In this week’s newsletter

✅ Everything you need to know about partial reprogramming. ✅ Exclusive interview with Yuri Deigin, CEO of YouthBio Therapeutics ✅ Remembering Leonard Hayflick. ✅ Linus Petersson’s new book. ✅ Insights from LEVITY Podcast episode #5 with Alexandra Stolzing. ✅ A new research and technology development roadmap for cryopreservation.

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Some housekeeping:

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Introduction to my guide to partial reprogramming

Turn. Like in turn back time. Shift. From what was thought as the inevitable to now being viewed as the reversible. Rejuvenate. Youth. And Altos is a Spanish word which means ”high” or ”heights”. Let’s interpret that as a symbol for the pushing of boundaries of human longevity.

Turn Bio, Shift Biosciences, Rejuvenate Bio, YouthBio Therapeutics and Altos Labs* have one thing in common. These biotech companies are all about the Hottest Thing in aging biology and longevity science right now: partial reprogramming of cells.

* The name Altos Labs is likely derived from Los Altos Hills above Palo Alto, where billionaire Yuri Milner’s ”super-mansion” is located. A meeting at Milner’s house led to the formation of the company.

Partial reprogramming. That sounds kinda dull, right? But take another look at the names of these companies. They suggest that this technology might indeed be the closest thing we have to an actual fountain of youth.

”If we're able to reverse […] the aging process, which I think partial reprogramming, like repeated partial reprogramming, can accomplish, then we can then even rejuvenate people and decrease their mortality risk”, Yuri Deigin, CEO of YouthBio Therapeutics, said in a recent talk. (You’ll hear much more from Yuri below!)

Our genome is essentially identical in all of our cells. Another molecular system, the epigenome, orchestrates which genes should be expressed in our approximately 200 different cell types. This is something to be thankful for. Just imagine the chaos if they didn't. Your skin cells trying to pump blood, your liver cells attempting to form memories, and your brain cells secreting digestive enzymes. Quite the mess.

Then again, as this system becomes increasingly overwhelmed with time, it can no longer function optimally. Genes that should be activated or upregulated might instead be deactivated or downregulated, and vice versa. Mayhem ensues. We call this aging.

But as Yuri Deigin points out, it appears possible to restore the epigenetic landscape and rejuvenate cells and tissues. In fact, the last few months have seen some dramatic advancements in this area.

Before I get to them though, just a few words about how this week’s newsletter is structured.

You'll discover:

• The latest news that prompted me to do a special feature on this exciting field.

• The origins and story behind partial reprogramming. (If you know nothing about partial reprogramming you might want to start there.)

• An explanation of how this groundbreaking technology works.

• An exclusive interview with Yuri Deigin, CEO of YouthBio Therapeutics and a pioneer in the field (this might be the best starting point for those already familiar with the topic).

Alright, on to the latest headlines!

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