One-liner: Ora Biomedical is an early-stage longevity biotechnology company seeking seed funding to move drug discovery programs forward and continue building the world’s largest longevity interventions database using its proprietary WormBot-AI massively high-throughput robotics and AI platform.
Longevity Dealflow WG team
-
Scientific evaluation: [To be completed after Senior Review - Phase 2]
-
Business evaluation: [To be completed after Review - Phase 2]
-
Shepherds: Eleanor Davies, Rhys Anderson
-
Other squad members: Mantas Matjusaitis
-
Sourced by: Eleanor Davies, Max Unfried
Project PI:
- Dr. Mitchell Lee: CEO & Co-Founder
Simple Summary
Ora Biomedical is a longevity biotechnology company that identifies age-targeting therapeutics to broadly fight disease and extend healthy lifespan for internal development, B2B out-licensing, and partnered research. Our mission: Catalyze the next revolution in health through longevity medicine.
Problem
The challenge of screening small molecules for longevity primarily revolves around the current reliance on target-based screening in cultured cells. While cell-based assays offer a valuable initial glimpse into potential candidates, they often fall short in replicating the complex, multicellular environments and physiological intricacies of a whole organism. Consequently, the results obtained from cell culture may not accurately predict a compound’s impact on the entire biological system, potentially leading to misleading conclusions and a high rate of false positives. In contrast, phenotype-based screening in whole animals present a more informative and comprehensive approach to identifying longevity interventions.
Instead of focusing on particular mechanistic targets, phenotype-based approaches are target agnostic and allow for new aging mechanisms to be identified. By assessing the effects of compounds directly on organismal lifespan and healthspan, these screens provide a holistic understanding of their impact, offering a more robust foundation for identifying promising longevity therapeutics.
Solution
To accelerate small molecule longevity intervention discovery, we built the WormBot-AI. The WormBot-AI robotics and AI platform is designed for high-throughput, phenotype-based drug discovery. Diverging from conventional cell-based assays, WormBot-AI offers a unique advantage by concurrently assessing critical parameters such as lifespan, healthspan, and disease state end-points, thus affording a holistic evaluation of a compound’s effects.
The WormBot-AI platform is the new gold standard in high-throughput phenotype-based analysis.
The WormBot-AI establishes a new benchmark as the premier lifespan-screening platform, characterized by its exceptional scalability and experimental adaptability. The WormBot-AI performs image and video capturing of C. elegans populations from adulthood until death. Each WormBot-AI platform assays up to 144 populations of animals in a single experiment and performs multiple experiments in a single day. In one month, a single WormBot-AI platform can measure health and survival in over 1,000 distinct populations, or 25,000-30,000 animals.
Numerous phenotypes are captured and analyzed using our neural net AI pipeline, including survival, movement, behavior, and changes in disease associated phenotypes. We use sets of age-related phenotypes to create “healthspan clocks” that predict animal age and measure how drug treatment influences healthy aging. Additional features, like optional high-resolution fluorescence measurement, allow mechanistic and target validation to be easily performed using existing fluorescent tagged and other mutant worm strains.
WormBot-AI plays a central role in healthy aging intervention discovery and development towards two discrete commercial pathways. First, lifespan-extending small molecules are tested for age- and disease-related indications that form the foundation for subsequent clinical development of new age-targeting pharmaceuticals that fight disease and age-related physiological decline. Second, it facilitates identifying combinations of lifespan-extending natural products that can be developed for out-licensing to direct-to-consumer companies, providing an accelerated pathway to licensing revenue and recurring royalties from consumer product sales.
Opportunity
Targeting biological aging is the next revolution in health and unlocks a growing $2 trillion global market. Age-targeting interventions broadly fight disease and extend healthy lifespan in humans, companion pets, and other animals. However, few age-targeting compounds and targets currently exist. There are no substantial efforts to look outside of the known “longevity network” to find compounds that surpass current interventions and small molecule combinations that produce additive or synergistic benefits.
As the first age-targeting interventions show efficacy over the next five years, there will be a never-before-seen boom in interest and demand for longevity therapeutics. Powered by WormBot-AI massive phenotypic screening with lifespan and healthspan as primary endpoints, Ora Biomedical is poised to meet this unprecedented demand by identifying and developing the highest quality, most effective longevity therapeutics.
