Jacob Kimmel thinks he can find the transcription factors to reverse aging. We do a deep dive on why this might be plausible and why evolution hasn’t optimized for longevity. We also talk about why drug discovery has been getting exponentially harder, and what a new platform for biological understanding to speed up progress would look like. As a bonus, we get into the nitty gritty of gene delivery and Jacob’s controversial takes on CAR-T cells. For full disclosure, I am an angel investor in NewLimit. This did not impact my decision to interview Jacob, nor the questions I asked him.
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TIMESTAMPS
(00:00:00) – Three reasons evolution didn’t optimize for longevity
(00:12:07) – Why didn't humans evolve their own antibiotics?
(00:25:26) – De-aging cells via epigenetic reprogramming
(00:44:43) – Viral vectors and other delivery mechanisms
(01:06:22) – Synthetic transcription factors
(01:09:31) – Can virtual cells break Eroom’s Law?
(01:31:32) – Economic models for pharma