Norn Group

Thrilled to announce the Muscle Aging Science & Translation symposium, our next big Aging Initiative at Harvard event co-hosted with Norn Group at Harvard Medical School on April 18th. Sign up here: https://lu.ma/di5165dr ? Our focus here is age-related diseases of frailty and metabolism, where there is staggeringly high unmet need. We hope this conference can help spark the next generation of efforts in this crucial area of muscle aging and translation, particularly among up-and-coming researchers and students?in the space. Huge thanks to our sponsors Eli Lilly and Company, Retro Biosciences, and Aging (Aging-US). The symposium will feature biopharma experts like Dr. David Glass (VP of Research, Regeneron), Dr. Andrew Adams (Group VP of Molecule Discovery & Director of Genetic Medicines, Eli Lilly and Company), Dr. Anne-Ulrike Trendelenburg (Research?Director?of?Diseases of Aging & Regenerative Medicine, Novartis), Dr.?Kenneth Attie?(VP of Clinical Research, Eli Lilly and Company and Chief Medical Officer, Versanis Bio). We're also thrilled to be having exercise science experts and social media communicators like Jeff Nippard (Pro Bodybuilder and Science Communicator to 6.5M+ YouTube Subscribers) and Professor Brad Schoenfeld (Lehman College). Excitingly, Lada Nuzhna (CEO/Founder of a stealth start-up, Director of Impetus Grants, and Thiel Fellow) will discuss next-generation therapeutic approaches in this space. From a epidemiology and medical research perspective, we're honored to have Prof. Shivani Sahni and Prof. Yi-Hsiang Hsu from Harvard Medical School. Age-related frailty threatens mobility, independence, even our ability to play with?our grandchildren,?and they impact virtually everyone during older age. Despite their prevalence, there are no approved treatments for sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) or muscle preservation during bed rest or hip fracture recovery, and disease-modifying therapies for osteoarthritis remain elusive. With aging populations around the world, our hunch is that these diseases of frailty will place huge burdens on patients and the healthcare system, and we need innovation now - in therapeutic approaches, strategy, and clinical development - to fight against loss of mobility and strength during aging.?This conference brings together the Boston academic and biotech communities to discuss emerging solutions and drive collaboration in the fight against muscle aging.

Thrilled to announce the Muscle Aging Science & Translation symposium, our next big Aging Initiative at Harvard event co-hosted with Norn Group at Harvard Medical School on April 18th. Sign up here: https://lu.ma/di5165dr ? Our focus here is age-related diseases of frailty and metabolism, where there is staggeringly high unmet need. We hope this conference can help spark the next generation of efforts in this crucial area of muscle aging and translation, particularly among up-and-coming researchers and students?in the space. Huge thanks to our sponsors Eli Lilly and Company, Retro Biosciences, and Aging (Aging-US). The symposium will feature biopharma experts like Dr. David Glass (VP of Research, Regeneron), Dr. Andrew Adams (Group VP of Molecule Discovery & Director of Genetic Medicines, Eli Lilly and Company), Dr. Anne-Ulrike Trendelenburg (Research?Director?of?Diseases of Aging & Regenerative Medicine, Novartis), Dr.?Kenneth Attie?(VP of Clinical Research, Eli Lilly and Company and Chief Medical Officer, Versanis Bio). We're also thrilled to be having exercise science experts and social media communicators like Jeff Nippard (Pro Bodybuilder and Science Communicator to 6.5M+ YouTube Subscribers) and Professor Brad Schoenfeld (Lehman College). Excitingly, Lada Nuzhna (CEO/Founder of a stealth start-up, Director of Impetus Grants, and Thiel Fellow) will discuss next-generation therapeutic approaches in this space. From a epidemiology and medical research perspective, we're honored to have Prof. Shivani Sahni and Prof. Yi-Hsiang Hsu from Harvard Medical School. Age-related frailty threatens mobility, independence, even our ability to play with?our grandchildren,?and they impact virtually everyone during older age. Despite their prevalence, there are no approved treatments for sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) or muscle preservation during bed rest or hip fracture recovery, and disease-modifying therapies for osteoarthritis remain elusive. With aging populations around the world, our hunch is that these diseases of frailty will place huge burdens on patients and the healthcare system, and we need innovation now - in therapeutic approaches, strategy, and clinical development - to fight against loss of mobility and strength during aging.?This conference brings together the Boston academic and biotech communities to discuss emerging solutions and drive collaboration in the fight against muscle aging.

#AAV gene therapy is usually associated with rare genetic diseases, but trials are happening in chronic diseases like arthritis and Parkinson's. We wrote a report on the feasibility of gene therapies for common disease and how current assumptions about e.g. costs would need to change. Read the report, written by Chris Towne Wyatt Morgan Maks Fedorovskyy Sufal Deb and myself, here: https://lnkd.in/gJa_Ey5s Main takeaways: ?? Safety is a real concern, highlighted again this week. From ~7000 patients dosed, we've learned that doses above 5E13 have serious risks, but lower doses have fewer serious adverse events than small molecules. ?? Approved/early gene therapies are very expensive, driven by small-scale and unoptimized production and small target populations to recoup R&D expenses. At safe doses and millions of patients, AAVs can be priced similar to one year of antibody drugs, but with long-term effects. ??? AAV opens up the 80% of genome considered 'undruggable'. A key challenge and opportunity is to search that space for the right targets. Manufacturing capacity is sufficient to serve tens of millions of patients at safe doses, as long as we can find the right targets for efficacy.

