Q4: Aging interventions:

Yes, I consent

Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Yes, I consent

Outdated Healthcare System

Longevity research is a niche where people feel like they can't say what their actual goals are. Causes people to work on the wrong things / inefficient paths.

We have a healthcare system designed in the 1800s that is reactionary to acute disease and the incentives are to maximize cost not health. We need an incentive structure that optimizes for health and lifespan via prevention of aging not treating the symptoms.

The majority of "longevity" work is attempts to find low hanging fruit that doesn't exist - current therapeutic stategies will mostly fail or have very little impact. A long-term mindset would but much more resources on technology development and more detailed characterization and modeling of aging.

A culture of long-termism and optimism about maximizing human health and lifespan.

Yes, I consent

Nation state levels of funding (100's of billions)

Talent, and talent pipeline

Apollo program was 250B + 400,000 people. Aging will likely take more resources

Very few people know that you can work on aging. Biology of aging isn't included in standard curriculum in high school / college.

The fact that the most funded seed startup in all of history could not reveal their financial backers suggests we need to do more to make funding longevity not just socially acceptable, but a moral imperative!

Wide scale perception change --> that obviating aging is a moral imperative.

Media (disseminating information),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Until I decide I want to die. Indefinitely.

Indefinitely

Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Lack of inexpensive aged mice

Lack of gene delivery tools to do whole-body genetic engineering

Labor required to perform physiological mouse assays

The ability to inexpensively outsource longevity studies to CROs.

Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Indefinitely

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

very hard to do science without funding

very hard to do science without scientists

very hard to do science when many experiments are not allowed

Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

We need more humans to care about this if we want to mobilize massive resources.

As long as possible

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

we are good at publish papers

real metric to evaluate the biological age

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies)

Yes, I consent

gain of function experiments

step wise organ wise extension of lifespan/functional span

current theories are nonsense except for antagonistic pleiotropy

not enough data on extended lifespan and correlated side effects (eg caloric restriction works in worms but they are less mobile and lethargic, prob immune compromised)

express telomerade eg in one tissue that is age limiting, then another, then another and show additive effect

we need equations or formulaic approaches. from protein damage, to dna damage, to ros to.wathever single.aspect we focus on, we lose 2 things: 1) the perspecti e thst aging integrated and 2) the side effects of tweaking single parameters. also i doubt an engineered organism that libes longer will have a chance to compete with wildtype in the wild. Its Evolution and natural selection baby.

we need all-knowledge, pointed at yes/no questions and corresponding informed experiments

long enough to learn a little about the world, but the question is quality not quantity. 75-80y before losing physical fitness

Plasma/blood based therapies,Senolytics,Telomere extending therapies,Other 1 (specify),Other 2 (specify),Other 3 (specifiy)

pgc1a expression

stress r e duction

Yes, I consent

Cheap and fast invivo testing

Extensive computational approach

FDA approved clinical proxies

Not democratised access to both academics and commerical entities

You need to derive insights test hypothesise in the dry lab long before the wet one

We need concrete aging clinical trials, right now its bypassed with other indications

Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Yes, I consent

Limited government funding

Awareness on the part of clinicians, regulators and general public

Increased regulatory paths to getting longevity medicine to the market.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions)

As long as possible.

Indefinitely

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,NAD targeting therapies,Rapamycin supplementation,Sirtuin targeting therapies,Stem cell therapies,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Path to market given today's regulatory environment

Either a special economic zone or a significant change in FDA policy allowing fundamental research in aging interventions to be clinically investigated

Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Trained hands to work on projects

Close-minded funding and reviewers limiting avenues of research

Limited funding, federal and state pay caps for postdocs and graduate students, limited supply of interested students

The vast majority of aging research are variations on the same 3-4 topics in the same 3-5 systems; while the most radical breakthroughs are most likely to come from alternative, unexplored sources (non-model organisms, other white elephants), both public and private funders are reluctant to fund these lines of research.

A bottleneck as fundamental to science as aging is to biology. This is both for basic science funding as well as translational funding.

More organizations like Impetus that fund moonshot proposal ideas at all budgets, ideally with facility support included (like an incubator).

Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Other (specify)

Academic Research - NON-hypothesis driven science for discovery of novel hypotheses.

Public funding is overwhelmingly the largest current and potential source of funding for science - funding that is fundamental to all facets of aging research, basic and translational. Furthermore, while translational pipelines are vital, too much emphasis on them would lead to the suffocation of future research born from alternative, more radical research directions that have yet to be explored.

As long as entropically possible.

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Academic researcher (postdoc/PhD/MSc/BSc student),Biotech researcher,Entrepreneur,Principal investigator/Professor

Luck of funding to produce preliminary data

Aging is not considered a disease

No NIH institute or program is focusing on aging itself

Longevity experiments are very long and expensive, thus it is impossible to run them to produce preliminary data without substantial funding. You cannot obtain substantial funding without preliminary data. This vicious cycle is specifically hard to overcome in aging research due to the very high cost of longevity studies.

One big obstacle in the development of anti-aging therapy is the fact that aging is not considered a disease by FDA and anti-aging drugs can be marketed only against aging-associated conditions, rather than aging itself. It is often the case that anti-aging therapy is not competitive as compared with other drugs targeting specific age-associated conditions even if it is highly efficient in slowing down aging itself.

Resource that will help matching anti-aging startups with investors

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Current healthcare system indeed is a disease care system. Development and implementation of anti-aging interventions require complete paradigm shift, which can only be associated with significant changes in policy, regulation, and focus of fundamental research.

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

No clear goal of the government funding agency in advancing aging research.

There’s not sufficient support from the society to aging research.

NIA’s funding rate is too low.

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies)

Other 1 (specify),Other 2 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Shortage of creative and rigorous talent working on aging

The math problem - not enough resources to solve aging

Methods to rejuvenate the aging brain (such as controlled tissue turnover)

Throughout all of the moonshot aging projects I have encountered, they have shared the same glaring problem that serves as the biggest impediment to success: lack of top 1% talent (in terms of creativity, rigor, and skill) to pull off said moonshot project. Need talent in all positions accelerating the space (biologists, engineers, operators, computer scientists, lobbyists, investors, family offices, etc

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/math-problem-sid-efromovich-1e/

The brain is the most important organ for aging/continuity of self. Everything else could be replaced like parts.

High-throughput, cheap, and accurate methods of reading out biological age of cells/tissues/organisms in a way that responds to interventions

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

As long as I was still healthy!

As long as healthy

Yes, I consent

Data Availability and Sharing

We are creating biomarkers of longevity and in order to make these better we need more data available. Some algorithms like GrimAge still have not be released publicly.

Government guidance on aging as a disease

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Media (disseminating information),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

As long as possible.

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Disagreement in basic definitions of aging

Restrictions on medication development to target aging

Over advertising of potential interventions and Lack of commonly agreed key assessment standards

When people mention terms like aging, biological age or rejuvenation, they typically talk about different things. This difference in interpretation causes disagreement that confuses researchers and makes them easier to disagree on detailed topics of different interventions.

The question whether Aging itself is a disease is controversial. This affects the policy and many medications designed to target aging has to be focused on specific age-related diseases rather than targeting the functional decline related to the age

People don’t have a common way to assess age-related functional decline. They use their own readouts in their own research and claim that something works. No commonly agreed standard in the field is reached

A hub that allows people from the field to communicate, share expertise and explore potential research directions

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Until aging researchers lose their jobs

Until X event

Yes, I consent

Lack of data

Hard to compete for $ against majority of fraudulent claims and bad science, judged by VC types ignorant about basic biology and medicine

No data format or quality standards in the field

Conferences and journals are flooded by same players pushing commerce oriented stories of packaging bad science as products

A match making portal to connect volunteers to philantropists to scientists

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Genetic medicine (gene therapies/editing),Metformin supplementation,Microbiome replacement,NAD targeting therapies,Plasma/blood based therapies,Rapamycin supplementation,Senolytics,Sirtuin targeting therapies,Somatic reprogramming,Stem cell therapies,Telomere extending therapies,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

To get funding from NIH we need to first demonstrate that a natural model for longevity (e.g. bats) models human aging. Do this requires funding, but is too high risk for NIH

The most interesting natural models for aging are species that are long-lived and don't tolerate captivity. Collecting high quality samples is challenging and requires collaboration.

