Speakers

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Dr. Zhavoronkov is the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, a Baltimore-based leader in the next-generation artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies for drug discovery, biomarker development, and aging research. Prior to Insilico, he worked in senior roles at ATI Technologies, NeuroG Neuroinformatics, the Biogerontology Research Foundation and YLabs.AI. Since 2012 he published over 100 peer-reviewed research papers and two books. He organizes the annual Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain for Healthcare Forum at EMBO/Basel Life in Basel. Dr. Zhavoronkov is an adjunct professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

Anthony Oliva, Ph.D. is a Senior Scientist at Longeveron LLC.  He earned his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago, and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine.  Dr. Oliva continued his research as a post-doctoral fellow at the Oregon Health and Science University, and then became an assistant scientist with The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and director of the Viral Vector Core Facility at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.  He then joined the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University as an assistant professor. In 2015, Dr. Oliva joined Longeveron as the newly-formed company’s senior scientist, leading its clinical programs for using stem cell therapy to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other indications.  He is the principal investigator on a number of company-awarded grants, including grants from the Alzheimer’s Association, Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund/TECDO, and the National Institute of Aging/National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist based in Mountain View, California, USA, and is the Chief Science Officer of SENS Research Foundation, a California-based 501(c)(3) biomedical research charity that performs and funds laboratory research dedicated to combating the aging process. He is also VP of New Technology Discovery at AgeX Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup developing new therapies in the field of biomedical gerontology. In addition, he is Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research, the world’s highest-impact peer-reviewed journal focused on intervention in aging. He received his BA in computer science and Ph.D. in biology from the University of Cambridge. His research interests encompass the characterisation of all the types of self-inflicted cellular and molecular damage that constitute mammalian aging and the design of interventions to repair and/or obviate that damage. Dr. de Grey is a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and sits on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of numerous journals and organisations. He is a highly sought-after speaker who gives 40-50 invited talks per year at scientific conferences, universities, companies in areas ranging from pharma to life insurance, and to the public.

Brian Huber is currently Chief Operations and Scientific Officer at the Carolina Longevity Institute LLC (CLI), Research Triangle Park, NC. CLI is an emerging portfolio of companies on a mission to enable people to live longer and to age healthier with better quality of life through innovative clinical research and world class clinics that offer the most advanced and proven treatments that promote healthy aging. With more than 35 years of experience and demonstrated success in the biopharmaceutical drug development and investment sectors, Brian Huber leads the scientific, clinical, and operational activities at CLI. Preceding his position at CLI, Huber worked for 10 years as Managing Director and VP of Drug Development Partnerships at Quintiles/IQVIA. His prior experience over the course of 25 years was as Global VP in Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Senior Staff Fellow / Section Head at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Huber’s experience has ranged from basic cancer/ antiviral research, managing drug discovery and clinical drug development portfolios, managing key partnerships, to identifying, structuring, and managing innovative clinical investments involving biopharmaceutical companies. Huber holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from The George Washington University and a B.S. and M.S. from Villanova University. He is Board Certified in Clinical Pharmacology and has completed residency programs in Advanced Leadership from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the London Business School. He holds adjunct academic positions at Duke University and The George Washington University and has over 60 peer reviewed publications and multiple patents.  

Darren J. Baker, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Research in his laboratory is focused on the involvement of senescent cells in the processes of aging. Cellular senescence, a state of irreversible cell cycle arrest that limits the ability of cells to divide, is a potent anti-tumor mechanism that is also a common feature of aged tissue. Instead of simply being resident cells within a tissue, senescent cells appear to promote various age-related phenotypes, perhaps due to components that they secrete.