Join us for an unforgettable conversation on the future of aging biology! On January 28, 2025, we’re kicking off Nucleate: Inside Aging with a free virtual opening session featuring two pioneering leaders in aging biology and longevity biotech: ?? Eric Verdin , PhD President & CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging ?? Martin Borch Jensen, PhD Co-Founder of Gordian Biotechnology & President of Norn Group ?? When: 12 PM Eastern ?? Where: Virtual (link to register below) These world-renowned experts will dive into the current landscape of aging research, where the field is headed, and—most importantly—how you can get involved in advancing healthier, longer lives. This is a must-attend event for: ?? Graduate students passionate about biotechnology ?? Investors exploring opportunities in longevity innovation ?? Anyone curious about the science transforming our understanding of aging. ?? Don’t miss out—register now at https://lu.ma/ej49cnxn ?? Let’s shape the future of aging biology together. Join us on January 28th! #AgingBiology #LongevityBiotech #AgingResearch #Innovation #NucleateInsideAging #VirtualWebinar #Biotechnology

We need to 'concretize' aging clocks to accelerate discovery in the biology of aging - Martin Borch Jensen and I just wrote a Norn Group call to action proposing the path for robustly validating aging clocks to the point of replacing lengthy lifespan studies. The vision? Accelerating pivotal experiments 2-10x, by extending preclinical lifespan studies to generate the data needed to benchmark the forecasting power of clocks. Full piece: https://lnkd.in/e97YZGZV Research on the biology of aging is held back by the lengthy timelines of experimental studies involving natural aging. The consequence is that we face an enormous hurdle - time - in developing life-saving therapeutics that target this biology to make a difference in prevalent chronic conditions (neurodegenerative disease, sarcopenia, heart disease, and many more). Biomarkers of the aging process (aging 'clocks') would unlock faster breakthroughs, laying the foundations for surrogate endpoints in human clinical trials, just like cholesterol became adopted as a surrogate endpoint for cardiovascular death. Many clocks have been proposed in the last 13 years, but no definite process for validating their predictive power exists. We envision the Clock Assessment Program (CAP) as a gold standard for benchmarking aging clocks, deployed to accelerate preclinical discovery by reducing the amount of time it takes to identify interventions that meaningfully shift survival curves. Instead of waiting 30 months or more for mouse experiments to finish, CAP-validated clocks will predict eventual endpoints (lifespan, frailty index at a given age, etc.) at earlier timepoints (e.g., 12 and 18 months of age) with sensitivity and specificity that clears a high bar. To no longer wait three years for each preclinical lifespan study, to not take up a decade to validate life-saving therapies that treat universal age-related diseases, we need a rigorous, visionary program to enable progress. Now is the time to concretize.?We invite you to join us in tackling or sponsoring this initiative, and reach out to us for further discussion.

????????????? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????????????? ???????????????????? One of the most pressing issues in aging is the need for reliable biomarkers—aging clocks—that predict future health and lifespan based on current measurements. These biomarkers have the potential to reduce the time required for studies from decades to just a few years. ?? The Problem Despite the availability of dozens of aging clocks, including commercial options, their predictive accuracy remains uncertain. A good aging clock should not only measure biological age accurately but also respond to interventions in a way that reflects improved health outcomes. ?? Our Proposal Satvik Dasariraju & Martin Borch Jensen propose the Clock Assessment Program (CAP), designed to robustly validate aging clocks by extending the existing NIH Interventions Testing Program (ITP). This program—already a gold standard for lifespan studies—would be leveraged to collect critical data for benchmarking clocks against real lifespan outcomes. ??? How It Works Samples from NIH ITP would generate -omics data for the broader research community. Aging clocks would be assessed for predictive validity using this lifespan data. The CAP could run for a decade at a cost comparable to a single clinical trial while laying the groundwork for human clock development. ?? Why It Matters A standardized benchmarking process, similar to how CASP transformed protein folding predictions, would drive innovation and establish aging clocks as reliable surrogate endpoints for aging-related clinical trials. This could accelerate the development of effective longevity therapies by 2-10x. ?? Join Us Norn Group’s mission is to catalyze progress towards effective longevity treatments through innovative proposals, talent programs, and more. If you’re interested in collaborating to make the CAP a reality—or in advancing the broader mission of longevity science—let’s connect! ?? Explore the full CAP proposal: https://lnkd.in/eqa4ThJD Together, we can concretize clocks, and unlock the future of longevity research. ?? #Longevity #AgingClocks #Innovation #LifeSciences #omics

Guess who funds all the dream come true science (Impetus Grants). Congrats to Zev Williams & Yousin Suh who are making the VIBRANT trial happen! https://lnkd.in/gpQfSJ3t