Comparative genomics is very promising path forward for aging research, but is computationally extremely demanding. We need access to data, expertise and funding to building the resources for the community to utilize evolution as a tool for investigating aging.

Genome sequences and genome alignment for all mammals, paired with information on longevity for each species.

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions)

We understand almost nothing about the underlying mechanisms that drive aging. The current focus on therapeutics is likely to lead almost entirely to dead ends, because we don't understand the underlying biology. We need to speed up the pace of aging research more strategically that we are doing now.

As long as I can

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Too much focus on the same genes/pathways

While these pathways are important, they fail in populations because we don’t understand supporting mechanisms

Ability to work on (fund funding for) pathways outside the mainstream

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Calory restriction/dietary approaches

Yes, I consent

Lots of opinion leaders with biased views of biology of aging

Hard to do studies in mammals due to length of study and high cost

No true surrogate markers for biological age.

Very little true scrutiny of various hypotheses.

Existing biomarkers are flawed.

Central facility for getting access to tissues of aged mammals from mice to humans., but needs to be easy.

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Metformin supplementation,Stem cell therapies,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Data availability

The labs generating the research are usually not very data savy and they are asked to create files that are machine readable. We end up with unfortunate structures that make it impossible to collate data without lengthy manual curation.

There are large numbers of repositories and it is surprising there is no database where someone can type queries and receive as an output all the data sources containing this type of data.

There are published datasets of low quality. This forces one to only believe datasets from known labs.

Establishing a data standardization office, with impact on establishing collection and record protocols that generate good data

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

We need an environment inciting efforts in the field and we need better collection of data. Longevity is unlike ANY other biological questions because it does not have a limit in a unique physiological system, it concerns them all ( cf, hallmarks)

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Lack of understanding of the mechanistic causes of aging

Lack of consensus on foundational issues in aging research. There is broad disagreement on what is aging, what is rejuvenation, what is development, when aging begins, etc

Negative results are rarely published

Few studies have been conducted that identify causative factors in aging. Many merely identify factors that are associated with aging.

To work collaboratively and move the field forward, we need some level of agreement and common ground

It is not attractive to journals to publish negative results. Furthermore, negative results can negatively impact biotech companies. To efficiently design therapies that target aging and work in vivo, we need to know which therapies fail and why. We also need to know the limitations of therapies that work in some regards but not in others

That negative results in the aging field are published and equally represented in comparison to positive results

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

To move the field forward, we need more basic science research. We need to determine the fundamental mechanistic causes of aging before fully investing in clinical translation of anti-aging therapies

Yes, I consent

In our case it’s more difficult as we do not have co-founders members who are from an Ivy League University.

The costs to accomplish non human primate and clinical trials are so high that one is forced to raise a large series A in which many founders dilute down considerably in their equity holding.

I have yet to meet investors who actually understand fully biology of aging so their decision to invest are based on the comfort of stellar academic background of founders. This has allowed some start ups to raise very large amounts and then created mediocre results to create a bad reputation for longevity start ups. One company raised $400 million went IPO on Nasdaq another raised $600+ million last at $12 billion valuation followed by lackluster Phase I results. Except for Alkahest and BioAge who have shown some Phase I/II success no one else is showing any such promise. Even after a decade not a single longevity drug has achieved regulatory approval and is being prescribed.

We need more advanced technology for functional in vivo characterization of molecules

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Almost all the preclinical demonstrations are on induced animal models. This unfortunately does not offer real results. That’s why many do not cross the regulatory chasm. We all need to work with spontaneous models of disease to improve chances of translation to humans.

1,000 years

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Plasma/blood based therapies,Rapamycin supplementation,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Wholebody tissue-specific gene therapy delivery

Lack of principled way to choose the next intervention to try

E.g. having computational models similar to PerturbNet or scFormer that given a desired cell state (young) predict what to do to the cell. This requires a lot of data collection

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Forever! Or until I get tired of it.

