aging-biology
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Life Biosciences Put Its Aging Theory in One Eye
The Boston biotech began with the immense ambition of treating aging itself. Its first human test is far narrower: can a gene therapy safely coax damaged optic-nerve cells toward a younger state?
The Cell That Forgot How to Be Young
NewLimit wants to make an old cell useful again without making it forget what kind of cell it is. Its first test of that idea is headed from the liver lab toward human trials.
Rejuvenation Technologies Inc.
Rejuvenation Technologies is a Stanford-spun biotech developing modified-mRNA therapeutics that temporarily switch on telomerase to lengthen telomeres and reverse cellular aging in specific tissues. Its lead programs target fibrotic and age-related diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, chronic liver disease and bone-marrow failure, delivered by proprietary tissue-targeted lipid nanoparticles. Backed by Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator, the company holds 50+ patents and is advancing toward Phase I clinical readouts.
Adam Freund
Adam Freund is the founder and CEO of Arda Therapeutics, a San Carlos biotech built on a simple, contrarian bet: many chronic diseases are caused by specific cells gone wrong, so the cure is to find and delete those cells while leaving healthy tissue intact. A molecular biologist with a Berkeley PhD and a Stanford postdoc, he spent seven years at Google-backed Calico Life Sciences, where he helped grow the company from roughly 15 to 200-plus people and started its most advanced anti-aging therapeutic program. In late 2021 he left to start Arda as a solo founder with a deck and a thesis, and by October 2024 had raised a $43M Series A led by a16z Bio + Health. His tools are single-cell sequencing to map disease cell-by-cell and antibodies to do the deleting.