What if we could pause biological time to wait for a cure for a disease? Thanks to innovations and research in reversible cryopreservation, this possibility is no longer just science fiction. Sarah Guo sits down with Laura Deming, CEO and co-founder of biotech startup Until, to dive deep into the growing field of reversible cryopreservation. Laura talks about how her time as a Thiel Fellow as well as her founding of the Longevity Fund fueled her obsession with solving the “social blindspot” of aging. Laura details how her new startup, Until, seeks to build tools that allow for “pressing pause” on biological time, starting with human organs with the hopes of scaling up to full body medical hibernation. Together, they also discuss why ice is the enemy of tissue, using engineering tools to help solve biological problems, and how this technology may revolutionize organ transplantation by removing time as a variable.
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Chapters:
00:00 – Cold Open
01:08 – Laura Deming Introduction
01:53 – Why Laura Focused on Cryo Preservation and Longevity
06:20 – Bringing on Co-Founder Hunter Davis
07:55 – Until’s Goal
10:10 – Other Use Cases for Cryo Technology
12:22 – Scientific Challenges in Cryo Tech
15:36 – Using Engineering Principles to Solve Biological Problems
20:18 – Scaling Up Cryo Preservation
21:48 – Leading and Recruiting at Until
25:02 – Why Hasn’t Cryo Tech Been Worked On More?
27:14 – Making Time Not a Variable in Organ Transplants
29:06 – Changing How the Molecular World is Depicted
30:47 – Conclusion