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Not enough Human Biology

Inappropriate clinical trials

Lack of Insight into intervention mechanisms

Too much emphasis on non-human models that don't translate

Need more sophisticated clinical studies

Too little insight into how interventions may benefit humans

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Yes, I consent

Biotech researcher,Entrepreneur,Executive,Investor,Principal investigator/Professor,Science communicator

geroscience clinical trials for off patent drugs

stagnation of geroscience interventions

poor/fraudulent communication to the general public

most of the best candidates for translation to humans now are off-patent, but there is limited appetite for funding necessary clinical trials

the most effective geroscience intervention is still caloric restriction - nearly 100 years later; nobody in the field is doing unbiased larges-scale screening for new interventions/combinationsn with greater effect sizes and a disproportionate amount of funding is being put toward studying interventions with tiny effect sizes (e.g. isocaloric intermittent fasting, time restricted feeding, NAD precursors, etc.)

many of the most popular personalities (e.g. David Sinclair, Aubrey deGrey) with the widest audiences portray the field in a way that causes many people, particularly those in high level academic and government positions, to view the field as full of snake oil and fraud

a massive, professional PR campaign based on scientific rigor to influence the policy makers and funders primarily, but also the general public

Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

As long as possible - no limit

Indefinitely

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Metformin supplementation,NAD targeting therapies,Rapamycin supplementation,Senolytics,Sirtuin targeting therapies,Other 1 (specify),Other 2 (specify),Other 3 (specifiy)

geroscience in companion animals

geroscience clinical trials

off label use of prescription medication for geroscience

Yes, I consent

unifying molecular mechanisms of aging

The field is scattered with a million ways to impact age progression.

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions)

Yes, I consent

pre-clinical trials

impact of each epigenetic factor

cost, time (safety, efficacy)

impact of each epigenetic factor on development and aging

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Yes, I consent

limited funding for basic research

difficulty to apply results from non-human studies

focus on drug development for anti-aging

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions)

as long as possible

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Early stage investment

Speculative grants for non-University research

Reliable way to secure roadmap for clinical funding

Getting a preclinical package together

To explore ideas in-silico and identify targets

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Yes, I consent

irreproducible data and results

choose a good leader and organize the community effectively

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

90-100 years

Yes, I consent

most functional medicine physicians are prey to herd mentality

no way to tell how effective a particular treatment is

can't trust doctors, then how to achieve longevity escape velocity?

slowing down time to market and escalating the cost of drug development

effective in-home diagnostics or in-body sensors as reliable indicators of biological state of a human

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

humans cannot deal with the torrent of information required to make sense out of our complex bodies; the FDA should have no business in healthcare

indefinitely

Indefinitely

Calory restriction/dietary approaches

Yes, I consent

biochemical approaches in C.elegans

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions)

A lot of cutting edge research continues to go into the aging field. Changes in policymaking on healthcare funding and public outreach will boost the usefulness of this research.

Yes, I consent

Aging not regarded a a disease

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Yes, I consent

people with fresh insights

need clearer phenotypes of ageing

huge effort on AI/data crunching will yield diminishing returns

aged humans regarded as a homogeneous population. Definition of sub-categories may lead to clearer questions/answers

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

My interest is treating aging as a disease like we treated cancer 50 yrs ago...these tools were needed, of course others as well

Senolytics

Yes, I consent

small amount of published results on my research topic

small number of clinical trials targeting aging rather than diseases

lack of giant ageing omics databases for human data

not enough people executing experiments in the field

aging is not classified as a disease, also limited number of aging biomarkers

human data is often protected, donor age is not always available in public databases

classifying aging and tissue-specific aging conditions as diseases

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Difficult to tell what treatments will work in humans

Lack of good human models of aging

Publicly available datasets are rare and small

Large scale, publicly available datasets for ML (e.g. millions of images of unaged vs aged human cells)

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Indefinitely

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

getting people outside the aging field to take the field seriously

getting people inside the aging field to consider alternatives to the aging as an accumulation of damage theory

established researchers to publically say aging can be cured in our lifetimes and that finding a cure should be a soceital priority

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions)

indefinitely

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Consultant

Skilled labor

Funding is constrained and tends to be going to quite conservative projects.

