As another year draws to a close and a new one begins, thank you for being with us. To end the year, let’s take a look back on December 2023 with the latest edition of the Longevity and DeSci Recap.
December 2023 proved a remarkably productive month for longevity research and DeSci innovation. With a significant amount of funding secured for research in the previous year, the momentum continued into December with Fauna Bio partnering with pharma giant Eli Lilly in a deal estimated at $494 million. The new year is looking even better.
Kicking off with the exciting launch of Vitalia, the latest longevity city pop-up event, set in Roatan, Honduras, January 2024 will be an exciting month, packed with innovation all over the globe. AthenaDAO’s initiative is no exception. In January, it starts the process of selecting their first Entrepreneur-in-Residence who will lead a FemTech company to the future of longevity.
Upcoming conferences
The countdown is on for Vitalia: With just days to go until the start of Vitalia, a longevity pop-up event that is designed to start a longevity network society, anticipation is growing of what the event will bring. Following the success of Zuzalu, the first similar longevity pop-up experiment, expectations are high. This latest event is set to run for two months, starting on January 6 and ending on March 1, 2024. This time, it will be held in Roatan, Honduras, and it expects to gather 200 residents and 500+ visitors during the event, with sessions on all aspects of longevity, from AI and techno-optimism to longevity pathway exploration.
Spring is coming, and so is a whole new event season: In May 2024, longevity enthusiasts from all over will join together at the Rejuvenation Startup Summit 2024 in Berlin. Said to be the biggest in-person longevity gathering, last year’s summit attracted 400+ guests from over 30 countries, and this year’s event could be shaping up to be even bigger. Speakers will include Matthew Rosen of CoRegan, Alexander Leutner of cellblocks, Lifespan’s Stephanie Dainow, and many other equally notable names. People hoping to attend the event can book tickets at this link.
Longevity Science D.C. Fly-In is approaching: Bringing together decision makers and rejuvenation science experts, the Longevity Science D.C. Fly-In is set to be held on March 21 – 22 in Washington D.C. Participants will aim to foster greater collaboration between the spheres and explore new possibilities of working together to address the challenges of aging.
The Longevity and Biohacking Convention comes to Cancun: Bridging technology and longevity with a healthy dose of sunshine, the Longevity and Biohacking Convention will open this March in Cancun. This two-day event is set to take steps toward unlocking the secrets of longevity and seeking out new ways to reach peak performance. With a busy schedule planned, this convention will seek keynotes from over 30 speakers and explore over 60 exhibits with latest the biohacking world has to offer.
Longevity Med Summit 2024 returns this May: As medicine and longevity science form an ever-closer bond, the Longevity Med Summit gathers participants from all across the med-tech spectrum together to talk technology, regenerative medicine, and so much more. Hot topics of this year’s event are said to include AI and machine learning, but it’s also set to be packed with networking opportunities, in-depth presentations and fascinating discussions. Tickets are available for purchase from the website.
Longevity investment and development news
Fauna Bio partners with pharma giant Eli Lilly in new deal: Longevity biotech Fauna Bio has recently signed a multi-year deal with pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. The deal, worth an estimated $494 million, will leverage the biotech’s AI platform and focus on preclinical drug discovery for obesity. Fauna Bio’s AI platform draws upon extensive genomic analyses across numerous mammal species to identify potential drug targets for obesity. It is hoped that findings using the technology will go on to treat other diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, and, potentially, neurodegenerative disorders. This move marks another massive move by big pharma into the longevity sphere, following Pfizer’s sizable investment into VitaDAO.
$4 million in funding for Sigrid Therapeutics: December did not fail to live up to funding expectations, with the Swedish biotech company Sigrid Therapeutics raising an impressive $4 million in funding for its explorations into solutions for diabetes and obesity that center around improving metabolic health. The company’s proprietary SiPore technology is an orally administered solution that is engineered to prevent digestive enzymes from breaking down carbohydrates and fats by acting locally in the gut. The latest funding will go towards this and advancing their further efforts.
Tech breakthroughs & new research
Stanford Medicine-born start-up targets organ longevity: Following a recent publication in Nature, again marking another step up in longevity science, Stanford Medicine has initiated the creation of Teal Omics, a longevity start-up focusing on commercializing their research into organ aging. The start-up draws on past research that determines the biological age of human organs, and their aging rates, linking increased aging rates with higher disease risk and increased mortality. The team’s discovery draws upon machine-learning algorithms and could have potential implications for future biomarker discoveries and the creation of new forms of treatment.
DAOs and communities
Calling all FemTech leaders! AthenaDAO is looking for you: The world’s first DAO centered around women’s health, AthenaDAO, has put out a call for all would-be FemTech leaders to apply to its Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program. Applications are open until January 2, 2024 and welcome everyone interested in creating a start-up for women’s health to apply.
World Longevity News
Have you heard of ARPA-H? It’s time you did!: Lifespan News is back with a very special episode on ARPA-H, a US-government-backed body investing $1 billion (2024) to $2.5 billion in longevity centred technologies, such as vaccines, implantable pharmacies, tissue regeneration and a whole host of innovative solutions. Join in and watch our host, Emmett Short, uncover ARPA-H and what’s coming next for the body.
Lifespan.io partners with Ora Biomedical: When Ora Biomedical said it wanted to test one million molecules to extend healthy human longevity, Lifespan.io was there to answer the call. We’re partnering up with Ora Biomedical to collaborate on advancing aging and longevity research with the latest technology, more specifically AI and robotics. Ora Biomedical is set to test one million molecules in the accurately named Million Molecule Challenge to assess 1,000,000 longevity interventions in the next five years. Although the team behind the project will seek to better understand current longevity therapies, such as calorie restriction and rapamycin, the team believes that the value of this initiative lies in the unexpected results that it could uncover.
Social media pages to follow this month
This month, visuals are in, but so too is the science. These are the top longevity Instagram pages to follow, and not just for the aesthetics.
VitaDAO – Keep up to date with the latest from this biotech DAO via its Instagram.
Molecule – Don’t miss out on the latest updates from Molecule covering DAOs, DeSci, and more.
AthenaDAO – Brining FemTech to the BioTech sphere, AthenaDAO shares the most recent updates right on its Instagram.
Lifespan.io – Don’t leave this article without signing up to Lifespan.io’s own Instagram page.
