Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, decided to invest in a new endeavor: the quest for immortality. The billionaire began assembling a team of top scientists for his new startup, Altos Labs, which aims to prevent aging.
Among the names that are already confirmed as part of the team are two Nobel Prize winners. Shinya Yamanaka was awarded in 2012 in the field of medicine for her work with stem cells and Jennifer Doudna, awarded in 2020 in chemistry for her work with the gene editing tool CRISPR.
To lead this renowned team, Bezos has enlisted Hal Barron, former chief scientific officer at pharmaceuticals GlaxoSmithKline, and will now serve as CEO with a mission to “reverse disease”.
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There will be no shortage of resources for Altos Labs during the first years of operation. Right off the bat, the startup has already secured $3 billion in investments that come not only from Bezos, but also from other billionaires, such as Russian Yuri Milner.
During the initial phase, efforts will be directed to a specific area: biological reprogramming, which aims to rejuvenate cells that have already aged. In practice, if the proposal works, diseases associated with old age, such as dementia, could be reversed. However, there is no guarantee that the high stakes will pay off over time.
Anyway, the search for youth is a growing trend. In addition to Calico, founded in 2013 by Larry Page, co-creator of Google, other startups in this hunt are Life Biosciences, Turn Biotechnologies, AgeX Therapeutics and the British Shift Bioscience. So far, however, no results.
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