Translating Aging

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 structuresFiltering for good ideasApollo’s portfolio of companies Fusing European and American techniques for company buildingThe heightened need for fundingBringing drugs into the clinicQuotes: “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.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInApollo Health Ventures Homepage: https://www.apollo.vc Nils Regge on LinkedIn: nils-regge-62ab7a28 

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 JohnsonRejuvenate BioMed’s in silico analysis The complexity of sarcopenia as a diseasePhase 2 clinical trialsThe funding environmentQuotes: ““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.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInRejuvenate Biomed Homepage: rejuvenatebiomed.com

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 supportMaintaining a growing companyThe future of aging skinCooperation in the longevity biotech sectorInvestment attitudes in the US and EuropeSeeing longevity as a present issueQuotes: “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.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInMaximon Homepage

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 longevityQuotes:“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.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInDr. Vadim’s LinkedinGladyshev lab WebsiteGladyshev lab Twitter

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 MedicineQuotes:“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.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInInsilico Medicine

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 viewpointQuotes:“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.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInDr. Bill Evans on LinkedIn

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 yearsQuotes:“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.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInDeciduous Therapeutics Website DeciduousTx.com

In today’s episode of Translating Aging, Chris welcomes Mark Hamalainen, the founder and director of LessDeath, to discuss how to encourage the influx of talents into the longevity field. LessDeath is an organization on a mission to support the growth and effectiveness of the longevity industry’s workforce. Today, Mark shares with us his experience in the longevity space, why he founded LessDeath, and what to expect at the upcoming LessDeath Longevity Summer Camp.Noting that his experience in the longevity space was propelled by his fascination as a teenager, Mark goes on to share details about leaving his Ph.D. program to get hands-on experience in the longevity world and discover the many talents represented in the industry. He speaks about founding LessDeath, what the organization hopes to achieve, the inaugural LessDeath Longevity Summer Camp and the gap this event is hoping to bridge in the industry. Included in this episode are interviews with Stephanie Dainow and Kia Winslow, camp counselors for the Longevity Summer Camp, in which they share the kinds of talent they expect to attract to the event and the kinds of activities that will take place.Episode Highlights:How Mark got involved in the longevity space The biggest issue in the longevity field The different talents prospering in the biotech field Why gene delivery and gene therapy require more technological development The challenges with getting people into the longevity biotech field How LessDeath tackles the talent issue and encourages networking The LessDeath Longevity Summer Camp Interview with Stephanie Dainow How Stephanie got into the longevity space Interview with Kia Winslow Kia’s story of getting into biotech What is next for LessDeath?Quotes:“I started a Ph.D. at Cambridge working on some gene therapy development. But I quickly got a bit disillusioned with the pace and the amount of extra work involved in grant writing, bureaucracy, and academia.”“A lot of people would prefer to work on important problems like longevity, climate change, building a multiplanetary species. But it can be difficult to know where to start, and how to build a sustainable career out of it.”“I've never liked the idea of getting older and losing my faculties and physical capabilities.”“If you want to invest your time supporting initiatives that drive measurable improvement to the human condition, but you're really not sure where to start, this is the event for you.”Links:Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInLessDeath Website LessDeath.OrgApply for LessDeath Longevity Summer CampMark’s LinkedIn