To date, we have screened 2,570 unique treatments and over 185,000 animals. As a comparison, DrugAge is the largest publicly available longevity intervention database and contains data for less than 1,100 different interventions.
Among our most promising early drug hits, we identified an FDA approved compound that extends lifespan and delays disease-associated phenotypes in an Alzheimer’s disease model. This is an off-patent compound that targets a mechanism not previously associated with biological aging. As we progress, this will be our first asset to move into our Drug Repurposing for Rare Disease drug development program. For this development program, we test FDA approved compounds to identify new therapeutics for rare disease. Starting with FDA approved compounds provides an accelerated development pathway because safety profiles for approved drugs already exist. Pursuing rare disease indications provides commercial advantages in the form of tax incentives, waivers, and market exclusivity rights for repurposed drugs.
For our development pipeline, FDA approved compounds that extend lifespan are tested across a panel of rare disease mutant C. elegans models. Drug efficacy identified in disease mutants provides pathways for validation studies in mammal systems. Finally, partnerships are identified with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to out-license assets for further development. We will identify rare disease indications for our first intervention within the next nine months. We then plan to pursue an IP-NFT partnership with VitaDAO to conduct mammalian validation and further develop this asset.
The second of our two initial drug development programs focus on creating new natural product combinations for direct-to-consumer products. Healthy aging natural product combinations backed by the highest quality science are in great demand in nutraceutical, skincare/cosmeceutical, and animal health products. Development of natural product and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) compound combinations that promote healthy aging provides an accelerated pathway to market because they are not intended to treat particular disease states and do not require FDA approval. We have had early conversations with skincare companies interested in licensing out our proprietary natural product combinations.
To develop new healthy aging natural product/GRAS compound combinations, we will use the WormBot-AI to screen an existing natural product library. We will test compounds separately, then test 2- and 4-way combinations of lifespan-extending compounds to identify the best lifespan-extending combinations. For skincare/cosmeceutical formulation development, natural product combinations will be tested in human tissue culture to identify those that increase collagen and extracellular matrix component expression while decreasing expression of inflammation and senescence-associated genes. Further nonclinical testing will be performed by partnered skincare/cosmeceutical companies. We are seeking funding through an NIH SBIR grant for natural product combination development. Phase I of this grant will provide $300K for library screening, combination development, and expression analysis. Phase II (which provides up to $2 million in funding) will focus on measuring senescence-associated phenotypes in cultured cells and nonclinical human testing. We expect to have out-licensed natural product combinations on the market generating royalty revenue by 2025.
The overarching goal of our large-scale drug screening efforts is to test one-million interventions for increased healthy lifespan. The Million-Molecule Challenge will transform longevity medicine by accelerating drug discovery by decades. With a fleet of 50 WormBot-AI platforms, we will complete this transformative goal within five years. The resulting database will be the world’s largest longevity interventions database and be of the highest quality and experimental consistency. In the database will be hundreds of novel single and combination lifespan extending interventions for commercialization and new mechanistic targets of biological aging. We will leverage the unmatched size and quality of our database to use generative AI techniques to further identify novel interventions, combinations, and healthy aging biological mechanisms. Our database and unmatched AI discovery will set Ora Biomedical apart as the source for longevity therapeutics. Novel longevity interventions, targets, and generative AI capacity create incredible value for this database. We are currently seeking federal grant funding to complete the Million-Molecule Challenge from the newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) agency.
The Ora Biomedical Million-Molecule Database: A Billion-dollar value proposition in five years.
Relevance to longevity
This project is profoundly relevant to the field of longevity as it represents a pioneering effort to catalyze breakthroughs in aging and develop interventions to extend both lifespan and healthspan. The Million-Molecule Challenge is a moonshot approach aiming to rapidly advance the discovery of longevity interventions while simultaneously constructing the world’s most extensive longevity interventions database. Employing a formidable 50-WormBot drug discovery army, this project seeks to test a staggering one-million interventions, systematically evaluating their impact on increasing lifespan and enhancing healthspan in C.elegans. By undertaking an unprecedentedly large exploration of potential interventions, this project holds the promise of unveiling novel combinatorial strategies to promote healthy aging and ultimately improve the quality of life for countless individuals.
