Translating Aging

Latest Episodes:

Understanding Aging to Develop Interventions (Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, University of Copenhagen) Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

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 podcast@bioagelabs.com

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) Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

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 podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Investing in Longbio True Believers (Sebastian Brunemeier, Healthspan Capital & ImmuneAge Pharma) Sep 28, 2022

Show notes

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 podcast@bioagelabs.com

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/

Investing in Longevity (Nils Regge, Apollo Health Ventures) Sep 14, 2022

Show notes

Joining Chris on the podcast today is Nils Regge, Co-founder and Managing Director of Apollo Health Ventures. As a social entrepreneur, company creator, and biotech expert, Nils built Apollo Health Ventures in 2016 to help health tech companies develop methods to prevent and reverse the aging process and extend the healthy human life span.

At Apollo, Nils makes use of his dealmaking skills, business knowledge, and prior experience growing startups to help boost the success of biotech and health companies. As the general public becomes increasingly interested in longevity and medical advancements continue to take place at rapid rates, Apollo is a leader in funding and fueling efforts to ensure healthier and longer human lifespans. At the moment, things are looking up as there is a lot of excitement in the industry - however, Regge finds it important to temper that enthusiasm with the right kind of skepticism. In a field in which any new advancement is seemingly revolutionary, it’s crucial to stay grounded.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

Incentive and organizational structures
Filtering for good ideas
Apollo’s portfolio of companies
Fusing European and American techniques for company building
The heightened need for funding
Bringing drugs into the clinic

Quotes:

“If you have something that makes you live 10 years, 20 years, longer, healthier, I think it's the biggest market ever.”

“We do company creation, but we also invest in outside companies.”

“Because we are in this for the long run, we want to make investors money, we want to show the investors that this is a good place to invest or a good space to invest. And then ultimately, we want to be able to raise more money from other bigger institutional investors.”

“You want to create an incentive structure and organizational structure that encourages the right kind of skepticism…you almost want to avoid a certain kind of optimism early on.”

“But because of the excitement in the field, and kind of what I think of as the ‘True Believer' phenomenon, I think we are vulnerable to a little bit of hype. And I think that it's a very good idea to bring that down to earth and say, ‘Okay, that's a good idea. Let us figure out the best way to see if it's gonna fail, and do that first.’”

“So first of all, it's about getting a drug to the market, that's the most important thing, and making sure it's safe and that it's working.”

“There's great science here in Europe, right? So I mean, the universities are great, the people are smart. They're just not as entrepreneurial as they are in the US, per se.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Apollo Health Ventures Homepage: https://www.apollo.vc

Nils Regge on LinkedIn: nils-regge-62ab7a28

Safe & Synergistic Combination Drugs to Promote Healthy Aging (Ann Beliën, Rejuvenate BioMed) Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of the BioAge podcast, Ann Beliën joins Chris Patil today to share the story behind Rejuvenate Biomed, and her journey into the longevity sector. She started her career at Johnson & Johnson after receiving her postdoctoral degree, and during her tenure, she worked in scientific, operational, and strategic roles. Twenty years later, she became the founder and CEO of Rejuvenate Biomed, a Belgian company evaluating combinations of safe and synergistic drugs that target physical decline and promote healthy aging.

One of Rejuvenate’s main focus areas is sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and strength during aging. When muscle decay starts to prevent people from leaving the house and living a quality life, mental health and quality of life decline rapidly. The company’s first combination therapy to reach clinical trials, currently in a Phase 1b study, will be initially tested as a treatment for this complex disease. More clinical trials are in the works, with two new combinations entering preclinical trials next year.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

Longevity sector outside the U.S.
Working for Johnson and Johnson
Rejuvenate BioMed’s in silico analysis
The complexity of sarcopenia as a disease
Phase 2 clinical trials
The funding environment

Quotes:

““If we want to do something in the longevity space, we need to provide the product in a chronic fashion, and safety is of course very important. So, why not start from something that already has a proven safety record?”

