We’re all looking for ways to stop the clock, so to speak, and buy more time on this earth. And it shows with all the anti-aging companies being created, doing the research, and being backed with millions in investor dollars.
We’ve been looking into a few of these companies as part of a series on longevity, and today, Turn Biotechnologies takes center stage. Keep reading to find out more about what they’re doing with cellular rejuvenation, then come back next week for another article on the topic. And if you missed last week’s, take a look at that here.
Taking Their Turn
Turn Biotechnologies, or Turn Bio for short, is a favorite of several investors and venture firms these days, and it’s easy to see why when you look down the list of the experts involved. It’s a who’s who of anti-aging researchers. The technology at the foundation of the company’s platform was developed and patented in Vittorio Sebastiano’s lab at Stanford University; he’s an expert in stem cell biology and epigenetic reprogramming.
Serbia Ruiz is an advisor to several longevity biotech companies. Marco Quarta, Ph.D., is an expert in aging, regenerative medicine, rejuvenation, stem cell biology, and bioengineering, and advisors Thomas Rando, MD, Ph.D., and Michael Longaker, MD, are both involved with anti-aging labs at Stanford. Dr. Rando is recognized as a leading authority on the mechanisms of stem cell aging, and Dr. Longaker is an expert on wound healing, tissue engineering, and stem cell biology. And there are others.
The company is a startup that utilizes mRNA to try and turn old cells back into their younger selves, which then treats diseases caused by degeneration of skin, cartilage, and the eye. They make it clear they aren’t aiming for immortality or extending lifespans; Turn Biotechnologies is looking to improve our quality of life by helping us feel healthy and strong instead of frail and sick.
How are they doing that?
Turn Biotechnologies focuses on developing mRNA medicines to help with healing and to tell specific cells to fight disease or repair damaged tissue. They’re essentially creating therapies to rejuvenate cells and tissues and developing technology to deliver them. The company has an mRNA-based ERA™ (Epigenetic Reprogramming of Aging) technology that is a platform for rejuvenating cells. How? Well, it targets their epigenomes to restore cell function. If you’re like me and didn’t pay as much attention in science class as you should have, I’ll save you the trouble of looking up epigenome. Simplified, it’s the network of chemical compounds and proteins that tells cells what to do, and it can be changed or altered by environmental conditions.
So, back to what Turn Biotechnologies is doing. Its researchers are developing cell therapies that could be used for a variety of things, from dermatology to osteoarthritis, immunology, ophthalmology, and musculature. The goal is to restore capabilities often lost as we age.
They have created these therapies and developed a way to deliver them precisely to targeted cells: they call it eTurna™.
Turn Biotechnologies researchers believe if they can treat the cell, they can eliminate many of the issues we’ll face as we age. The goal is to impact patients on the tissue level to prevent problems later in the organs. They’re working now on taking what’s been discovered in the lab and developing therapies to be used outside the lab.
Their ERA™ platform uses mRNA to deliver chemical instructions that rejuvenate specific cells, restoring them to “their more youthful potency,” according to their website. And not just that, they believe they’ll be able to use the technology for dermatologic conditions, immunology, osteoarthritis, and ophthalmology.
And there’s a silver lining.
They believe their therapies will dramatically reduce the cost of medical care by curing age-related conditions that doctors can’t currently treat and making current treatments more effective, meaning it will require fewer doses to do things like treat cancer. They also believe they’ll reduce medication usage because they’ll treat the root causes of diseases instead of just symptoms.
This is just the beginning.
The company believes it’s just touching on its potential. They’re working toward getting the therapies into clinics to prove their effectiveness. They are already showing data documenting that their therapies rejuvenate skin cells more effectively and safely than existing options. They also point out that the ERA treatment has already reversed the hallmarks of aging in human skin, including lack of elasticity and inability to heal, which the company claims hasn’t been done before.
Turn Bio has preclinical results showing treatments that help kill cancer cells. Others have shown success in treating glaucoma. And still, another has been shown to help repair ocular tissues. They have preclinical results showing they can improve stem cell growth and help with muscle recovery, and even more impressive, leave the muscle more resistant to later injuries. And these are just a few examples of what they’re working on.
For these reasons and more, Turn Bio is turning heads and appears to be a real game changer when it comes to aging. They are doing exciting things and are definitely a company to watch.
Read Next:
Anti-Aging Foods You Should Be Eating