IP Roadmap and Experimental plan
Note: Ora Biomedical holds the exclusive commercial use rights for the WormBot robotics platform and neural net AI phenotyping and data analysis software granted by the University of Washington.
Budget
Stage 1: 6 months (IP generation)
- Salaries: $275,000
- Reagents: $62,000
- Equipment: $20,000
- Overhead/Operations: $40,000
Subtotal: $397,000
Stage 2: 12 months (IP validation)
- Salaries: $650,000
- Reagents: $200,000
- Equipment: $50,000
- Overhead/Operations: $100,000
- Patent filings: $25,000
- Medicinal Chem: $25,000
Subtotal: $1,050,000
Total: $1,447,000
Financing and VitaDAO Funding Terms
Ora Biomedical is raising a $1.5M Seed Series at a $15M post-money valuation with a total committed cash of $800K. The round is led by Sabey Corporation, a strategic investor seeking to advance healthcare innovation. The round will close by the end of October 2023. Prior to the Seed Series, Ora Biomedical raised $395K in pre-Seed SAFE financing at a $10M post-money valuation led by Sabey Corporation/Optispan, three angel investors, and an angel syndicate.
Ora Biomedical is seeking a $75K of funding from VitaDAO and welcomes conversations from other interested investors from within the VitaDAO community.
As a part of the million molecule challenge, Ora Biomedical has agreed to utilise the IP-NFT/IPT infrastructure to collaborate with VitaDAO on mutually agreed longevity/disease specific therapeutic candidate programs derived from the WormBotAI platform under the principal budgeting scheme above. VitaDAO will utilize the IP-NFT/IPT framework to finance, develop and commercialize multiple potential IP assets and R&D data in parallel allowing both parties to de-risk multiple assets at scale with a non-dilutive asset based funding mechanism.
Team
Leadership
Mitchell Lee, PhD (CEO and Co-Founder)
Dr. Mitchell Lee, CEO of Ora Biomedical, researches healthy aging, natural genetic variation and how it impacts longevity intervention efficacy, and age-related disease. He has received science communication awards, NIH grants, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship. Dr. Lee is a successful scientific leader, with over 45 mentored researchers and varied leadership experience in scientific societies, like the American Aging Association. Dr. Lee holds a PhD in Experimental Pathology, degrees in Biology and Philosophy, and a Biotechnology Project Management certificate.
Matt Kaeberlein, PhD (Chair, Board of Directors and Co-Founder)
Dr. Matt Kaeberlein, CEO of Optispan and a former University of Washington School of Medicine professor, is a groundbreaking leader in aging research who focuses on aging mechanisms and interventions to enhance healthspan for humans and pets. Dr. Kaeberlein has authored 200+ scientific papers and received awards like the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research Award. Throughout his career, Dr. Kaeberlein has led several aging research institutes, training programs, and scientific societies.
Brian Kennedy, PhD (Co-Founder)
Dr. Brian Kennedy, internationally acclaimed for his foundational discoveries in biological aging, directs the Centre for Healthy Longevity at the National University Health System in Singapore. Dr. Kennedy is the former CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and involved in biotech companies. Dr. Kennedy also serves as a Co-Editor-In-Chief at Aging Cell. Dr. Kennedy is a thought-leader in aging and played a pivotal role in popularizing the geroscience concept which connects biological aging to age-associated and other disease states.
Ben Blue, PhD (CTO and Co-Founder)
Dr. Benjamin Blue, Ora Biomedical’s Chief Technical Officer, specializes in laboratory automation and technology development to facilitate scientific advances. Dr. Blue is the architect of Ora Biomedical’s neural net AI phenotyping and data analysis software. Dr. Blue has a broad background creating and optimizing nematode-based robotics and automation tools. Dr. Blue earned a PhD in Molecular Medicine and Mechanism of Disease from the University of Washington School of Medicine after completing his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Oregon.
Jason Pitt, PhD (WormBot Inventor and Co-Founder)
Dr. Pitt, a former University of Washington scientist, is the creator of the WormBot robotics platform. Dr. Pitt’s research spans biology, software, and hardware engineering, with a large focus on understanding the effects of low oxygen on C. elegans aging. He has successfully competed for grants from the NIH and NASA. Dr. Pitt earned his PhD degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Washington.
