The dream of waking up in the near future and being substantially younger at a cellular level is something I have the rare privilege to pursue each day. However, keeping this dream alive is contingent on the following (1) making timely and meaningful technical progress towards the end-goal (2) finding a spectacular short- and long-term commercial story, given the significant upfront time and capital investment required for drug development (3) nourishing the excitement and clarity of this mission, lest we settle for less on what will be a challenging journey. I’m excited to share technical progress that brings this dream a big step towards reality; a single gene sufficient for rejuvenation of multiple cell types, which unlike the Yamanaka factors, does not induce dangerous pluripotency pathways or threaten cell identity. Special mention to @lucascamillomd , @BrendanMSwain, @KMask94583 and Rihab (Raya) Gam , who played a disportionate role in this breakthrough along with the rest of the talented @ShiftBioscience team. Also a big thank you to @meltwindinvest, BGF, @FPrimeCapital, @Kindred_VC, @HealthspanCap , @KarlPfleger and our other investors for enabling us to directly pursue this mission. Read the bioRxiv paper here; biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
