Hi ,

Congratulations to Laura Deming and Alex Colville on the successful launch of their Age1 VC fund last night at the California Academy of Sciences.

If you love longevity, you'll love the track of content Alex has put together for SynBioBeta coming up on May 6-9 at the San Jose Convention Center.

Left: Cynthia Kenyon, the CEO of Google's Calico Labs, Laura Deming, founder of Age1, and Celine Halioua, founder of Loyal. Right: Myself and Alex Colville, Co-founder of Age1.

Insights:

• Can Synthetic Biology Aid in The Race Against Rare Infectious Diseases? Synthetic biology approaches are advancing vaccines and therapeutics for otherwise neglected rare infectious diseases.

AI Image Created Using DALL-E

Industry News:

• Scientists Engineer Skin Bacteria for Breakthrough Acne Therapy. A recent study published in Nature Biotechnology unveils the groundbreaking success of using genetically modified skin bacteria as a potential new treatment for acne.

• ‘mEnrich-ing’ Microbiome Research with Groundbreaking Sequencing Technique: Mount Sinai researchers unveil mEnrich-seq, a revolutionary method promising unprecedented precision in microbiome research and potential breakthroughs in healthcare. 

• Ginkgo Bioworks Launches Powerhouse Biopharma Advisory Board to Further Develop Platform Technologies. The formation of Ginkgo Bioworks' Biopharma Advisory Board marks a significant leap in accelerating biological R&D and biosecurity, leveraging advanced technologies and AI. 

• How Brain-Fat Interactions Can Lead to Healthier Aging: Washington University researchers discover a vital brain-fat feedback loop that slows aging, promising a future of increased longevity and improved health.

Other news:

• CRISPR QC Closes Seed Round at $1.6M and Appoints George Bonaros to Board of Directors to Fuel Commercial Growth of Their CRISPR Analytics Platform (Press release)
  

• Fauna Bio Announces Strategic Collaboration with Lilly to Discover Novel Obesity Targets Using Convergence™ AI Platform (Press release)

Co-Founders Katie Grabek (CSO), Ashley Zehnder (CEO), and Linda Goodman (CTO) in the Fauna Bio main research facility in Emeryville, CA.

• Ginkgo Bioworks announces the successful completion of their gene therapy collaboration previously announced with Biogen in May 2021. (Press release)

• Absci will unveil encouraging pre-clinical findings on their novel anti-TL1A antibody program, ABS-101, at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this week. Absci's Founder and CEO, Sean McClain, is scheduled to present a comprehensive overview of our latest data, alongside key corporate developments, on Thursday at 10:30 AM PT. Join them for a live broadcast of the presentation, which will also be available as a recorded webcast for future reference, at investors.absci.com.

• Cellular Origins, a TTP Company, establishes Advisory Board of global industry leaders. The company is focused on enabling scalable, cost-effective, and efficient manufacture of cell and gene therapies. (Press release)

• Antheia Completes Successful Product Validation: Antheia has completed a successful validation campaign for its first product, thebaine, consisting of three consecutive full-scale fermentation runs at 116,000L to demonstrate process efficacy and consistency. (Press release)

Regards,
John

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John Cumbers

CEO, SynBioBeta

Who's hiring?

• Executive Assistant to Founder & CEO at SynBioBeta (Remote)