The field needs more people with proper Geroscience training in it. The current interest in the space should yield dividends but it will take 5-8 years for the talent pool to deepen.

The field of aging is limited by the quality of its resources and reagents. Higher quality reagents are desperately needed. Furthermore, more integration is needed for the analysis of big data in aging to parse out the wheat from the chaff.

A deeper talent pool with broad exposure and training in Geroscience would be of immense benefit to myself and others.

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Other (specify)

Reagent and resource development.

Investing in these areas will build a broad and deep knowledge base and tools that would benefit the community at large, leading to a shortened discovery/development cycle.

Until my Healthspan runs out.

As long as healthy

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Metformin supplementation,NAD targeting therapies,Plasma/blood based therapies,Rapamycin supplementation,Senolytics,Sirtuin targeting therapies,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

nonprofit program builder

the fragmentation/lack of interconnection in the aging field

my network

resources (especially time)

since the aging field is new, there's not much interconnection, and so there are lots of small pockets of people who are weakly--if at all--connected with other groups of people in the field. this makes it hard for us to find them, for them to find us, and for information and opportunities to circulate more generally. it also, i suspect, decreases retention for the field, as the level of difficulty in finding community and building peer relationships is too high for many who end up being dispirited and leave

i moved into the aging field with literally 0 aging people (that I know of) in my network. i've had to build a network from scratch, and it's going well, but it's taken longer than i expected--partially due to the first bottleneck

i meet a lot of people that i can help--even with my network being in a pretty nascent state. but i often don't have the resources (especially time & energy) to help. and helping them would go a long way in building a relationship and building trust with them so they can help us

one interesting example of this: groups researching biology of aging around the world who are extremely loosely--if at all--connected to the field that's coalescing now. there are probably 7-10 different groups at the University of Sao Paulo studying biology of aging, and I'm connected with the right people there.

my pretty nonscientific hypothesis is that if i were able to integrate them into the field by making introductions to peers, mentors, and funders AND could give them even a pretty small amount of $, there could be significant downstream positive effects.

to illustrate a piece of that... one of my candidates for Talent Bridge is about to finish her PhD at perhaps the most prestigious research institute in Brazil. she has won 5 scholarships and awards. has clear star potential to everyone who knows her. but she has ZERO first author publications due to lack of resources.

not only does this mean we do not benefit from what could be good research, but it also means she doesn't build experience and credibility and won't be able to move forward in her career. it makes it harder for us to help her relocate to the US. and odds are, she won't contribute much to the world nearly as much as she is capable of.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm),Other (specify)

Tool building (probably fits under another category, but I think deserves specificity)

Does continuous good health entail continuous good mental health? If I can sustain happiness and wellbeing, I don't see why I'd want to stop living.

As long as healthy

Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

long term stability

mouse lifespan experiments take ~30 month

longer term grants that would give me time

establishing of gold standards of how to measure aging which then will allow the development of faster and easier methods that give the same result

there is no general agreed framework on what aging is

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions)

Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Resources for collaboration

No specialised funding for ageing in the UK - no NIA equivalent

No easy way to get joint funding

Fundamental disconnect for most academics between bench and clinic

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Genetic medicine (gene therapies/editing),Senolytics,Telomere extending therapies,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Drug development expertise

Target validation

Academic labs studying aging do not know how to develop drugs.

Relatively few validated aging targets.

Many papers in the space are not reproducible.

Quality assurance in academic centers.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm),Other (specify)

Quality assurance in academic centers

Indefinite

Indefinitely

Senolytics

Yes, I consent

Lack of effective user interfaces/packaging for ML/Data Science Software

Insufficient data analysis leading to erroneous spend

Experts in our field with the most experience are generally from older generations, and cannot set up environments/utilize CLI software out of the box. This leads to a severe underutilization of the most effective tools that are out there, so that 1. data analysis is never done effectively, 2. experiments are not designed with a data-first mindset initially (as the endpoint remains qualitative). Furthermore, even with CLI-competent users, sometimes, setting up the environment is impossible and therefore the tool is never used.

