Welcome back to the latest edition of the Longevity and DeSci Recap. Here, you’ll discover the latest interviews, insights, and research in the longevity tech sphere over the past month, and learn more about blockchain, DAOs, cryptocurrency, DeSci, and events.
This October saw ExcepGEN, a genetic medicine start-up, raise $4 million in funding, taking their total seed round to $14 million, the launch of MatrixBio, and increased recognition for DAOs as legitimate scientific communities.
Upcoming conferences
New longevity pop-up event coming soon: Vitalia.city, a brand-new popup event for longevity, is coming next January. Running for two months, the event will start to build a longevity network society under the motto “life is good, death is bad.” Applications for the event are now in process here.
Longevity Med Summit 2024: Focused on the medical side of longevity science, the Longevity Med Summit of 2024 will take place from May 8th and 9th, 2024, in Lisbon, Portugal. People interested in the event can expect a full schedule packed with functional medicine, AI & digital interests, regenerative medicine, mental health, lifestyle medicine, and more. Tickets are available to purchase from the website.
Longevity investment and development news
Dublin Longevity Declaration: The long-overdue Dublin Longevity Declaration, a groundbreaking document advocating for a shift in focus in aging research, was just unveiled and has gathered immediate support. Gathering over a thousand signatures within two days and counting, the declaration underscores the interconnectedness of healthspan and lifespan, viewing them as key connected concepts, while critiquing misconceptions on life-expansion, and the need for engaging with key decision-makers at a policy level.
Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Prof. Brian Kennedy, and Martin O’Dea spearheaded the initiative, which envisions a future in which longevity becomes a norm in sciences. The Declaration highlights that even a 5- to 10-year increase in average healthspan would revolutionize medical practice and significantly cut healthcare costs and calls for a multidisciplinary approach, utilizing AI and large health data sets, and encourages embracing high-risk, high-reward research to achieve this goal. While the document does not set out a definitive plan of action, it offers a clear direction for longevity science. We have an article about the Declaration and its implications, and you can put your name to the document here.
ExcepGen gains $14 million in seed funding: Pioneering genetic medicine start-up ExcepGen has just acquired $4 million in its latest funding round, taking its total seed funding to an impressive $14 million. This latest funding round was led by RA Capital Management with backing from Gravity Fund, Apollo Projects (Sam Altman), and other notable investors.
The start-up will continue to focus on developing innovative technologies and the usage and tolerability of novel nucleic acid therapeutics for longevity. Its solution works by encoding a unique “shield” protein alongside the primary nucleic acid to improve cellular responses to DNA and RNA, with potential implications for genetic medicines. The team behind the project is led by Barbara Mertins and Thomas Folliard, who founded the project following years of experience.
$6 million in Series A funding for Gero: Gero is a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) biotech company focused on aging and chronic diseases. It has recently secured $6 million in Series A extension round funding to expand its scientific team, strengthen its drug development programs and expand its US presence. Led by Melnichek Investments, the round hopes to support Gero’s research into using generative AI tools to analyze human health data, which can inform further research into drug development and expand human healthspan. This latest announcement is in addition to an ongoing partnership with Pfizer, regarding treatments for fibrotic diseases, among other discussions with large pharmaceutical companies.
Tech breakthroughs & new research
Phase 2 trial in the works for BioAge Labs: Mid-2024 will see the start of BioAge Labs’ Phase 2 trial for its novel obesity treatment: BGE-105 (azelaprag), an oral apelin receptor agonist, used in combination with tirzepatide. Azelaprag is an “exerkine” peptide which mimics apelin. To date, it has shown benefits in energy metabolism and muscle regeneration. The Phase 2 trial’s goal is to observe a reduction in total weight loss, which could be used in the treatment of weight loss and improving longevity.
DAOs and communities
Nature Biotechnology publishes a paper on DAOs: How we do science is officially changing. This month, Nature Biotechnology published a paper noting the rise of decentralized autonomous organizations, known as DAOs, and their impact as novel research funding models and their creation of diverse scientific communities.
The paper notes the wide-spreading effect of this as scientists work together for increased participation, engagement and even funding. DAOs utilize blockchain technology to facilitate their operations and fundraising, allowing them to support less conventional, poorly funded, but high-potential scientific areas, one of which is longevity. Read the paper in full here.
Matrix Biosciences launches marking first DAO spin-off: Since its foundation, VitaDAO has focused on investing into promising researchers and companies in the longevity arena. Now, it’s just launched its very own spin-off company, Matrix Biosciences (MatrixBio), an early-stage startup dedicated to developing groundbreaking treatments for cancer and other age-related disorders.
Under this collaboration, Vera Gorbunova, Ph.D., Co-Chair of the University of Rochester’s Aging Research Center, will lead the team’s work and collaboration with VitaDAO. Initial plans for MatrixBio include commencing preclinical studies to test novel hyaluronic acid-based compounds in order to identify an optimal drug candidate to improve human lifespan and cancer resistance in the future.
MatrixBio is launching with $300K initial funding from VitaDAO, which will be further supplemented by IP-NFTs based on the company’s further research.
Michael Baran of Pfizer Ventures speaks on R&D 2030: Following Pfizer’s investment into VitaDAO back in January of this year, it’s no secret that the pharmaceutical giant’s approach to research and development (R&D) is expanding. That latest expansion includes some newer technologies, such as AI and blockchain, as well as encompassing DAOs and other non-traditional organizational types. In this 20-minute video, Michael Baran of Pfizer’s Venture wing talks about the latest approaches and how R&D could look in 2030.
World Longevity News
In case you missed it: Our very own Steve Hill recaps just why decentralized science is key to funding age research and brings together take-aways from this year’s Ending Age-Related Diseases 2023 (EARD2023) conference.
Social media pages to follow this month
Molecule YouTube: Molecule is a platform for promoting DeSci projects, connecting life science research to funding. Watch along to see the latest interviews and insights for the community.
VitaDAO YouTube: Known for being at the forefront of all things DAO, VitaDAO’s channel brings together insightful interviews, unwraps complex topics, and is overall a worthwhile watch.
Lifespan.io YouTube: No longevity video collection could be complete without our own channel. Follow to get the latest longevity insights, thought leadership, and research.
