News Release

Senolytic Therapeutics kicks off Q1 2019 with high-profile speaking events

Barcelona-based biotech is a daughter company of Life Biosciences -- funded and supported by pioneer in the study of age-related decline

Business Announcement

Life Biosciences

BOSTON, JANUARY 9 -- Senolytic Therapeutics, an innovator in senescent cell research and one of the first Daughter companies to join the hub-and-spoke business model of Life Biosciences, is being recognized by leading institutions for its work to combat aging and age-related decline.

Marc Ramis, PhD, co-founder and chief executive officer of the company, is speaking at Longevity Therapeutics in January 30 in San Francisco and at the Longevity Leadership Conference, February 4 in London. Manuel Serrano, PhD, co-founder and leading scientist in this field, presents at Undoing Ageing, March 30 in Berlin. The pair co-founded Senolytic Therapeutics to advance therapies to treat biological aging and associated diseases. The company, now based in Boston, as well as in Barcelona, was recently named a SME Phase I Instrument Company, a prestigious recognition granted by the European Union annually to genuinely innovative firms.

Senolytic Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company developing novel classes of medicines by targeting senescent cells, often referred to as "zombie cells," which accumulate and persist in the body, secreting inflammatory factors that prevent normal cells from functioning. Senescent cells are associated with many different pathologies, as well as with aging. Eliminating or reducing senescent cells is known to halt or reverse degenerative disease and rejuvenate tissues in experimental animal models.

"The opportunity to present our work in front of the world's experts is humbling," Ramis explained. "The presentations I will share in San Francisco and London offer important illustrations of the potential of our approach. For example, at the Longevity Therapeutics Conference, I am discussing the Challenge of Developing Novel Senolytic Medicines, focusing on our work in the design of senolytic medicines."

"Life Biosciences is thrilled Senolytic Therapeutics has become our first European-based Daughter company," noted Life Biosciences co-founder David Sinclair, PhD, AO. "Their important work on targeting and eliminating senescent cells can potentially extend healthy lifespan for those with pulmonary fibrosis. I am gratified that the two co-founders will continue to lead Senolytic, as we build our Dream Team of researchers."

Leadership Background

Ramis brings a professional career focused on creating new ventures in the Life Sciences field. Ramis is also supporting new scientific investments and strategic partnerships at Life Biosciences Inc. in Europe. Prior to that, Ramis co-founded Chasing Science, an early-stage incubator for novel biomedical ventures and Tech & Business Innovation (TBI), an academic venture focused on knowledge exchange and corporate-academic partnerships.

Ramis is a strategic advisor and board member for multiple organizations and a co-founder of several biotech companies. From 2010 to 2012, he worked at Isis Innovations/University of Oxford as an associate consultant in Europe. Prior to that, he was a business development director at Endor Nanotechnology, a nanomedicine company. Previously, Ramis also worked in the pharmaceutical company Novartis. He earned a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford in 2006 and a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering in 2001 and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from IQS (Barcelona) in 2000. He also received a certificate from the Harvard Business School Program for Leadership Development in 2011.

Manuel Serrano is internationally recognized in the field of tumor suppression and aging. From 1991 to 1996, Serrano worked as a postdoctoral researcher on David Beach's team in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY. During this period, Serrano made his most important discovery with the identification and characterization of a key inducer of cellular senescence.

Serrano led a research group, first at the National Center of Biotechnology (CNB), and then, from 2003 to 2017, at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), both in Madrid. In 2017, Serrano moved to the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), in Barcelona.

The Serrano team was also a pioneer in the generation of genetically-modified long-lived mice resistant to damage and cancer. His research extends to metabolism and cellular reprogramming in relation to aging. Now, his focus is to apply his knowledge on senescence and reprogramming to degenerative diseases such as lung, kidney and heart fibrosis, as well as, to cancer therapy. Serrano obtained his PhD in 1991, at the University of Madrid (UAM).

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Life Biosciences Overview

Life Biosciences was co-founded in 2017 by David Sinclair, PhD, AO, a professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and Tristan Edwards, who developed its innovative structure as Chapter Two in his life, after a highly successful career as a global institutional investor, working across all asset classes. Life Biosciences is addressing health decline due to aging as a systemic breakdown of the body, rather than a series of isolated events and conditions.

Currently, there are six Daughter companies working independently and together within the Life Biosciences research environment. The company provides Daughter companies with the resources required to maximize human potential, including Life Lua's data and communications platform, experienced management, drug development experience, and a 24,000 square foot, state-of-the-art vivarium, robotics and drug screening facility in Cambridge, Mass (USA), augmented by laboratories and offices on four continents.

Co-founded in 2017 by David Sinclair, PhD, AO, and Tristan Edwards, Life Biosciences is addressing the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) as a systemic breakdown of the body, not a series of isolated symptoms and conditions. It has established Daughter companies around the world to independently and collaboratively attack these pathways through pioneering research and product development. The company provides Daughter companies with the full resources of Life Lua's data and communications platform; LifeLab, its 24,000- square-foot, state-of-the-art research facility that includes a vivarium, robotics, and drug screening capabilities. Life Biosciences seeks to increase healthspans for everyone, including companion animals.

For more information on Life Biosciences, please visit http://www.lifebiosciences.com.

Press Contact:
media@lifebiosciences.com
susanm@lifebiosciences.com
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