we derive a lot of fulfillment increase in their abundance as a result of these medicines being available.” 

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

NewLimit

NewLimit progress update (YouTube video)

In today’s episode, Chris is joined by Dr. Matthew "Oki" O'Connor, CEO for Scientific Affairs at Cyclarity Therapeutics, a company focused on eliminating arterial plaque, a prevalent issue in old age. Dr. O'Connor shares his insights on the causes and effects of atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death worldwide, and how aging contributes to plaque build-up. The podcast emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift in addressing cardiovascular disease and highlights the importance of new approaches to repair vessels throughout the body and brain.

Together, Chris and Dr. O’Connor begin by discussing atherosclerosis, its significant impact on cardiovascular disease, and the need to understand the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying aging and diseases related to aging. They also cover the limitations of current clinical treatments for atherosclerosis and the importance of a paradigm shift towards new approaches that can repair vessels throughout the body and brain. Dr. O’Connor then goes on to describe Cyclarity’s unique drug, a cyclodextrin, explaining how it could be a promising solution to the harmful effects of atherosclerosis. The podcast also explores the potential of combination therapy with traditional lipid-lowering drugs to address multiple aspects of atherosclerosis.

Join Chris and Dr. O’Connor here today to gain a greater understanding of the remarkable work undertaken by Cyclarity Therapeutics, the impact of aging on cardiovascular health, the need for new approaches to address atherosclerosis, and the unique drug therapy combination that may offer a promising solution, revolutionizing its treatment in the process.

The Finer Details:

• Cyclarity Therapeutics and the work they undertake 
• Atherosclerosis 
• Cardiovascular dysfunction
• The build-up of arterial plaque
• The implications of aging-related targets
• The need for a paradigm shift towards looking at new approaches to repair vessels 
• The limitations of current clinical treatments for atherosclerosis
• The limitations in the standard of care for LDL and HDL cholesterol
• Understanding the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying aging and the diseases of aging.
• The need for new treatments
• The cyclodextrin drug and how it works
• The need for combination therapies that will target multiple aspects of atherosclerosis
• Cyclarity Therapeutics’ trials

Quotes:

"Cardiovascular dysfunction, depending on which metastudy you believe, between 30 and 50% of all death on the planet is caused by the build-up of plaque in the arteries."

"Atherosclerosis is the thickening of the arteries, which means in the vessel wall, you have a build up of material called plaque, which starts out as a fatty streak in the wall of a blood vessel."

"There's no way to avoid the concept or the idea that a basic molecular mechanism, a biochemical mechanism of aging is going to impact many, if not all, cells and tissue systems."

"By the time that you're doing vascular surgery on somebody, you've kind of lost the game. You clearly missed an opportunity to prevent a bad thing from happening in the first place."

"We really need a paradigm shift to look at new approaches to addressing cardiovascular disease."

"I think the average non-specialist just thinks of cholesterol as this, like, weird molecule that's in your body for some reason, but is totally bad."

"Those lipid lowering drugs do actually save lives and keep atherosclerosis from getting worse faster. But we are trying to invent a better way to do it, a more elegant way to get rid of only the most toxic forms of cholesterol so that your arteries can repair themselves the way that they're engineered to."

"I imagine that our treatment, at least at first, will be paired with the standard of care, which mostly is currently lipid lowering treatments, at least at first."

"The things they're going after aren't just going to be treatments for a specific kind of cancer with a particular mutation or a very specific kind of skin disease. It's going to be something that affects many organ systems."

“Targeting aging is an effective way to prevent and treat atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.”

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Cyclarity Therapeutics

Dr. Marco Quarta, CEO and Co-founder of Rubedo Life Sciences, joins Chris on today’s episode to discuss his company’s strategy of targeting pathologic cells to develop therapeutics for chronic degenerative conditions. The conversation covers the evolving definition of senescence and the challenges of identifying and classifying pathologic cells, which vary across different tissues and indications. Marco also announces the upcoming Senotherapeutic Summit in November, which will bring together stakeholders from different fields to advance therapeutic research. 

