We’ll be hosting our second annual Progress Update live event on May 23rd, 2024 in South San Francisco .
We’ll be livestreaming the update, and also welcoming guests to join us on site. If you’re interested in attending in person, apply through the form below.
Until then, check out our previous 2023 Progress Update event at livestream.newlimit.com. That link will also host our 2024 Update as the date gets closer.
Having recently raised $40 million in a series A funding round, New Limit is another anti-aging biotech startup looking to develop epigenetic reprogramming therapies to treat age-related diseases with large unmet needs.
In order to reverse cellular aging in this manner, the company wants to use new epigenetics tools to reprogram cells so that they act younger, with an initial focus on T cells. To achieve this, it is taking advantage of great advancements in single cell genomics, epigenetic editing, and machine learning, which it says will help it overcome traditional roadblocks to epigenetic reprogramming. One of the main challenges for the company is figuring out how to shrink the functional performance delta between actual young cells and reprogrammed old ones.
NewLimit is developing medicines to extend human healthspan through epigenetic reprogramming
We founded NewLimit to develop medicines that add healthy years to each human life. Initially, we thought it would take many years to show progress toward this goal. We’re proud that our team achieved this milestone faster than we expected. Based on these results, we’ve raised a $130 million Series B led by Kleiner Perkins alongside new investors Nat Friedman/Daniel Gross, Khosla Ventures, Human Capital, and Valor Equity Partners — joined by existing investors Dimension, Founders Fund, and Brian Armstrong. We also raised from some of the best angels who have supported the company over the first two years including John and Patrick Collison, Fred Ehrsam, Elad Gil, Joshua Kushner, Joe Lonsdale, and Garry Tan.
NewLimit is building medicines to treat aging, the meta driver of nearly every major human disease. Once thought to be irreversible, the emerging science of epigenetic reprogramming has shown that aging is in fact malleable. This presents a therapeutic opportunity that is 100X larger than any biotech product that has come before.
NewLimit’s approach is conceptually straightforward – we’ve built technology to run the largest experiments in the field, and we use the resulting data to train frontier AI models that ensure we only test the most promising potential medicines. Our bet is that this combination of AI and scaled genomics can unlock medicines that give each of us more healthy years. We have a stepwise, capital efficient plan to get there.
We’re deeply appreciative of investors who share our vision that addressing aging biology represents one of the most consequential projects of humanity. We hope our progress will help inspire broader interest and investment in aging therapeutics.
Our story is just getting started. If you want to be a part of it, join us at newlimit.com/careers.
The bio-tech player New Limit has raised $130 million from just about the fanciest assembly of smart, rich people imaginable. Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross – via NFDG - Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures and Human Capital are there in their corporate forms and Patrick and John Collison, Josh Kushner, Joe Lonsdale and Fred Ehrsam are there as individuals.
Over the past four years, New Limit has been trying to identify the right combinations of transcription factors – a certain class of proteins – that can rewind cells and take them back to a younger state. Their work piggybacks on the Nobel Prize winning work of Shinya Yamanaka, and it’s among the most exciting technology in the entire bio-tech field – at least for me. As you’ll hear in this interview, they’ve made massive progress over the past 18 months or so.
We’ve talked about transcription factors and related technology with Joe Betts LaCroix from Retro (podcast under the Joe link, and full video episode on Retro here) and with Brian Armstrong, who co-founded New Limit.
In this episode, however, we hung out with Jacob Kimmel, another New Limit co-founder, for a real deep dive on transcription factors and New Limit’s approach to taming them. Kimmel is as clear and eloquent as it gets on explaining this technology.
This pod might feel different than the usual pods. It comes from a sit down interview we did with Kimmel for an upcoming Core Memory video on New Limit. Still, it’s glorious.
The Core Memory podcast is sponsored by the wonderful people at E1 Ventures. Their money and hearts are pure.
Scientists have successfully grown human livers inside mice—and it could revolutionize how we treat aging. In this episode of Core Memory, we explore the pioneering work at New Limit, a biotech firm pushing the boundaries of epigenetic reprogramming, a groundbreaking technology aiming to rejuvenate old human cells, making them functionally younger and healthier.
Join us as we go inside New Limit’s lab, where researchers are not only inserting human liver cells into mice but also decoding the secrets of cellular youth. With vivid explanations and behind-the-scenes insights from New Limit’s co-founder Jacob Kimmel, you’ll discover how this remarkable science might one day lead to therapies that dramatically extend healthy human lifespan.
AI Summary of Video:
The video explores how New Limit is using epigenetic reprogramming to rejuvenate human cells and potentially reverse aging, focusing on experiments with human livers grown inside mice.
Here’s a detailed summary of the key points from “The New Science Reversing Age”:
Human Livers in Mice: A New Frontier
Scientists at New Limit have successfully grown human livers inside mice by gradually replacing the mouse’s liver cells with human liver cells. The goal is to engineer livers that remain younger and healthier for much longer than normal.