Jan Gruber, PhD (Co-Founder)
Dr. Jan Gruber holds joint appointments at Yale-NUS and NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He is the founder of the The C. elegans Ageing Laboratory at National University Singapore Centre of Life Science and researches aging mechanisms like mitochondrial dysfunction and macromolecular damage accumulation. Dr. Gruber is an expert in combinatorial drug analysis to identify new lifespan and age-associated disease therapeutics. He has over 60 published research papers and holds degrees from RWTH Aachen University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford.
Key Collaborators
Due to the long-standing leadership efforts of Drs. Lee, Kaeberlein, and Kennedy within the field, the Ora Biomedical team is incredibly well-networked among biologists of aging and age-associated disease. Below is a list of current research and resource sharing collaborators:
- Dr. Jessica Young, University of Washington School of Medicine
- Dr. Alaattin Kaya, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Dr. Andrey Parkhitko, University of Pittsburgh
- Dr. Brian Kraemer, VA Puget Sound Health Care System
- Dr. Alessandro Bitto, University of Washington School of Medicine
#[quote=“gweisha, post:1, topic:1444, full:true”]
One-liner: Ora Biomedical is an early-stage longevity biotechnology company seeking seed funding to move drug discovery programs forward and continue building the world’s largest longevity interventions database using its proprietary WormBot-AI massively high-throughput robotics and AI platform.
Longevity Dealflow WG team
-
Senior Reviewers: 2 scientists, 1 pharma professional, 1 VC, 1 biotech entrepreneur
-
Shepherds: Eleanor Davies, Rhys Anderson
-
Other squad members: Mantas Matjusaitis
-
Sourced by: Eleanor Davies, Max Unfried
Project PI:
- Dr. Mitchell Lee: CEO & Co-Founder
Simple Summary
Ora Biomedical is a longevity biotechnology company that identifies age-targeting therapeutics to broadly fight disease and extend healthy lifespan for internal development, B2B out-licensing, and partnered research. Our mission: Catalyze the next revolution in health through longevity medicine.
Problem
The challenge of screening small molecules for longevity primarily revolves around the current reliance on target-based screening in cultured cells. While cell-based assays offer a valuable initial glimpse into potential candidates, they often fall short in replicating the complex, multicellular environments and physiological intricacies of a whole organism. Consequently, the results obtained from cell culture may not accurately predict a compound’s impact on the entire biological system, potentially leading to misleading conclusions and a high rate of false positives. In contrast, phenotype-based screening in whole animals present a more informative and comprehensive approach to identifying longevity interventions.
Instead of focusing on particular mechanistic targets, phenotype-based approaches are target agnostic and allow for new aging mechanisms to be identified. By assessing the effects of compounds directly on organismal lifespan and healthspan, these screens provide a holistic understanding of their impact, offering a more robust foundation for identifying promising longevity therapeutics.
Solution
To accelerate small molecule longevity intervention discovery, we built the WormBot-AI. The WormBot-AI robotics and AI platform is designed for high-throughput, phenotype-based drug discovery. Diverging from conventional cell-based assays, WormBot-AI offers a unique advantage by concurrently assessing critical parameters such as lifespan, healthspan, and disease state end-points, thus affording a holistic evaluation of a compound’s effects.
The WormBot-AI platform is the new gold standard in high-throughput phenotype-based analysis.
The WormBot-AI establishes a new benchmark as the premier lifespan-screening platform, characterized by its exceptional scalability and experimental adaptability. The WormBot-AI performs image and video capturing of C. elegans populations from adulthood until death. Each WormBot-AI platform assays up to 144 populations of animals in a single experiment and performs multiple experiments in a single day. In one month, a single WormBot-AI platform can measure health and survival in over 1,000 distinct populations, or 25,000-30,000 animals.
Numerous phenotypes are captured and analyzed using our neural net AI pipeline, including survival, movement, behavior, and changes in disease associated phenotypes. We use sets of age-related phenotypes to create “healthspan clocks” that predict animal age and measure how drug treatment influences healthy aging. Additional features, like optional high-resolution fluorescence measurement, allow mechanistic and target validation to be easily performed using existing fluorescent tagged and other mutant worm strains.