Marco and Chris also review Rubedo Life Sciences' clinical development approach: targeting the aging process with the goal of helping healthy stem and immune cells to repair. They then go on to discuss the funding and work required for the selection and nomination of a lead candidate for a project, the importance of having access to primary clinical samples to test efficacy, and the subsequent steps of the grant awarding process. The conversation then turns to the value of having multiple programs running simultaneously. 

Tune in today to learn more about  the ‘sneaky’ process of senescence that accelerates aging, the toxicity of these rare cells and the development of small molecules that can target them, the complexities of developing new therapies, and the value of having a robust pipeline of programs to advance therapeutic R&D.

The Finer Details:

• Defining pathological cells and their role in chronic degenerative conditions
• Identifying, classifying, and targeting senescent cells
• The need for a focused effort in identifying specific targets for therapeutics
• The evolution of the definition of senescence and the existence of multiple types of senescent cells
• The Senotherapeutic Summit in November and its goal of advancing the field of therapeutics
• Running multiple programs simultaneously
• The upcoming event in Saudi Arabia aimed at accelerating and promoting healthy longevity.

Quotes:

"These are aberrant cells, dysfunctional cells, and maladaptive cells that are contributing to shift the microenvironment and leading to progression of chronic degenerative conditions, driving chronic inflammation, fibrosis, stem cell depletion, and cancer."

"There are no universal pathologic cells across all tissues or indications. So it really depends on your question and finding targets associated with those that you can really go after in a drug discovery pipeline to generate therapeutics." 

"We are hoping to push forward the conversation about what senescent cells are, how we can classify them, and how we can move forward with targeting these cells."

"We are testing back to back multiple indications including for example, chronic age related atopic dermatitis and others."

"And it's a very important event that we'll have major stakeholders from high level government officials and scientists and innovators business leaders and really the idea of promoting a healthy longevity and how can we accelerate this."

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Rubedo Life Sciences

In today’s episode, Chris sits down with Kevin Caldwell, CEO, Co-Founder, and President of Ossium Health, a company that aims to improve human health and longevity through bioengineering - specifically using stem cell science to create materials for cell therapies. Together, they discuss Ossium’s approach: processing and banking of bone marrow from organ donors, which can then be cryopreserved and used for various clinical applications such as bone marrow transplants for blood cancer patients and emerging stem cell therapies. Kevin also shares details of his background as a lawyer in the stem cell industry and the potential of stem cell therapies in increasing the availability of bone marrow for treatment options.

He then goes on to describe his company's clinical programs and their goal of increasing the percentage of patients who ultimately get bone marrow transplants. In addition, he reviews the company's plans for using stem cell therapies in preventive medicine, their focus on improving long-term health and lowering costs, and the company's clinical trial for treating GVHD. Finally, he says a few words about Ossium’s place in the longevity biotech sector.

Listen in today to not only learn about the potential of stem cell therapies and the importance of increasing the availability of bone marrow for treatment options for blood cancer patients, but to also gain valuable insights into the future of healthcare itself.

The Finer Details of this Episode:

• Ossium Health and the work it does
• Processing and banking bone marrow from organ donors
• Kevin Caldwell’s professional background
• The potential of stem cell therapies and the impact of increasing the availability of bone marrow
• The clinical applications of cryopreserved bone marrow 
• The technicalities and the importance of cryopreservation of bone marrow.
• Ossium Health's clinical programs and their focus on treating patients with acute myeloid and acute lymphoid leukemia.
• The company's plans for using stem cell therapies in preventive medicine
• Their focus on improving long-term health and lowering costs.
• The goals of Ossium Health
• Ossium’s clinical trial for treating GVHD 
• Working with the FDA 

Quotes:

"Every year in the United States, there are about 20,000 people diagnosed with leukemia who go looking for a bone marrow transplant… 40% of those people… ultimately do not receive a transplant. Many of those people die while looking for a donor."

"Other people become so weak during the process of searching for a donor that they're taken off the list."

