8:00 am Online Registration & Virtual Coffee Networking
8:45 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
9:00 am Opening Keynote: Unity Biotechnologies’ Pipeline Progression: From Mouse Models to First-in-Human Trials
Synopsis
- Examine the role of senescent cells in diseases of aging and the promise of transformative medicines
- Explore discovery and development of senolytic agents, a new class of therapeutics
- Targeting senescence biology in first-in-human trials in diabetic retinopathies
- Understand the potential impact of targeting senescence and related biologies of aging in diseases of the eye, brain and beyond
9:30 am Practical Drug Development for the Field of Aging Biology
Synopsis
- Examine how improved health span is a challenging clinical endpoint
- Explore how preventive therapies of any sort must have a high bar for safety
- Leverage effective strategies for stepwise de-risking/confidence
building and understand how they are necessary
10:00 am Using Neuroimaging to Inform Drug Development Throughout the Pathologic Trajectory
Synopsis
- Highlight medical imaging techniques for CNS drug development
- Examine why imaging biomarkers provide insight into drug mechanism by informing target engagement and pharmacologic activation
- Explore how these markers will also be crucial for prevention trials, where interventions may occur decades in advance of any clinical symptom
- Understand how these advanced imaging techniques can be deployed in the clinical trial space
10:20 am When Does Aging Begin?
Synopsis
- Explore when aging actually begins and why the answer might be useful
- If aging is systems failures (declines), are these failures the same across the life course?
- How might we learn experimentally when aging begins?
10:50 am Morning Break & Virtual Speed Networking
11:35 am A Fresh Take on an Old Classic: Therapeutically Modulating IGF Signaling through PAPP-A Inhibition
Synopsis
- Explore how inhibition of insulin/IGF signaling is the most validated antiaging intervention known
- Examine PAPP-A: An extracellular IGFBP protease that increases local IGF bioavailability, extends lifespan and health span when deleted, and avoids endocrine compensation, making it a compelling target for IGF pathway modulation
- Review Calico Lab’s PAPP-A neutralizing antibody; explaining how reduced IGF signaling extends health span and lifespan due to characterizing its effects in-vivo and identifying clear biological activity and novel mechanisms of action
- Discuss how PAPP-A inhibition may be a safe and effective therapeutic strategy for reducing IGF signalling
12:05 pm An Aging Intervention that Increases Lifespan & Compresses Morbidity
Synopsis
- Is it trivial to find small molecule interventions in aging (in simple laboratory animals)?
- Explore how health span increase is also attainable
- Examine how extension of mouse lifespan and health span has been demonstrated
12:35 pm Aged B6 Mice: A Novel Model for Studying Human NASH
Synopsis
- Explore how aged mice represent a new dietary model for NASH that accounts for the known risk factor of age in the human disease
- Examine severe NASH phenotypes and how they are are observed in aged mice when placed on a diet high in fat, fructose and cholesterol
- Understand how both male and female aged mice are susceptible to the diet-induced NASH in aged model
1:05 pm Lunch & Virtual Networking
2:05 pm Therapeutics for Aging from the Plasma Proteome
Synopsis
- Discuss how comprehensive profiling demonstrates significant changes of the plasma proteome over aging
- Examine how reversal of multiple mechanisms relevant for the biology of aging can be achieved through plasma-based approaches
- Explore how plasma fractions have been developed with efficacy in mouse models and clinical studies
- Analyze how targeting individual key plasma proteins has preclinical and clinical impact
2:35 pm Rejuvenation Biotechnology: How Can the PhDs Help the MDs & the MBAs?
Synopsis
- Discover how one by one, anti-aging damage repair therapies are moving into (expensive) clinical trials
- Most clinical trials fail: Discuss how the rejuvenation biotechnology sector will be no different
- Why do investors often oversimplify and lose nerve? Could this badly delay availability of powerful therapies?
- Examine why researchers have huge influence over general-audience sentiment and why they must have the courage to use it
3:05 pm Mitochondrial Targeted Therapies & Longevity
Synopsis
- Examine mitochondrial dysfunction and the aging process
- Explore how mitochondrial-targeted therapeutics can slow, and even reverse age-related decline in animals
- Discuss how mitochondrial-targeted therapeutics can do the same in humans
- Consider and evaluate lifespan as a final frontier
3:35 pm Afternoon Break & Virtual Speed Networking
4:20 pm The Interplay of Aging & Fibrosis: AI-Powered Target Discovery & Validation of Novel Pan-Fibrotic Protein Targets
Synopsis
- Discuss senofibrosis and fibrosenescenc: The role of fibrosis in aging
- Examine the discovery of novel targets in fibrosis
- Explore generation of novel molecules for pan-fibrotic targets
- Analyze in-vivo and in-vitro validation of novel pan-fibrotics
4:50 pm Panel Discussion: A Therapeutic Revolution Against Aging – Bridging the Gaps & Opportunities
Synopsis
- Examining what we do and do not know about the aging process
- Exploring the targeting of aging as a disease vs. aging as a common factor for different conditions
- Analyzing the current R&D landscape for anti-aging therapeutics
- Discussing recent breakthroughs and the growing interest in this space – attracting funding/ partnerships, important learnings to date and perspectives on future directions