“The company is first identifying individual drugs that have interesting properties with respect to aging, and then trying to devise novel combinations of them that can be used to treat age related diseases.”

“Aging is not currently an endpoint that can be used as a trial outcome. So to bring drugs to trial, we have to identify appropriate clinical indications.”

“People with sarcopenia are not able anymore to go to the store, to leave their house. And the social impact is huge… they become isolated.”

“We want to have functional, happy people that are living their lives to their fullest potential for convenience.”

“We want to learn as much as possible also from the technical perspective, which can be an added benefit not only to the company, but also to the community on the comparisons of these different methods of measuring muscle mass.”

“I think we've also seen that in the United States, where the biggest science story of all of our lifetimes, the COVID pandemic, revealed the importance of thinking hard about diseases that disproportionately affect older people, and the broader ramifications of that for the rest of the population.”

“Your advisors should be representing different aspects, different ways of thinking and different challenges. So our advisory boards are always very interesting, because you get all these different perspectives.”

“In the aging field, people always dive deep and figure out the positive side and do the learning and just pull it through. And that's what I really like.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Rejuvenate Biomed Homepage: rejuvenatebiomed.com

Building Longevity Companies in Europe (Marc P. Bernegger) Aug 10, 2022

Show notes

Today’s guest on the podcast is Marc Bernegger, a serial tech entrepreneur who has been following developments in the field of longevity since 2009. Recently he became a founding partner of the Swiss company, Maximon, whose core missions is building companies and providing support to longevity entrepreneurs.

Marc has worked for over a decade between two continents at this point, and his interest in longevity has never been more intense. From aging skin to gut microbiomes, there’s a lot of work and research left to do, and if you’re of Bernegger’s school of thought, longevity is a matter of the present, rather than some notion about the distant future. As you will hear today, Marc is like so many others in his field - putting in the work now to create a better tomorrow.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

Entrepreneurial support
Maintaining a growing company
The future of aging skin
Cooperation in the longevity biotech sector
Investment attitudes in the US and Europe
Seeing longevity as a present issue

Quotes:

“Our ambition is to only focus on businesses where there's a real scientific background, so not selling snake oil, which is maybe on the short term very profitable but definitely not sustainable.”

“We support them from day one. We help them with all our network experiences and learnings as serial entrepreneurs ourselves. We support them with money. And we really try to be a sparring partner without maybe becoming too annoying.”

“I think for me as an entrepreneur, that's always very fulfilling that you can give, be an alternative, and create more entrepreneurs starting companies.”

“One of the reasons we decided to launch Maximon as a company builder is that we wanted to show that it’s possible to monetize the megatrend of longevity as we speak.”

“You can really boost and accelerate the growth by combining some of the different business models.”

“By having more elderly, healthy, longer living people, a lot of business models will change. So elderly living is a big topic. Something we're looking into is the whole gut microbiome, but also microbiome in other areas where you have a huge impact on longevity.”

“The longevity biotech sector, even in the regulated drugs space, is pretty cooperative. We don't think of ourselves as competitors, because everyone wants everyone else to succeed.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Maximon Homepage

Defining and Measuring the Aging Process (Dr. Vadim Gladyshev) Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

Joining Chris today is Dr. Vadim Gladyshev, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of Redox Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The Gladyshev lab studies redox biology and trace elements as they relate to cancer, reproduction, and aging. Today, Dr. Gladyshev shares with us how his research group investigates the aging process and how aging is quantified in academic research.

Dr. Gladyshev begins by discussing how he got involved in the longevity sector. He goes on to explain that aging has not been clearly defined, and how many researchers define aging differently. He contends that aging should be studied as opposed to age-related diseases because age-related diseases are influenced by other factors aside from aging. The interview concludes with the importance of conferences that address the science of longevity and how these events connect bright minds to tackle unsolved problems in the field.