"There are also many emerging applications of the stem cells that are native to the bone marrow, treatments for diseases of inflammation, treatments that enable people to receive organ transplants without immunosuppression."

"Ossium has developed a process for processing and banking bone marrow from organ donors, cryopreserving those cells, and then doing further selection and engineering on the cells to prepare them for different clinical applications."

“There's a number of steps that we have to take to go from that solid bone to bone marrow for cryopreservation.”

"Our goal is to dramatically increase the percentage of patients who ultimately get bone marrow transplants."

"Bone marrow transplants are not FDA regulated. They're treated like organ transplants by law."

"One of the things about prevention that is most powerful is that if you achieve it, you can both improve long-term health relative to retrospective treatment, and ultimately lower cost. For us, prevention is a North Star.”

“If we think about our goal of trying to broadly improve human health, one system that is involved in our response to essentially all disease is the immune system.”

"At Ossium, what we're really building is the ability to systematically reconstitute, restart, reset, and renew the human immune system."

"For the rest of the recipient's life, they will produce blood and immune cells from the donor's bone marrow."

"One of the things that's exciting about that is that the donor cells will be able to recognize and respond to new disease threats."

“The set of innovations that is going to allow us to extend our healthspan meaningfully from what we have now toward something that gives us another chapter of healthy life is going to look very different from the set that allowed us to go from the lifespans we had a century ago to today.” 

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Ossium Health

This week, we welcomes Peter Fedichev, an entrepreneur and scientist with over 20 years of experience in academic research and biotech business who has co-founded three biotech companies. He’s currently the co-founder & CEO of GERO, a longevity startup on a mission to hack aging. 

In this episode, Chris and Peter discuss GERO’s goal to accelerate our understanding of aging and create a therapy that will significantly extend a healthy human lifespan. First, they talk about the relationship between physics and biotech, and from there, the conversation moves to the importance of resilience in human and animal aging. Finally, Peter walks us through GERO’s drug discovery approach, how we can ‘hack’ complex dynamic systems and aging using AI, and shares his optimism about the future of aging research.

The Finer Details of This Episode: 

• Discussing complex systems and aging
• Understanding slower aging in some animals
• Resilience and dynamic stability
• The dynamic frailty indicator
• Models of premature aging and slow aging
• GERO’s drug discovery approach 

Quotes: 

“What we can do and what I think is very good to learn how to do in biology is to understand those universal properties that do not depend on fine details of life histories.”

“Obviously aging, that is a very slow process—so slow that almost everything averages out and people that are living under different conditions with totally different life histories are still living more or less the same long life.”

“It's easier to rejuvenate an animal which doesn't have any resilience because resilience means the ability to get back to the norm after the intervention. If you are resilient, either a bad effect like smoking or a good effect as your future aging drug will be small, and the more resilient you are, the smaller is the effect.”

“If you can only increase your lifespan once you're already unstable, the overall effect of such interventions from lifespan will be, unfortunately, incremental and limited.”

“It looks like our progress in chronic diseases is very slow. It's very slow because even though genome is cheaper, we have all genetic therapies, all kinds of new therapeutic modalities, everything, but for reasons that we need to understand, it's very hard to do drugs against chronic diseases in humans.”

“I think by bringing these ideas from neuroscience like your company is doing, like our company, like all our communities are doing, I think we will find ways to educate them. And who knows, maybe in five years, one of the major pharmas will start doing drugs against aging, using the techniques and the experience that we will help them to create; I think we're very close to this tipping point in the industry.”

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Peter Fedichev on LinkedIn

GERO.AI

“Unsupervised learning of aging principles from longitudinal data” Avchaciov, K., Antoch, M.P., Andrianova, E.L. et al. Unsupervised learning of aging principles from longitudinal data. Nat Commun 13, 6529 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34051-9

This week, Chris welcomes Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, who’s on a mission to understand, modulate and treat aging and age-related diseases. His research group, The Scheibye-Knudsen Lab, is trying to understand the cellular and organismal consequences of DNA damage & repair with the aim of developing interventions for aging. Morten is also one of the chairs and chief organizers of the highly successful aging research and Drug Discovery conference, ARDD. 