WormBot-AI plays a central role in healthy aging intervention discovery and development towards two discrete commercial pathways. First, lifespan-extending small molecules are tested for age- and disease-related indications that form the foundation for subsequent clinical development of new age-targeting pharmaceuticals that fight disease and age-related physiological decline. Second, it facilitates identifying combinations of lifespan-extending natural products that can be developed for out-licensing to direct-to-consumer companies, providing an accelerated pathway to licensing revenue and recurring royalties from consumer product sales.
Opportunity
Targeting biological aging is the next revolution in health and unlocks a growing $2 trillion global market. Age-targeting interventions broadly fight disease and extend healthy lifespan in humans, companion pets, and other animals. However, few age-targeting compounds and targets currently exist. There are no substantial efforts to look outside of the known “longevity network” to find compounds that surpass current interventions and small molecule combinations that produce additive or synergistic benefits.
As the first age-targeting interventions show efficacy over the next five years, there will be a never-before-seen boom in interest and demand for longevity therapeutics. Powered by WormBot-AI massive phenotypic screening with lifespan and healthspan as primary endpoints, Ora Biomedical is poised to meet this unprecedented demand by identifying and developing the highest quality, most effective longevity therapeutics.
To date, we have screened 2,570 unique treatments and over 185,000 animals. As a comparison, DrugAge is the largest publicly available longevity intervention database and contains data for less than 1,100 different interventions.
Among our most promising early drug hits, we identified an FDA approved compound that extends lifespan and delays disease-associated phenotypes in an Alzheimer’s disease model. This is an off-patent compound that targets a mechanism not previously associated with biological aging. As we progress, this will be our first asset to move into our Drug Repurposing for Rare Disease drug development program. For this development program, we test FDA approved compounds to identify new therapeutics for rare disease. Starting with FDA approved compounds provides an accelerated development pathway because safety profiles for approved drugs already exist. Pursuing rare disease indications provides commercial advantages in the form of tax incentives, waivers, and market exclusivity rights for repurposed drugs.
For our development pipeline, FDA approved compounds that extend lifespan are tested across a panel of rare disease mutant C. elegans models. Drug efficacy identified in disease mutants provides pathways for validation studies in mammal systems. Finally, partnerships are identified with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to out-license assets for further development. We will identify rare disease indications for our first intervention within the next nine months. We then plan to pursue an IP-NFT partnership with VitaDAO to conduct mammalian validation and further develop this asset.
The second of our two initial drug development programs focus on creating new natural product combinations for direct-to-consumer products. Healthy aging natural product combinations backed by the highest quality science are in great demand in nutraceutical, skincare/cosmeceutical, and animal health products. Development of natural product and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) compound combinations that promote healthy aging provides an accelerated pathway to market because they are not intended to treat particular disease states and do not require FDA approval. We have had early conversations with skincare companies interested in licensing out our proprietary natural product combinations.
To develop new healthy aging natural product/GRAS compound combinations, we will use the WormBot-AI to screen an existing natural product library. We will test compounds separately, then test 2- and 4-way combinations of lifespan-extending compounds to identify the best lifespan-extending combinations. For skincare/cosmeceutical formulation development, natural product combinations will be tested in human tissue culture to identify those that increase collagen and extracellular matrix component expression while decreasing expression of inflammation and senescence-associated genes. Further nonclinical testing will be performed by partnered skincare/cosmeceutical companies. We are seeking funding through an NIH SBIR grant for natural product combination development. Phase I of this grant will provide $300K for library screening, combination development, and expression analysis. Phase II (which provides up to $2 million in funding) will focus on measuring senescence-associated phenotypes in cultured cells and nonclinical human testing. We expect to have out-licensed natural product combinations on the market generating royalty revenue by 2025.
The overarching goal of our large-scale drug screening efforts is to test one-million interventions for increased healthy lifespan. The Million-Molecule Challenge will transform longevity medicine by accelerating drug discovery by decades. With a fleet of 50 WormBot-AI platforms, we will complete this transformative goal within five years. The resulting database will be the world’s largest longevity interventions database and be of the highest quality and experimental consistency. In the database will be hundreds of novel single and combination lifespan extending interventions for commercialization and new mechanistic targets of biological aging. We will leverage the unmatched size and quality of our database to use generative AI techniques to further identify novel interventions, combinations, and healthy aging biological mechanisms. Our database and unmatched AI discovery will set Ora Biomedical apart as the source for longevity therapeutics. Novel longevity interventions, targets, and generative AI capacity create incredible value for this database. We are currently seeking federal grant funding to complete the Million-Molecule Challenge from the newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) agency.
