This Startup Is Using AI to Cure Aging—And They’re Backed by Bezos

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/04/1034364/altos-labs-silicon-valleys-jeff-bezos-milner-bet-living-forever/The offices don’t appear to be an effort to combat aging. Not at first look, anyway. Scientists study microscopic images of human cells while sitting silently behind computer screens in a research building in California, past glass hallways and security doors. Warm electronics and a slight disinfectant odor fill the room. The steady hum of lab equipment can be heard somewhere in the background; it’s the kind of sound that goes away after people have worked around it for a while.

However, a tiny, exceptionally well-funded startup thinks it might accomplish something that people have been wondering about for centuries inside labs like this one.

aging slowly. Parts of it might be reversed. The business, known as Altos Labs, came to Silicon Valley with the kind of financial support that draws notice right away. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is one of the investors. According to reports, his personal investment firm contributed billions of dollars to the venture.

Naturally, money cannot stop aging. However, it does enable scientists to pursue concepts that previously appeared too costly or ambitious to try.

Cellular reprogramming, a field pioneered by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Shinya Yamanaka, is the foundation of Altos Labs. The field of biology was shocked by his discovery over ten years ago. Scientists were able to effectively rewind adult cells, pushing them back toward a more youthful, stem-cell-like state, by introducing a small set of proteins, now known as the “Yamanaka factors.”

The discovery seemed almost unreal at the time. Suddenly, cells that had been skin, liver, or nerve cells for decades started acting like they were young again. They started behaving like biological blank slates in lab dishes, with the ability to develop into various tissue types.

The ramifications were profound. However, the risks were also present. Animal experiments yielded intriguing but occasionally unnerving findings. There were indications of renewed tissue in a few mice. Others developed tumors brought on by unchecked cell proliferation. Researchers appeared both excited and a little wary as they observed those early experiments, as though they were holding something delicate.

Using cutting-edge biology and increasingly potent artificial intelligence tools, Altos Labs is attempting to improve the procedure. Researchers are teaching AI systems to examine vast datasets, such as genetic activity, protein interactions, and cellular behavior, in order to find patterns that humans might overlook, rather than conducting haphazard experiments.

AI is supposed to assist in finding secure methods of partially reprogramming cells without causing harmful side effects.

That strategy might significantly speed up discoveries. Investors in the biotech sector appear to be convinced that something significant is taking place. The amount of money allocated to longevity research has quietly increased over the last ten years. Companies investigating aging, disease prevention, and regenerative medicine are receiving billions of dollars from wealthy tech figures, venture funds, and research foundations.

The interest seems almost philosophical in a weird way. For the majority of modern history, aging was viewed as an unavoidable natural decline that biology merely forced upon us. A growing number of scientists now have a different perspective on aging. It’s more akin to a complicated biological process that might even be curable.

If you think that’s bold, it is. However, the reasoning isn’t wholly hypothetical. Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, and many other serious illnesses are all made more likely by aging. Researchers contend that if you slow down the biological aging process, you may be able to postpone several illnesses at once.

The field is compelling because of that possibility. Instead of just increasing life expectancy, scientists discuss at conferences how to increase “healthspan,” or the number of years that people stay healthy and active. There is a small but significant difference. If those years are spent in deteriorating health, living longer isn’t very desirable.

It looks like Altos Labs is working toward a healthier future. Nevertheless, there are difficult questions to consider as this race progresses. For starters, the safety of large-scale human cellular reprogramming remains uncertain. Compared to lab animals, human biology is far more intricate. In clinical trials, things that work in mice can occasionally go horribly wrong.

The uncertainty is acknowledged even by supporters. There is also the cultural question. Historically, wealthy patrons have been drawn to longevity research. The desire to slow aging frequently appears to be strongest among those who already have everything else, from ancient alchemists looking for the fountain of youth to contemporary billionaires funding biotech startups.

After all, Jeff Bezos founded one of the most significant businesses of the internet age. He left his position as CEO of Amazon, launched rockets through his space company, and now seems to be making significant investments in biotechnology to solve the most profound biological conundrum that humanity has ever encountered.

As we watch this develop, it seems like the main goals of technology are changing.

Artificial intelligence software, smartphones, and digital platforms have dominated the past 20 years. Now, biology itself is benefiting from some of Silicon Valley’s wealth.

It’s still unclear if Altos Labs will be able to reverse aging. The path ahead, according to many scientists, will take decades rather than years. After protracted periods of failure, biology rarely advances quickly.

The size of the investment, however, points to belief. Researchers continue to study human cells in quiet labs with glowing microscopes and humming machines, hoping to find the time when aging might finally start to reverse.