Dr. Mannick is Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of resTORbio, a clinical stage biotechnology company that is developing medicines targeting cellular pathways that underlie aging-related diseases. The lead program is targeting the TORC1 pathway to improve immune function and decrease respiratory tract infections in the elderly. Prior to joining resTORbio, Dr. Mannick was an Executive Director in the New Indications Discovery Unit of the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research. Prior to joining Novartis in 2010, Dr. Mannick was a Medical Director at Genzyme working in multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to Genzyme, Dr. Mannick was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and University of Massachusetts Medical School. Her NIH-sponsored laboratory focused on the role of protein S-nitrosylation in physiology and pathophysiology. Dr. Mannick received her A.B. from Harvard College and her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Infectious Disease fellowship as part of the Harvard Combined Infectious Disease Program.

Dr de Magalhaes graduated in Microbiology in 1999 from the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia in his hometown of Porto, Portugal, and then obtained his PhD in 2004 from the University of Namur in Belgium. Following a postdoc with genomics pioneer Prof George Church at Harvard Medical School, in 2008 Dr de Magalhaes was recruited to the University of Liverpool where he leads the Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group (http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~aging/). His lab studies the ageing process and how we can manipulate it to fend off age-related diseases and improve human health.

Dr. John Lewis is the Chief Science Officer of Oisin Biotechnologies and heads its cancer-fighting platform technology development and clinical research. Dr. Lewis also holds the Frank and Carla Sojonky Chair in Prostate Cancer Research at the University of Alberta. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology and chairs the Alberta Prostate Cancer Research Initiative. Dr. Lewis has previously founded several biotechnology companies, including Entos Pharmaceuticals, which has developed the innovative lipid nanoparticle gene therapy platform that Oisin is utilizing for clinical development.

Judith Campisi received a PhD from the State University of New York, and postdoctoral training at the Harvard Medical School.  She was on the Boston University Medical School faculty before joining the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1991.  In 2002, she started a second laboratory at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.  At both institutions, she established a broad program to understand the relationship between aging and disease, with an emphasis on cancer and aging.  Her laboratory made several pioneering discoveries in these areas, and she received numerous awards for her research.  She serves on numerous editorial and scientific advisory boards.

Mr. Moody is a process-oriented biotechnology executive who has specialized in the study of aging and aging mechanisms for over a decade. Since 2013, Mr. Moody has successfully built Ichor Therapeutics from a living room start-up into a premier, vertically integrated research organization that focuses on pre-clinical drug discovery for pathways of aging. R&D initiatives that constitute Ichor's portfolio companies span enzyme therapy (Lysoclear, Inc.), small molecule drug discovery (Antoxerene, Inc.), antibody mimetics (Auctus Biologics, Inc.), protein chemistry tools (RecombiPure, Inc.), and a pre-seed strategic investment fund (Grapeseed.Bio). Mr. Moody has received graduate-level training in medicine, business, and laboratory research.

Kristen leads BIOAGE in its mission to develop a broad pipeline of therapies that target aging in order to increase healthspan and address chronic diseases. Kristen draws from a deep background in aging research and systems biology to develop BIOAGE’s data-driven approach to identify and target the molecular pathways that drive aging. Kristen received her PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, followed by postdoctoral training at Stanford University where she was a fellow of the Ellison Medical Foundation / American Federation for Aging Research. She has over 10 years of experience developing novel bioinformatics approaches for data-driven investigation into the mechanisms of aging and age-related disease, with 19 published papers spanning computational drug discovery, biomarkers of aging, and the genetics of exceptional human longevity.

Lorna Harries is an Associate Professor in Molecular Genetics at the University of Exeter Medical School. She gained her PhD in Molecular Genetics from University College London in November 1994. Her research group has interests in -omics approaches to the study of ageing and age-related disease. She is particularly interested in how alternative messenger RNA processing, ncRNA RNAs and epigenetic gene regulation can underpin some of the physiological changes associated with these phenomena. Her work ranges from ‘big data’ approaches (whole genome transcriptomics and epigenetics) to detailed individual molecular analysis of particular genes. In recent years, her work has focused on how modifiers of alternative splicing can be harnessed to influence cellular senescence in human systems.