In this episode, Chris and Morten talk about interventions in the aging process and why it’s important to better understand aging in order to hopefully treat age-related diseases someday. First off, they discuss the contribution of DNA repair pathways to aging, and then Morten explains the diverging consequences of DNA damage, establishing the pivotal role that DNA damage plays in the aging process. From there they delve into how ketones work in the brain, as well as the connection between the ketogenic diet and aging. Finally, Morten shares his experience with clinical trials, the Aging Research & Drug Discovery conference, and some exciting things to look forward to in the aging field.

The Finer Details of This Episode: 

• Discussing DNA damage and aging
• The importance of intervening in the aging process
• Clinical work and funding
• The connection between a ketogenic diet and aging
• ARDD 2022 Conference
• Exciting things in the aging field 

Quotes: 

“I think if we're interested in being able to treat diseases and treat chronic diseases, then we really need to understand the root cause of these diseases. And most chronic, non-communicable diseases are age-associated, and aging is the largest risk factor for these diseases. So something happens during aging that makes us susceptible to disease.”

“Your brain cannot metabolize fats very well, so it needs an additional food source when sugar is getting very low, and ketones are then a possible food source.”

“The ketogenic diet or ketosis had been used even in Roman times.  When someone had an epileptic seizure, people thought they were possessed by demons and then they put them in a cell and allowed the demons to burn themselves out. But in reality, they just left them in the cell until they went into ketosis. That's when the ketones probably broke the seizures.”

“I think that we still don't exactly know how good they are in terms of aging. But I think this is a really interesting research topic because it has been very difficult to separate the, for example, reduction in blood glucose effect from the increase in ketone effect. So these exogenous ketones will really be key to dissecting that relationship.”

“I think this is probably the most exciting part, I would say, of the aging field right now is the greatly expanding field of clinical trials actually targeting aging.”

“I can drive a small clinical trial, but to actually get products in the hands of people and drive change for regular people, we need companies, we need industry. ”

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website bioagelabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

ARDD 2022 Website: https://agingpharma.org/ 

ARDD YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClOnplI2mzpJlwdX3vlOMJA

Optimizing Healthspan through Longevity Medicine (Dr. Andrea Maier – The Center for Healthy Longevity)

Dr. Andrea Maier is an internal medicine specialist, geriatrician, and researcher whose work focuses on age-related disease, cellular senescence, and the translation of longevity science into clinical practice. Among her academic appointments are professorships at the Free University, Amsterdam and the Netherlands, the University of Melbourne in Australia, and the National University of Singapore, where she also serves as the co-director of the Center for Healthy Longevity.

On today’s episode, Dr. Maier joins host Chris Patil to discuss longevity medicine, her goals for building credibility in this emerging specialty, and how lifestyle changes are key to intervening in the aging process. First, she explains that longevity medicine means optimizing the state of health of an individual before a disease occurs by antagonizing the aging processes to be healthier for longer. This focus on delaying age-related disease differentiates longevity medicine from other specialties in its proactive attempt to prolong the healthspan rather than reacting after a disease has already occurred. Dr. Maier goes on to state her goals for this specialty, including educating laypeople and medical professionals, building a credible foundation and guidelines, and accelerating research in the field. She also suggests some promising areas of research, from diagnostic clocks to the credibility of supplements, as well as discussing lifestyle changes, an intervention already known to be effective against age-related disease. Dr. Maier then discusses her involvement with the first publicly funded outpatient clinic in longevity medicine, which she’ll be opening in Singapore in 2023, and the services it will provide. Finally, Dr. Maier closes the episode with her thoughts on democratizing longevity medicine and the future of the specialty, including her hope that, within ten years, we will see a shift toward preventing and lowering age-related diseases.