Episode Highlights:

How Dr. Gladyshev got involved in aging
The relationship between selenium and longevity
How longevity is studied in the Gladyshev lab
What is rejuvenation?
The importance of measuring the aging process using clocks
Using experimental and computational methods to alter clocks
How the biotech industry quantifies aging
Targeting aging and not age-related diseases
The importance of conferences targeting longevity

Quotes:

“In general we try to address fundamental questions in the biology of aging — really trying to understand, ‘What is aging? How can we fundamentally adjust lifespan or target aging?’ … And we try to identify new areas of potential growth for the field.”

“We work on cross-species analysis to understand how the lifespan is shaped over evolutionary timescales and how we can utilize what we learn from evolution in targeting aging and lifespan.”

“Many changes can be measured as an organism moves from young to old. So this might be useful for measuring the progress of normal aging. But when you're intervening in aging, you don't want to reverse all of those changes, because some of those changes are evidence of the body's protective responses in action.”

“Just to play devil's advocate for a second: why would you want to target aging if you still got sick and died at the same rate?”

“Mortality is an integrative feature of not just the aging process, but interaction with the environment.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Dr. Vadim’s Linkedin

Gladyshev lab Website

Gladyshev lab Twitter

AI and Robotics in Longevity Biotech (Alex Zhavoronkov) Jul 06, 2022

Show notes

Joining Chris today is Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO and Co-founder of Insilico Medicine, an artificial intelligence–driven pharma-technology company with a mission to accelerate drug discovery and development. Alex is a lifelong advocate for longevity biotech and the author of The Ageless Generation: How Advances in Biomedicine Will Transform the Global Economy. Today, Alex shares the accomplishments that Insilico Medicine has achieved in drug discovery and how AI and robotics come into play.

The episode begins with Alex narrating his experience in the field of longevity and how his interest developed at a young age. He discusses the reason behind building Insilico Medicine, how AI and robotics aid drug discovery in the longevity industry, and how biology and chemistry play a significant role at Insilico Medicine. The episode ends with Alex describing the future he sees for Insilico Medicine and how they can improve human life using AI to advance drug discovery and data generation.

Episode Highlights:

What fueled Alex’s interest in longevity
Building Insilico Medicine
How tech is used at Insilico Medicine
The role of AI and robotic systems
How AI and robotic systems can improve the longevity space
The future of Insilico Medicine

Quotes:

“It always fascinated me how we grow, mature, reach our peak, and then decline and die. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you do, you lose everything… So, the rest of my life is dedicated to aging research.”

“We started generating novel molecular structures with the desired properties, and managed to achieve spectacular results.”

“In human clinical trials, we realized that we can use some incremental data that could be generated using a robotic system. So now we're building one of the most advanced labs in the world focused on data generation, and also personalized medicine that can take in specific biological samples.”

“BioAge is one of the leaders in the space, showcasing that it can identify targets using longitudinal data that is available from biobanks.”

“We trained neural networks to predict age first, and then retrain them on diseases or on other conditions, that is, any data type that is changing in time.”

“By training on age, you are training on the most important feature that connects all of us.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Insilico Medicine

The Impact of Muscle Aging on Longevity (Dr. Bill Evans) Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

Back in the host's chair this week, Bob Hughes welcomes Dr. Bill Evans, one of the world's foremost experts on muscle aging, to the podcast. Bill is adjunct professor of Human Nutrition at University of California Berkeley and an adjunct professor of medicine in the Geriatrics Program at Duke. Previously, he was vice president and head of Muscle Metabolism Discovery Performance Unit at GlaxoSmithKline and he was also president of the Muscle and Health Division at KineMed. He was also president of the Muscle and Health Division at KineMed. Earlier this year, he was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 International Conference on Frailty, and Sarcopenia Research. Today, Bill brings his vast amount of experience and expertise to the podcast to discuss how muscle aging affects longevity in older people and the relationship between muscle aging and age-related diseases.

He begins by sharing his experience in the longevity industry, particularly with muscle aging, and goes on to discuss the term ‘sarcopenia’, including what it means and how it relates to muscle degeneration. He then explains the differences between sarcopenia and cachexia, and referring to several studies, shares the meaning of frailty, the relation of walking speed with age, and the importance of the brain–muscle connection. At the conclusion of the episode, Bill discusses the future of muscle aging and how the longevity industry hopes to find solutions that will improve the lives of people on a global scale.