Marc is a co-founder and CEO at Senolytic Therapeutics Inc., a pharmaceutical company that develops a novel class of medicines by targeting senescence cells. He also holds a position as senior advisor for new investments in Europe at Life Biosciences Inc., an aging-focused investment firm. Currently, Marc is also a board advisor at Cebiotex, Retinset Therapeutics and Origen Ventures. He is a co-founder and Partner at Chasing Science, an incubator for early-stage biomedicine ventures between Boston and Barcelona. He is a founder and advisor at Tech & Business Innovation (TBI), an academic firm focused on knowledge exchange and corporate-academic partnerships. Marc is a strategic advisor and board member for multiple organizations and a co-founder of several companies in the past. Marc has also implemented Entrepreneurs-in-Residence programs at the UPV and IRB Barcelona. From 2010 to 2012, Marc was working for Isis Innovations/University of Oxford as an associate consultant in Spain and LATAM. From 2007 to 2011, Marc was working at Endor, a nanomedicine company based in Spain. During this period, he was R&D director (drug-delivery nano-systems for cancer therapy) and Business Development Director (launched several nanotechnology products to the cosmetic and textile markets). Previously, Marc also worked in the pharmaceutical environment in Novartis. He also collaborated with other research institutions such as Cancer Research UK and Boston College during his academic career. Marc gained a DPhil in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford in 2006, and a Harvard Business School PLD Program in 2011. Marc also gained a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering in 2001 and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from IQS (Barcelona) in 2000.

Mark Bamberger is the Chief Scientific Officer of Stealth BioTherapeutics. As a former Director of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Research at Pfizer, he has more than 20 years of diverse scientific and executive experience in both drug discovery and early clinical development. Mark was responsible for the initiation of multiple drug discovery programs and the advancement of multiple compounds into clinical development. Mark received his PhD in Biochemistry from the Medical College of Pennsylvania followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Dept. of Biological Chemistry Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Morgan Levine is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the Yale School of Medicine and a member of the Yale Combined Programs in Computational Biology. Prof. Levine’s work relies on an interdisciplinary approach, integrating methods from statistical genetics, computational biology, and mathematical demography. Her expertise in is the development of biomarkers of aging for humans and animal models using high-dimensional omics and clinical data. Research in her lab is currently focused on epigenetic and proteomic measures of aging and applying them to test the efficacy of Geroprotective Interventions.

Ned co-founded UNITY in 2011, largely because he thought it was “simply the coolest biology he had ever seen.” Before UNITY, Ned co-founded four other biotechnology companies that together raised over $1.5 billion in financing and today employ over 400 scientists, engineers, and business people. Ned builds companies because he sees company creation as a means to create technologies that change the world. Ned is a co-founder of Syrrx (acquired by Takeda), Achaogen (AKAO), Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH, acquired by Allergan), and Sapphire Energy. Ned holds pending and issued patents in fields such as nanovolume crystallography, antibiotic resistance, aesthetic medicine, and cellular senescence. He has served on the board of directors of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Sapphire Energy, and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and is a member of the board of trustees of the University of California Foundation. Ned was named one of the Top 100 innovators in the world under 35 by the MIT Technology Review. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Molecular and Cellular Biology and an A.B. in Biology from Harvard University.

Dr. Barzilai is a chaired Professor of Medicine and Genetics and Director of the biggest Center in the world to study the Biology of Aging. He is the recipient of an NIH Merit Award aiming to extend the healthy life span in rodents by biological interventions. He also studies families of centenarians that have provided genetic/biological insights on the protection against aging. Several drugs are developed based, in part, on these paradigm-changing studies. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the recipient of the 2010 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction in Aging Research and is the 2018 recipient of the IPSEN Longevity award.  He is leading the TAME (Targeting/Taming Aging with Metformin) multi central study to prove that concept that multi morbidities of aging can be delayed in humans and change the FDA indications to allow for next generation interventions. He is a founder of CohBar Inc. (now public company) and Medical Advisor for Life Biosciences. He is on the board of AFAR and CohBar He has been featured in major papers, TV program and documentaries (TEDx and TEDMED) and has been Consulting or presented the promise for targeting aging at The Singapore Prime Minister Office, several International Banks, Pepsico, Milkin Institute, The Economist and Wired Magazine.

