Clock.bio
Organization Description
Dr. Mark Kotter is the scientific founder of Clock.bio, a company with a mission to increase human healthspan by developing treatments to prevent and treat age-related diseases. The company is exploring the rejuvenation ability of hiPSCs, enabling them to ‘reset the clock’. This could be useful in combating the effects of stem cell exhaustion, one of the reasons we age.
What are hiPSC cells?
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are created from non-reproductive cells through controlled genetic or chemical manipulation, or cells derived from these through division. They have the capacity to develop into the three primary germ layers – endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm.
The researchers at the company have observed that hiPSCs not only remain functionally young, but will also rejuvenate back to a youthful state if artificially forced to age. It is this ability to effectively remain ageless and shake of the effects of time through rejuvenation that have attracted the interest of Clock.bio.
They are aiming to use this ‘resetting the clock’ ability in hiPSCs to create a model of ‘aging in a dish’. Clock.bio is using this aging model and are forcing hiPSCs to age, which then triggers their rejuvenation mechanism. They then use CRISPR screening on large sample sets of these cells so they can identify gene candidates that are linked to cell rejuvenation.
Ultimately their goal is to create a comprehensive understanding of rejuvenation biology and to use this knowledge to create novel treatment approaches.