Episode Highlights:

Bill’s journey in the muscle aging industry
Why muscle degeneration?
The origin of the term ‘sarcopenia’
The differences between sarcopenia and cachexia
Is sarcopenia due to dysregulation of neuronal inputs?
The contribution of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers in aging
Sarcopenia and age-related diseases
What is frailty?
Why our walking speed slows down as we age
The relation between exercise and psychological state
The brain-muscle connection
The future of the longevity industry from Bill’s viewpoint

Quotes:

“What are some of the causes of late life disability? How does muscle change as we grow older? Why do we lose muscle?”

“A large percentage of women in particular over the age of 60 reported that they couldn't even lift 10 pounds. And the muscle weakness progressed as they grew older.”

“The primary deficit and functional deficit as we grow older is loss of strength. And that is directly related to how much muscle we have.”

“Cachexia is associated with a rapid increase in the breakdown of muscle, while sarcopenia is associated with a more gradual decrease in the rate of synthesis of muscle.”

“People generally over the age of 75, have circulating markers of inflammation.”

“People with type two diabetes and insulin resistance lose muscle at almost double the rate of people with normal glucose tolerance.”

“If we improve strength in an older person, their spontaneous activity goes up. And their habitual walking speed goes up as well.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Dr. Bill Evans on LinkedIn

Eliminating Senescent Cells by Activating the Immune System (Robin Mansukhani, Deciduous Therapeutics) Jun 08, 2022

Show notes

This week’s episode of Translating Aging features Robin Mansukhani, CEO and Co-founder of Deciduous Therapeutics, a company that aims to positively impact human healthspan by developing medicines which activate the endogenous immune mechanism responsible for the elimination of senescent cells. Today, Robin shares his insights on how senescent cells develop and how Deciduous Therapeutics eliminates them.

Robin begins by explaining what causes the growth of senescent cells. He explains that not all senescent cells are dangerous and discusses the various kinds of these cells. Although senescent cells are prominent in age-related diseases, Robin explains that they are also found in younger people with autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes. He goes on to talk about Deciduous Therapeutics’ approach in combating senescent cells by activating the NKT cells. He also shares his thinking about the best directions for human trials. The episode concludes with Robin describing the future of Deciduous Therapeutics, and his focus on impacting people globally in a meaningful way.

In this episode, you’ll learn how senescence arises, traditional senolytic approaches, and the importance of NKT cells in eliminating these pathogenic celss.

Episode Highlights:

The origin of senescent cells
Why are senescent cells highly pathogenic?
Breaking down the different kinds of senescent cells
The relationship between senescent cells and age-related diseases
Senolytics and senostatics: approaches for getting rid of senescent cells
Deciduous Therapeutics’ approach
What happens when senescent cells overpower NKT cells?
The role alpha-galactosyl ceramide on NKT cells
The current hurdles Deciduous Therapeutics are trying to overcome
How Robin see Deciduous Therapeutics in five years

Quotes:

“Senescent cells are cells that have been irreversibly damaged, and so they exit the cell cycle.”

“It's not about the age of the person. It's more about the biological age of the organ and tissue. So we see senescence, also, in young people.”

“If you can take a senescent cell that's pathogenic and make it good again, and make it functional again safely and successfully, that would be very useful.”

“The approach here and our mindset going into creating this company was: there's a way that nature intended for this to happen, and it is our job to figure that out.”

“Getting the first indication to work means that you'll have a runway to lots of success. But if your first one does not work, in a lot of cases, it might mean the end of the company or the end of the runway because you simply don't get enough funding for multiple clinical trials at once. So it is critical.”

Links:

Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.com

Translating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcast

BIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.com

BIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabs

BIOAGE Labs LinkedIn

Deciduous Therapeutics Website DeciduousTx.com