Modern data analysis techniques can elicit if targets either slow aging, or reduce all-cause mortality at all ages but do not slow the rate, i.e. : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34515-y

Many therapeutics are mislabeled as anti-aging, with a ton of $$ spend dedicated to these dead-ends. Better data analysis, data-first thinking, and talk between data scientists and biologists could ameliorate this problem.

Mostly in senescence work, a majority of the body of literature is not reproducible

More frontend work to enable use of software by more biologists

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

As long as I still feel like living -- likely over 1000.

As long as healthy

Yes, I consent

Length of experimental observation required to determine effect of a treatment.

Difficulty and cost of clinical development of anti-ageing treatments.

Lack of agreed criteria for, and difficulty of objectively determiing healthpsan.

Accurate, easy and inexpensive cross-species biomarker for biological age.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Indefinitely

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Genetic medicine (gene therapies/editing),Stem cell therapies,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

I need collaborators

I dropped out of school to start a software business that I have since sold. For this reason, I do not lack finances or freedom, but have trouble getting my ideas out through standard academic mediums.

I am in the midwest. I suspect this would be less of an issue if I moved to one of the coasts.

More pipelines for independent research to impact the space. I think there are alot of people like me from non-academic backgrounds that are doing this type of work in silos and the field would benefit from there being mediums through which to present the ways that people outside of academia and even industry biotech are thinking about aging..

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Other (specify)

More things like Impetus Grants, more open source tools

Tools and funding for people outside of ivory towers to contribute.

~150-200

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Metformin supplementation,Senolytics,Sirtuin targeting therapies,Somatic reprogramming,Other 1 (specify),Other 2 (specify)

Top down control models

Yes, I consent

I'm working in Alzheimer's and Dementia and there is still a lot of stigma associated with the disease which results in lack of diagnoses and limited possibility for interventions, participation in trials, etc

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Mammalian validation

Misalignment between academic grant funding and publication pressure with discovery science.

Mouse studies are costly and slow. Lack of translational model systems to validate interventions in mammalian systems.

A large inflow of resources spread across multiple approaches is necessary to meaningfully accelerate longevity biotechnology.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

As long as possible

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

combination of beauracratic system that is gamed, implicit/explicit bias and anti-basic research bias

this may not be specific to science

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions)

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Genetic medicine (gene therapies/editing),Metformin supplementation,Microbiome replacement,NAD targeting therapies,Rapamycin supplementation,Senolytics,Sirtuin targeting therapies,Other 1 (specify),Other 2 (specify),Other 3 (specifiy)

nutrient signaling

mitochondrial aging

basic biology of aging

Yes, I consent

Leaving my current non aging related career

Lack of time to plan career move, salary paycut, relocation to the bay area

Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Longevity treatments must be found and then permitted. Laws are downstream from public support, and currently the speed of discovery would benefit from improvement in tools and methods the most.

indefinitely

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

pitching a non-product

they want more data, we need a partner to generate more data, feedback loop

we're a discovery platform, it's hard to pitch to investors when you don't have a consumer-ready product yet; it's hard to explain to researchers that we are vertically integrated (from lab to analysis)

we have organic growth, but people drop into the healthcare system once issues arise, so it's hard to grow our following with early-diagnosed autoimmune patients

would be great if one site like AcademicLabs could show you all biopharma by their preclinical pipelines, specifically the indications and targets/pathways of interest, to help us tailor our pitches

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

more longitudinal sampling and individual baselining makes for more robust datasets. We need to achieve this if we want it to truly pay off in silico

maybe 90s? Depends on a lot of factors

Calory restriction/dietary approaches

Yes, I consent

Public understanding

Big Pharma and small companies working together

The field seems to be relatively ignored, imo. Aging is very much a system-wide process, while most approaches seem to be piecemeal - and many promising new drugs fail, because they didn't adequately take system-wide interactions into account

The public at large is still painfully unaware of recent advances in Longevity Science - in 2020, even my coworkers at a large pharma were incredibly ignorant! (at least until their CSO resigned, and became CEO of Altos Labs!!)

