Presenters
Vadim Gladyshev, Professor at Harvard
Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School Director of Redox Medicine, Medicine, Brigham And Women's Hospital. The Gladyshev lab research interests focus on redox biology and trace elements as applied to cancer, aging and male reproduction. They are trying to understand the mechanisms of redox regulation of cellular processes by studying reactive oxygen species (ROS) and thiol oxidoreductase functions of cellular components. Little is known of what the specific...
Nikola Markov, Bioinformatics at Buck Institute
Neuroscientist with interests in the fundamental mechanisms that govern the relation between structure and function in the brain, neural computation and cognition. Sharing a strong belief that Neuroscience is becoming mature for the implementation of transformative and transferable neurotechnologies.
Weronika Prusisz, International Institute of Longevity
I am a devoted advocate of healthy longevity technologies and aspiring to push forward Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence. I spend a lot of time thinking about what could increase healthy human lifespan. Since I was a child, I've been fascinated by the idea that longevity is a mechanism we can manipulate. I believe that reversal of skin aging will have a profound impact on the general public view on life extension possibilities.
Aaron King, Foresight Institute
Aaron King has been involved in various longevity projects for the last 10-15 years. He has written overviews of the network of longevity organizations as well as the landscape of scientific pathways in pursuit of longevity. After growing tired of being marooned on a rock in the middle of the pacific ocean, he moved from Maui to Palo Alto to be closer to the hub of research and discovery.
Yuri Deigin, YouthBio
Yuri Deigin, Co-Founder of YouthBio Therapeutics, finds it interesting that we still don’t know the genetic causes of different maturation rates between species. If we understand the genetic mechanisms for development, it will greatly inform our understanding of aging processes. There is a direct coupling between sexual maturity and total lifespan, which seems extremely relevant to aging biology. The field of aging hasn’t spent enough effort investigating developmental program stages between species in regard to aging.
Petr Sramek, Longevity Tech Fund
Petr has been a serial tech entrepreneur for more than 33 years and believes that science and technology can help humanity reach a new, better level of being. He is building science, funding, and business infrastructure to support faster adoption of health-span improving technologies. He is a founder of Longevitytech.fund, former Entrepreneur in Residence at Singularity University, co-founder of the Longevityforum.eu, board member at Animal Biosciences (US), AgeCurve (UK), iamYiam (UK) and other longevity startups...
Kamen Shoylev, New Balkans Law Office
Kamen is a dual-qualified lawyer practising at the Bulgarian and English Bars. As a Bulgarian lawyer, his practice involves corporate, commercial, regulatory and IP law, and the interaction of Bulgarian and English, and Bulgarian and EU laws. Kamen is a co-managing partner at New Balkans Law Office, a mid-sized Bulgarian law firm providing advice and representation to inward investors and domestic businesses pursuing an international strategy. At the English Bar, Kamen advises on and acts on a range of dispute resolution, corporate...
Jyothi Devakumar, Longevity Tech Fund
A scientist, entrepreneur and a lifelong longevity enthusiast. She holds a PhD in biotechnology and her postdoctoral work was in in-vivo delivery systems. She has worked in various sectors of the industry including working as a part of a contract research organization liaising with several ivy league pharma companies in the drug discovery space, as scientific founder and CSO of two startups, and as a consultant in the regenerative medicine and longevity space. In the investing space, she has been a venture consultant...
Summary:
What is the most undervalued area for longevity progress we should pursue?
The lack of a clear definition of aging presents a major obstacle for collaboration and advances in the field. We need concensus on aging, rejuvenation, and biological age. Without an agreement on what we study, it’s hard to form a unified force and convince the public.
Where are we today? Where would we like to be?
There are many definitions, with no concensus on what aging is and what causes it. We can’t advocate for a moonshot project because there are no common clearly-defined goals. In the short term, we should organize a conference to attain concensus. Later we can build a unified force and more easily pursue moonshot projects.
What public and private actions have the biggest impact on those goals?
Creating a focused conference on defining aging, creating questionnaires and aggregating them into an online repository, and stimulating podcasts/debates on the nature of aging.
What people, funding, resources, experiments would be required to test this hypothesis?
Impetus grants and Foresight Institute could host a conference ($20k). Having a website, promotional videos, and explanatory resources are a necessary component. Having real debates and panel discussions where people are free to voice disagreements seems important as well.