This work could revolutionize how we treat aging and age-related diseases.
New Limit and Epigenetic Reprogramming
New Limit is a biotech company focused on epigenetic reprogramming—a technology that aims to rejuvenate old human cells, making them functionally younger and healthier.
The company is searching for proteins that can make not just livers, but also brains, hearts, and other organs young again.
New Limit was co-founded by Jacob Kimmel and is backed by notable investors, including Brian Armstrong (Coinbase CEO), Josh Kushner, and Patrick Collison.
The Science Behind Reprogramming
All cells in the body have the same DNA, but chemical modifications (epigenetic marks) control which genes are active in each cell.
Epigenetic reprogramming attempts to reset these marks to a more youthful state, so old cells behave more like young ones.
The foundational discovery was made by Shinya Yamanaka, who found that turning on four specific genes (the “Yamanaka factors”) could reprogram a cell’s age and type, earning him a Nobel Prize in 2012.
The Challenge: Rejuvenating Without Changing Cell Type
The big challenge is to reprogram the age of cells without changing their type (e.g., making an old liver cell young, but still a liver cell—not a stem cell).
New Limit is working to identify combinations of proteins (transcription factors) that can achieve this.
Experimental Process
The company collects blood samples from young (<30 years) and old (>60 years) donors to study differences in immune cells.
They use advanced techniques like single-cell genomics to analyze how different transcription factors affect cell age at a granular level.
AI models help predict which combinations of factors might be most effective, streamlining the experimental process.
Humanized Mice and Testing
New Limit uses mice with human livers to test the effects of their interventions. These mice are created by mixing young and old human liver cells and observing how the cells respond to different treatments.
The aim is to find interventions that work across a diverse set of human cells, not just in one donor.
Results and Outlook
Early results show that certain transcription factors can dramatically reduce cellular damage in old liver cells, making them behave more like young cells.
While the mouse model isn’t perfect, it’s a significant step closer to human biology than traditional mouse studies.
New Limit’s approach is still in early stages, but the company believes their work could eventually add decades of healthy life to people if successful.
Tone and Perspective
Jacob Kimmel, New Limit’s president, is careful not to overhype the results but is optimistic about the potential impact of epigenetic reprogramming on human healthspan and longevity.
Jacob Kimmel explains why evolution didn’t optimize humans for longevity and how science might reverse aging.
Key Points from “Why evolution designed us to die fast, & how we can change that – Jacob Kimmel”
1. Why Evolution Didn’t Optimize for Longevity
Three Main Reasons: The video opens with three evolutionary reasons humans aren’t designed for maximum lifespan:
Reproductive Focus: Evolution prioritizes traits that help organisms reproduce, not necessarily those that extend life after reproduction. Once an organism has passed on its genes, there’s little evolutionary pressure to maintain its health.
Resource Allocation: Longer lifespans would require more resources (energy, nutrients) to maintain the body, which could detract from reproductive success.
Environmental Hazards: Historically, external dangers (predators, disease, accidents) meant most individuals didn’t live long enough for longevity traits to be selected for.
2. Why Humans Didn’t Evolve Their Own Antibiotics
Antibiotic Evolution: The discussion covers why humans, unlike some organisms, didn’t evolve endogenous antibiotics. The complexity and energy cost of developing such systems may have outweighed the evolutionary benefits, especially given the diversity of pathogens.
3. De-Aging Cells via Epigenetic Reprogramming
Epigenetic Reprogramming: Kimmel describes how scientists are exploring ways to reverse cellular aging by reprogramming the epigenome. This involves manipulating transcription factors to reset cells to a more youthful state, potentially reversing age-related decline.
4. Gene Delivery Mechanisms
Viral Vectors and Other Methods: The video delves into the technical challenges of delivering genetic material to cells. Viral vectors are a common method, but there are risks and limitations. The conversation also touches on synthetic transcription factors as a promising avenue.
5. Synthetic Transcription Factors
Engineering Longevity: Kimmel discusses the potential of designing synthetic transcription factors to control gene expression and promote cellular rejuvenation. This could be a key technology for anti-aging therapies.
6. Breaking Eroom’s Law with Virtual Cells
Drug Discovery Bottlenecks: Eroom’s Law refers to the increasing difficulty and cost of drug discovery. The video explores whether virtual cell models and computational biology could accelerate progress and reduce costs.
7. Economic Models for Pharma
Incentives and Innovation: The conversation ends with a look at how economic incentives shape pharmaceutical innovation. Kimmel suggests that new business models and platforms for biological understanding could help overcome current barriers in drug development.
Overall Themes
Evolutionary Tradeoffs: Human biology is shaped by evolutionary pressures that don’t favor longevity.
Scientific Frontiers: Advances in epigenetics, gene delivery, and synthetic biology offer hope for extending healthspan and reversing aging.
Systemic Challenges: Both technical and economic hurdles must be overcome to make anti-aging therapies widely available.