I like to make the analogy of NASA + SpaceX

My work is in Systems Bio modeling, and I turned it into an open-source project, Life123.science . Funding and more collaborators would make a difference

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions)

Presumably indefinite...

Indefinitely

Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Biotech researcher,Data scientist/Software engineer,Entrepreneur,Executive,Science communicator

Cheaper and more clinical trials

Aging is very underfunded and we are in a recession so VC is particularly hard to raise right now. Also the process of raising capital is super time consuming and inefficient.

Clinical trials cost $2B. That means we can't run many of them. We need safe and thorough ways to run cheaper trials.

I need a clone of myself

100X the VC funding to longevity startups and make it much easier to get warm intros to well matched VCs.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

indefinitely

Indefinitely

Genetic medicine (gene therapies/editing),Other 1 (specify),Other 2 (specify)

Aging clocks

Yes, I consent

Challenges in technology development

Finding applications for technology that hasn't been developed yet

Our goal is to develop new technologies. There are lots of challenges to overcome.

We think our technology can help understand aging, but it will need to be proven.

Finding the right people with both technical skills and culture fit.

I think there can be an improvement around social perception of aging and futuristic technologies. Some topics are still thought of as taboo and makes it difficult to attract people and funding in the space.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions)

There's been a lot of research in longevity but a bottleneck is that none have made it into a real product. Without actual results, the field will have difficulty gaining traction.

indefinitely

Indefinitely

Calory restriction/dietary approaches

Yes, I consent

Limited funding

Lack of clarity on FDA regulatory process for aging drugs

Special FDA Regulatory group for aging focussed clinical trial

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

I want blow my 100th birthday candle

Yes, I consent

Anti aging perceived as a wish not based in reality

Health claims for experimental technologies prohibited

Requires critical mass of adoption to amortize COGS

Deregulation of experimental technologies via the equivalent of the “ accredited investor “ option for early adopters who accept extreme high risk of experimental technologies.

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm),Other (specify)

Integration of diet , supplements , pharma and lifest

Leave no stone unturned

Until I no longer see a purpose to see tomorrow

As long as healthy

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Genetic medicine (gene therapies/editing),Microbiome replacement,NAD targeting therapies,Plasma/blood based therapies,Senolytics,Telomere extending therapies,Other 1 (specify),Other 2 (specify),Other 3 (specifiy)

Mitochondrial metabolism optimization

Cross linking glycation reversal

Epigenomic reprogramming

Yes, I consent

I believe there is a lack of funding in areas of science that are not 'hot-topics.' While I'm not working directly in academia or industry, I've noticed that funding continues to be an issue.

I believe it's because under-focused topics seem more risky as investments.

Most of biotech still features PhDs and older-executives at the helm, and while I believe more experience is certainly important for a complex field such as biology, I wonder if there are other ways of showing 'scientific-capability' without having to do a PhD or MD.

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

While the scientific community seems divided, I do believe there is a strong body of evidence to support telomere attrition and epigenetic dysfunction as basic drivers of aging. There is already a lot of research to support this and it really just needs to be translated - which is a far trickier problem IMO than justifying the case for telomeres/epigenetics. Translational work should ideally be done with a supportive government body - so lobbying and raising awareness is still important in order to bring funding to the field.

As long as possible.

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Too few people care about aging

Not enough money

Aging clocks are too noisy

Even though we as an industry are doing a better job than we used to, the scale is not there

Again it is way better than it is used to be, but we would need way more to do meaningful progress and test a variety of approaches

It is not a problem per se, but now the DNAm and other clocks are being positioned as a tool for personal use, which they are clearly not (because of high noise). This can be a detriment to the industry

I think more people caring about aging will drive more of everything else

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Calory restriction/dietary approaches

Yes, I consent

Difficulties in getting funding for whole animal physiology research

Limited number of potential collaborators at my institution

Age-related decline in ability and willingness to "push"

Close collaboration with labs/individuals using modern cutting edge molecular, genetic and statistical approaches

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Other (specify)

Greater understanding/acceptance of the fact that while aging is modifiable, extended longevity involves trade-offs

As long as I am reasonably healthy and functional

As long as healthy

Calory restriction/dietary approaches,Other 1 (specify)

Yes, I consent

Models that can capture human aging

Limitation of using multiple inputs at the same time in existing models

We need to look at the 99% of the genome that doesn't code for protein

Mouse, worms or fly models are not ideal

Human aging is a complex process that is affected by many environmental and internal conditions

We haven't gotten anywhere just looking at the protein-coding genes.