The Ora Biomedical Million-Molecule Database: A Billion-dollar value proposition in five years.
Relevance to longevity
This project is profoundly relevant to the field of longevity as it represents a pioneering effort to catalyze breakthroughs in aging and develop interventions to extend both lifespan and healthspan. The Million-Molecule Challenge is a moonshot approach aiming to rapidly advance the discovery of longevity interventions while simultaneously constructing the world’s most extensive longevity interventions database. Employing a formidable 50-WormBot drug discovery army, this project seeks to test a staggering one-million interventions, systematically evaluating their impact on increasing lifespan and enhancing healthspan in C.elegans. By undertaking an unprecedentedly large exploration of potential interventions, this project holds the promise of unveiling novel combinatorial strategies to promote healthy aging and ultimately improve the quality of life for countless individuals.
IP Roadmap and Experimental plan
Note: Ora Biomedical holds the exclusive commercial use rights for the WormBot robotics platform and neural net AI phenotyping and data analysis software granted by the University of Washington.
Budget
Stage 1: 6 months (IP generation)
- Salaries: $275,000
- Reagents: $62,000
- Equipment: $20,000
- Overhead/Operations: $40,000
Subtotal: $397,000
Stage 2: 12 months (IP validation)
- Salaries: $650,000
- Reagents: $200,000
- Equipment: $50,000
- Overhead/Operations: $100,000
- Patent filings: $25,000
- Medicinal Chem: $25,000
Subtotal: $1,050,000
Total: $1,447,000
Financing and VitaDAO Funding Terms
Ora Biomedical is raising a $1.5M Seed Series at a $15M post-money valuation with a total committed cash of $800K. The round is led by Sabey Corporation, a strategic investor seeking to advance healthcare innovation. The round will close by the end of October 2023. Prior to the Seed Series, Ora Biomedical raised $395K in pre-Seed SAFE financing at a $10M post-money valuation led by Sabey Corporation/Optispan, three angel investors, and an angel syndicate.
Ora Biomedical is seeking a $75K of funding from VitaDAO and welcomes conversations from other interested investors from within the VitaDAO community.
As a part of the million molecule challenge, Ora Biomedical has agreed to utilise the IP-NFT/IPT infrastructure to collaborate with VitaDAO on mutually agreed longevity/disease specific therapeutic candidate programs derived from the WormBotAI platform under the principal budgeting scheme above. VitaDAO will utilize the IP-NFT/IPT framework to finance, develop and commercialize multiple potential IP assets and R&D data in parallel allowing both parties to de-risk multiple assets at scale with a non-dilutive asset based funding mechanism.
Team
Leadership
Mitchell Lee, PhD (CEO and Co-Founder)
Dr. Mitchell Lee, CEO of Ora Biomedical, researches healthy aging, natural genetic variation and how it impacts longevity intervention efficacy, and age-related disease. He has received science communication awards, NIH grants, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship. Dr. Lee is a successful scientific leader, with over 45 mentored researchers and varied leadership experience in scientific societies, like the American Aging Association. Dr. Lee holds a PhD in Experimental Pathology, degrees in Biology and Philosophy, and a Biotechnology Project Management certificate.
Matt Kaeberlein, PhD (Chair, Board of Directors and Co-Founder)
Dr. Matt Kaeberlein, CEO of Optispan and a former University of Washington School of Medicine professor, is a groundbreaking leader in aging research who focuses on aging mechanisms and interventions to enhance healthspan for humans and pets. Dr. Kaeberlein has authored 200+ scientific papers and received awards like the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research Award. Throughout his career, Dr. Kaeberlein has led several aging research institutes, training programs, and scientific societies.