Dr. Fedichev is Founder and Chief Science Officer of Gero, a data-driven longevity company aiming to be first to introduce life-extending therapies to market. Gero R&D team led by Dr. Peter Fedichev presented a physics-based explanation of aging fundamentals now turned into cutting-edge modeling platform for anti-aging targets and aging biomarkers identification.

Dr. Fedichev earned his M.S. in theoretical physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. He was top-2 cited Russian physicist under 35 before he switched to biotech 15 years ago, and conducted research at AMOLF, an academic institute for fundamental physics in the Netherlands, as well as at the University of Innsbruck. He continues his studies in the field of aging biology and biophysics serving as Gero Chief Science Officer and a Head of the Laboratory of Biological Systems Simulation at MIPT and currently has more than 70 papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Reason is co-founder and CEO of Repair Biotechnologies. He is the founder and writer of Fight Aging!, a leading blog in the aging biotech community. Reason is also an active angel investor in the space. Previously, Reason was principal software engineer at technology startups. Reason has Masters degrees in Space Physics and Astrophysics.

Ronald A. Kohanski, PhD. is the Deputy Director of the Division of Aging Biology at the National Institute on Aging, NIH. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry (University of Chicago 1981) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship with M. Daniel Lane at the Johns Hopkins University. He held faculty positions at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University and joined the NIA in 2005, where he promotes research on the “geroscience hypothesis” which states that slowing the rate of aging will delay the initiation or diminish the severity of adult-onset diseases and loss-of-resilience.

A board-certified neurologist with a broad and diverse experience in patient-management, clinical-research and drug-development – focusing on frailty, it’s manifestation as age-related and degenerative diseases, it’s impact on well-being and the link with overall risk for adverse outcomes, morbidity and mortality.

Sree Kant is Head of Business development at Life Biosciences and drives new scientific investments and strategic partnerships for Life. He has a diverse 18 years healthcare and pharmaceutical industry experience as an investor, advisor and in operational roles. Sree has been the head of Early Partnering Strategy for Pfizer, working across different therapeutic areas/technologies and geographies. He was responsible for strategic partnerships with  Academia, VCs/Banks, CROs, and other strategic partners, from early stage discovery to human proof of concept. He successfully lead the development of Pfizer’s Gene Therapy strategy, as well as the development of Pfizer’s early stage Innovative Target Exploration Networks (ITENs). Sree has also been a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group advising large pharma and biotech on R&D strategy, corporate development, organizational transformations, partnering strategy as well as large M&A and post-merger integrations. In addition, Sree was part of two healthcare startups (in Bangalore and New York) where he led the overall business agenda. Sree has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, and an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is an invited speaker at key industry events and conferences on subjects of R&D strategy, innovative partnering models, industry-academia collaborations, early-stage technologies and investments, etc.

Steven is Chief Scientific Officer of Alkahest, developing therapeutic products for patients with age related health conditions. He also holds the position of Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at Rutgers University. He founded MentiNova Inc and previously led research at Circuit Therapeutics, drug discovery at Signum Biosciences, headed the cellular neurodegeneration group at Wyeth Research/Pfizer, and was a program leader at AGY Therapeutics. In these roles he has led research and development programs through multiple therapeutic modalities across a diverse range of indications in the field of neuroscience. Dr Braithwaite is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, UK, received his PhD from the University of Bristol, UK and performed postdoctoral work at Stanford University, he has published extensively in the fields of basic neuroscience research, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.