On today’s episode of Translating Aging, Chris welcomes Tyler Golato and Laurence Ion to talk about VitaDAO, a collective accelerating research in human longevity and decentralized drug development.  The pair start the conversation off by discussing their company’s roots -  a previous business venture that sought to change the incentive structures around drug development.  VitaDAO was created as a means to support biological longevity research through decentralized means.  They go on to discuss VitaDAO’s future, how they can increase liquidity, and their goals to advance drug development.  Golato and Ion argue that the present is a perfect time to create VitaDAO, given the current intersection between biotech, block chain, and longevity research.  They conclude by recalling the early-life dreams that inspired them to enter this field. Episode Highlights:The essence of VitaDAOChanging the incentive structures around drug developmentThe partners’ passion for longevityVitaDAO’s decentralized structure Project sourcing and fundingIncreasing liquidityGoals to end drug developmentThe intersection of biotech, block chain, and longevityWhy Tyler and Laurence are interested in longevityQuotes: “VitaDAO was born out of an early concept that we had been working on at a company called Molecule, which is a company that I co-founded about three years ago with a vision of doing decentralized drug development.”“It's not completely open, completely decentralized to the point where it's paralyzing for the organization, but we try to look at the things that are most valuable to decentralize in order to make the organization as maximally efficient as possible.”“We really try to make it as easy as possible for token holders to make informed decisions about whether or not something is ultimately worth funding. We like to do so once we're at the point where we ensure that we can actually progress with a deal.”“We are distinctly different from a venture fund in terms of our endpoint is not really ROI impact, it's really impact in the space. And that comes in many different forms, in terms of taking a diversified approach to funding longevity research.”“Even if we spin out a NewCo, these contributors can vote on what projects are funded, how they are spun out, and then they can co-invest and help these therapeutics eventually come to market.”“In the long term, we really hope to be able to do a lot of things within the decentralized science ecosystem as the space broadens and has liquidity to do so through partnerships with organizations like Molecule and LabDAO.”“Certain things like clinical trials don't yet have a business model. So we can create one by having either philanthropic groups, patient groups or even a government/life insurance company that has an economic incentive to improve health outcomes.”“Crypto has long been dismissed by the incumbents.”“People who are really looking at how technology and innovation can drive humanity forward and drive the way that we govern.”“What problem is more interesting than human aging? I mean, for me, it's so philosophical; it's so poetic.”Links:Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInVitaDAO Homepage

On today’s episode of Translating Aging, Chris welcomes Nathan Cheng, the program director at On Deck Longevity Biotech (ODLB), to discuss how ODLB is cultivating new founders and connecting people in the longevity biotech space. Nathan writes about the longevity biotech industry in his Longevity Marketcap Newsletter, is the founder of Longevity List which aims to connect job seekers, companies and investors in the longevity industry, and is on a self-professed mission to end biological aging, Today, he tells us about the purpose of ODLB, its achievements thus far, and the bridge it hopes to build in the longevity biotech industry.Nathan begins the conversation by discussing what On Deck is and why the company was formed. He briefly narrates his journey in tech, what increased his interest in the longevity space, and the mission of the ODLB, as well as how the fellowship works towards creating founders. He goes on to discuss the obstacles many face when they get accepted in the fellowship and how ODLB works to reduce those obstacles by promoting face-to-face interactions. Also contained in this episode are brief interviews with ODLB fellows Brian Hodge and Gabe Warshauer-Baker.Episode Highlights:What is On Deck? Nathan’s journey in the longevity space On Deck Longevity Biotech’s (ODLB) mission The importance of connecting those in the longevity biotech space How mentors contribute in ODLB Does the startup culture reward extroverts over introverts? Getting into the ODLB fellowship Interviews with ODLB fellows Feats the ODLB has achieved The future of the longevity biotech spaceQuotes:“At a high level, On Deck is where people come to start and accelerate their companies. It's also a place where people start and accelerate their careers in the startup economy.”“What makes On Deck unique is that it's a huge network of interconnected program communities. So we have communities centered around specific career goals.”“ODLB’s mission is to increase the number of people working to build longevity biotech startups.”“For some people coming from the scientific domain, this whole idea of networking is foreign to them or nebulous.”“We're gonna generate new founders, but among the people who decide for whatever reason not to become founders, we also want them to be encouraged and empowered to be involved in longevity biotech in some other capacity.”“Putting ourselves on the map for people who are interested in building longevity biotech, I think that is our greatest achievement so far. ”“So I think just more efforts in popularizing this geroscience paradigm, you know, actually targeting aging, I think there's a lot to be done there as well.”Links:Email questions, comments, and feedback to podcast@bioagelabs.comTranslating Aging on Twitter: @bioagepodcastBIOAGE Labs Website BIOAGELabs.comBIOAGE Labs Twitter @bioagelabsBIOAGE Labs LinkedInOn Deck Longevity Biotech WebsiteNathan Cheng Twitter