Lifespan Research Institute

https://www.lifespan.io

Organization Description

Lifespan Research Institute (“LRI”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on the defeat of age-related disease and the extension of healthy human lifespan through raising funds and awareness for scientific work addressing the root causes of the aging process; building a thriving ecosystem of mission-aligned stakeholders which can be mobilized to strategic action; and spearheading relevant research projects directly. We work to identify, develop, and promote initiatives with outsized impact and the greatest potential to realize widespread access to regenerative medicine solutions targeting the disabilities and diseases of aging.

LRI was formed in October 2024 following the mutual merger of the Lifespan Extension Advocacy Foundation (LEAF/Lifespan.io) and SENS Research Foundation (SRF). Prior to their merger, Lifespan.io worked with SRF on crowdfunding the allotopic expression of the mitochondrial ATP8 protein in mutation-bearing cells; the MitoMouse project, which expressed ATP8 in vivo in all tested tissues in living mice; and the Control-ALT-Delete project, to develop a fast and reliable assay for the ALT mechanism in cancer.

Among the longevity biotechnology spinouts derived from research sponsored by LRI are:

Cyclarity Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech startup that develops small molecules that remove 7-ketocholesterol (7KC) from cells as an approach to preventing and treating atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and other diseases of aging. The company is a spinout of Lifespan Research Institute (formerly SENS Research Foundation), co-founded by LRI’s Matthew (“Oki”) O’Connor, Ph.D. and Michael Kope.

LYSOCLEAR is a portfolio company of Ichor Life Sciences developing the namesake engineered enzyme LYSOCLEAR. LYSOCLEAR is designed to degrade A2E, a toxic byproduct of the visual cycle that causes the death and dysfunction of retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells, which are macrophage-like waste-clearing cells that “eat” the damaged membranes of photoreceptors. By degrading A2E and preserving the function of RPE, LYSOCLEAR aims to prevent, arrest, or reverse age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the leading cause of blindness in persons over the age of 65, and the mechanistically related genetic disease Stargardt macular degeneration.

Revel Pharmaceuticals is a biotech spinout born out of research on Advanced Glycation End-products (AGE) funded by LRI at the Spiegel lab at Yale University. Revel is developing rejuvenation biotechnologies to address the stiffening and dysfunction of arteries, diabetic retinopathy, and other disease and dysfunction caused by AGE.