Episode Highlights:

• What is longevity medicine?
•  
• Building credibility in a new specialty
• The long-term impact of supplements and lifestyle changes
• Dr. Maier’s new outpatient clinic
• Democratizing longevity medicine

Quotes:

“What we would like to achieve is to optimize that function at that moment in time for that individual. And optimizing function means optimizing the cognitive function but also the physical function to prevent that age-related disease.”

“Nobody really knows or has really described what the effect is of these supplements over the life course and for whom. I think consumers need to know what the return on investment is of taking these kinds of supplements. On the other side, physicians should know what the possible return of investment is if these kinds of supplements are prescribed to healthy individuals if any.”

“We have already interventions in place, we have diagnostics in place. And that’s the reason why I, as an internal medicine specialist, I’m opening the first longevity clinic in a publicly funded hospital because I think it’s time, and I think it’s unethical to not apply this knowledge to the population and just wait until disease occurs.”

“Most importantly is that we have to give individuals the choice what they would like to achieve because if we want, as healthcare professionals, too much, and people will not stick to our recipes, nothing will happen. So it has to be a shared decision-making on what to do and what to leave out.”

“We should deliver care to everybody who needs our help. And I would say helping means, in my view, to prevent age-related diseases, and thereby reduce the cost to the entire society.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

In today’s episode, Chris welcomes Sebastian Brunemeier, a biotech VC and company builder focused on longevity and regenerative medicine. Sebastien is the Co-Founder and General Partner of Healthspan Capital, a longevity VC firm that invests in biotechnology startups developing therapies to slow or reverse aging, and the CEO and Co-Founder of ImmuneAGE Pharma, a new company based on a drug discovery platform for immune rejuvenation.

At Healthspan Capital, Sebastian is looking to invest in fellow “true believers” in longevity and regenerative medicine—companies that understand the importance of aging as a focus for biotech and won’t pivot away from longevity as a focus.

 Sebastian’s newest venture, ImmuneAge Pharma, is focused on rejuvenating the immune system. With over 100 years of combined drug discovery expertise, the company aims to systematically identify small molecules that rejuvenate hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). As Sebastian points out, the goal of longevity and regenerative medicine is not to extend lifespan at any cost, but rather to increase quality-adjusted life years.

The Finer Details of This Episode: 

• Healthspan Capital and the importance of aging as a focus for biotech
• Investing in fellow believers who won’t pivot away from aging
• Alzheimer's drug development and the “amyloid mafia”
• ImmuneAge Pharma and immune aging 
• The importance of restoring immune function
• Key misunderstandings of regenerative medicine

Quotes: 

“We noticed that there was a gap in the market for more traditional structured VC, the longevity biotech space, and actually I and my co-founders launched Healthspan because we were looking to invest our own money into a broadly diversified portfolio and a long bio space, and there was no way to do it. So we had to create it ourselves.”

“I would argue that if you have a drug that enhances robustness and resilience and extends lifespan, and it works in multiple different animal models and disease, contrived or not, that is a much stronger preclinical signal for efficacy down the road.”

“We've already found a couple of interesting molecules that we're doing med chem on to improve their properties that identify the molecular target. And so, we're hopeful that we'll find a whole pipeline of assets that rejuvenate the immune system.”

“If we can dramatically improve outcomes for patients who receive chemo, that would be an absolute home run. It's a huge unmet market need. And this is something that I would want for myself and my friends and family to be available.”

“We want to gently, slowly replace the existing HSCs in the niche.”

“I'm primarily not in this for the money at this point. I am in this to extend healthy lifespan in myself and my loved ones and the world, and showing Big Pharma that there is a new way, another world is possible. We can actually treat disease at the root cause: the fundamental biology of aging.”

“We want to compress the time in which we're spending years in poor health at the end of life, which is very expensive for the whole world and the whole system. ”

Links: 

Email questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected]

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Healthspan Capital Website: https://www.healthspancapital.vc/ 

Sebastian A. Brunemeier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianaguiar/ 

Longevity Marketcap Newsletter: https://sub.longevitymarketcap.com/ 

The DeSci movement: https://ethereum.org/en/desci/