Brian Kennedy, PhD (Co-Founder)
Dr. Brian Kennedy, internationally acclaimed for his foundational discoveries in biological aging, directs the Centre for Healthy Longevity at the National University Health System in Singapore. Dr. Kennedy is the former CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and involved in biotech companies. Dr. Kennedy also serves as a Co-Editor-In-Chief at Aging Cell. Dr. Kennedy is a thought-leader in aging and played a pivotal role in popularizing the geroscience concept which connects biological aging to age-associated and other disease states.
Ben Blue, PhD (CTO and Co-Founder)
Dr. Benjamin Blue, Ora Biomedical’s Chief Technical Officer, specializes in laboratory automation and technology development to facilitate scientific advances. Dr. Blue is the architect of Ora Biomedical’s neural net AI phenotyping and data analysis software. Dr. Blue has a broad background creating and optimizing nematode-based robotics and automation tools. Dr. Blue earned a PhD in Molecular Medicine and Mechanism of Disease from the University of Washington School of Medicine after completing his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Oregon.
Jason Pitt, PhD (WormBot Inventor and Co-Founder)
Dr. Pitt, a former University of Washington scientist, is the creator of the WormBot robotics platform. Dr. Pitt’s research spans biology, software, and hardware engineering, with a large focus on understanding the effects of low oxygen on C. elegans aging. He has successfully competed for grants from the NIH and NASA. Dr. Pitt earned his PhD degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Washington.
Jan Gruber, PhD (Co-Founder)
Dr. Jan Gruber holds joint appointments at Yale-NUS and NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He is the founder of the The C. elegans Ageing Laboratory at National University Singapore Centre of Life Science and researches aging mechanisms like mitochondrial dysfunction and macromolecular damage accumulation. Dr. Gruber is an expert in combinatorial drug analysis to identify new lifespan and age-associated disease therapeutics. He has over 60 published research papers and holds degrees from RWTH Aachen University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford.
Key Collaborators
Due to the long-standing leadership efforts of Drs. Lee, Kaeberlein, and Kennedy within the field, the Ora Biomedical team is incredibly well-networked among biologists of aging and age-associated disease. Below is a list of current research and resource sharing collaborators:
- Dr. Jessica Young, University of Washington School of Medicine
- Dr. Alaattin Kaya, Virginia Commonwealth University
- Dr. Andrey Parkhitko, University of Pittsburgh
- Dr. Brian Kraemer, VA Puget Sound Health Care System
- Dr. Alessandro Bitto, University of Washington School of Medicine
Slide deck
Slide Deck: link to deck non-confidential deck
Highlights
- Exclusive commercial use rights for automated WormBot-AI platform
- Building world’s largest and highest quality longevity intervention database (screening 1M small molecules in C. elegans)
- New lifespan-extending interventions and aging targets already identified
- Accelerated pathways to revenue with early focus on natural product combination development and FDA drug repurposing for rare diseases
- First provisional patents in development
Risks
- Compounds that extend lifespan in worms may not work in other models, human cells, or clinical trials
- Prior use of C. elegans robotics precludes patent protection for WormBot platform
- Small drug screens in C.elegans have been conducted in the past
Press/Bibliography
- The million-molecule challenge: a moonshot project to rapidly advance longevity intervention discovery
- Ora Biomedical plans new drug-discovery facility in Seattle area
- Ora Biomedical: The Business of WormBots
- Rise of the WormBots: it’s time to scale up longevity R&D
- WormBot: a high throughput system for studying aging in C. elegans
- WormBot: automating ageing experiments on C. elegans
- WormBot, an open-source robotics platform for survival and behavior analysis in C. elegans
- Intermittent hypoxia therapy engages multiple longevity pathways to double lifespan in C.elegans
- Agree
- Revisions Requested [Details in Comments]
- Disagree
[/quote]
Press/Bibliography
- The million-molecule challenge: a moonshot project to rapidly advance longevity intervention discovery
- Ora Biomedical plans new drug-discovery facility in Seattle area
- Ora Biomedical: The Business of WormBots
- Rise of the WormBots: it’s time to scale up longevity R&D
- WormBot: a high throughput system for studying aging in C. elegans
- WormBot: automating ageing experiments on C. elegans
- WormBot, an open-source robotics platform for survival and behavior analysis in C. elegans
- Intermittent hypoxia therapy engages multiple longevity pathways to double lifespan in C.elegans
- Agree
- Revisions Requested [Details in Comments]
- Disagree