At this point, we need to start studying various organism with different lifespan and see why certain organism live longer and what maybe causing it. We need to integrate all kind of "omics" study and beyond.

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

600 years

Yes, I consent

Lack of consensus on fundamentals of aging

Lack of quality datasets, specifically large-scale, longitudinal human aging datasets.

We need to better connect the computational aging biologists to the "wet lab" aging biologists. These communities have diverse skill sets that could be better combined to achieve more synergy in aging research.

We do not understand what aging *is*, biologically. I think this is the single greatest bottleneck in the aging research community. Different people have differing conceptions of what aging is, and so many potentially fruitful discussions among researchers are stifled because of the lack of agreement on what aging is and isn't.

We need quality datasets to understand what is actually going on during the aging process. I think the focus for both animal and human researchers needs to turn to generation of high-quality, highly resolved, longitudinal datasets of individuals followed over the whole life course. The Dunedin study is a very good model for what we need more of.

This is partially related to my 2nd bottleneck: computational people need better data to be generated by experimental people, experimental people need to better design their studies to be more useful to computational people.

A consensus on the biological nature of aging

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Media (disseminating information),Outreach (building public support for longevity interventions)

1. I do not believe the broader society understands aging research, or even that aging can be targeted therapeutically. More outreach by "legitimate" scientists in media/society can help to get the message out and rally support from the public. I think this is a prerequisite for policy/government progress. 2. Data collection is an extremely important parallel immediate goal for the reasons mentioned earlier in the survey.

At least 100 years in decent health, and of course more if health/independence could be maintained.

As long as healthy

Yes, I consent

Public awareness of potential

Finance directed at aging diseases oblivious to underlying common biology of aging

Lack of credible source intro plus Fear of getting hope up

Continuing as was

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Media (disseminating information),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)

Dont understand the question. If in good health the answer is as long as that remains

As long as healthy

Yes, I consent

Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Computational modeling (development of in silico aging models that can make useful predictions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Key is to normalize aging research and have demonstrable breakthroughs, even if small.

300-500 years and then be uploaded

Yes, I consent

Automation of previously done methods.

So many things in the cell culture lab, mouse lab, and computational modeling are done before and repetitive and should be automated by robotics or AI, or other solutions.

Intelligent robotics to automate things.

Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps),Other (specify)

Indefinite youth

As long as healthy

Yes, I consent

Healthspan focused physician

Limited public embrace

Commercialization/Clinical translation (turning lab demonstrated interventions into therapies),Policy (governmental lobbying and policymaking on funding and healthcare changes to drive development of longevity interventions),Technology development (targeted solving of technological capability gaps)

Indefinitely

Indefinitely

Yes, I consent

Sustainable funding for research

Tiny/short foundation/philanthropic organization grants and larger NIH grants miss the mark. If you want to make a real impact, find a way to generate SUSTAINABLE funding for research. Huge time and effort wasted on applying for patchwork funding. Happy to elaborate this is a big focus of my own philanthropic work.

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications)

You missed something above -- academic research does not need to be only for publications. It should be for DISCOVERY, but our current funding models do not allow true risk-taking and discovery based science. The incentives are broken. None of the items above 'academic research' in your list are possible without the discoveries.

Yes, I consent

Identify a reliable Biomarker

Estimate the efficacy and the safety of treatments

The agin process is very noisy so biomarkers are most of the times not robust enough

The phenotype are often confounding

Academic research (standard hypothesis driven science for publications),Big Data collection (large scale, empirical - ex multiomic biobanks),Regulatory reform (shifting the FDA to an aging/longevity paradigm)