Free Radicals

Interviewing visionaries giving humanity control over biology. All problems are solvable, including aging and death. Hosted by @teleodaniel & @EricDai_BioE.

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Free Radicals is back! Today’s guest is @ElliotHershberg, partner at @AmplifyPartners and author of the popular blog Century of Biology.

We talk about GLP-1s as a breakthrough moment for biotech, why drug development is starting to behave like software, and how falling discovery costs could finally free biotech startups from selling themselves to pharma.

Other topics include Elliot’s "massive markets, medium prices" thesis, the rise of consumer and "n-of-one" medicine, and Sid Sijbrandij @sytses going founder mode on his own cancer.

Thank you to @SynBioBeta for hosting us at their conference, where we recorded this episode, and several others we’ll be releasing soon!

Follow me, @FreeRadicalsBio & @EricDai_BioE for weekly episodes with leaders in biotech and longevity.

0:00 Intro
2:12 What era of biotech are we in?
3:58 GLP-1s: the once-in-a-generation breakthrough
7:04 Inside Lilly's trillion-dollar valuation
9:09 The Gillette Era of GLP1s
9:54 The Bryan Johnson Era of Biotech: Biohacking goes mainstream
12:55 The $1T question on Consumer Biotech
14:33 Patent cliffs, fast followers, and building for "me-last" therapies
18:20 Disintermediating pharma: HIMS, Loyal, and the standalone biotech
19:41 Why do biotechs sell to pharma in the first place?
23:03 Longevity: a science problem or an ecosystem-alignment problem?
27:14 Why GLP-1s came from pharma
29:52 Why Elliot is Bullish on Standalone Biotechs
33:03 Is Drug Development Becoming more like Software? Not if upside is capped at <$10B
41:30 The geroscience hypothesis and longevity as massive markets, medium prices
45:36 Treating age related diseases or aging as an indication
47:55 How do you value curing aging?

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

New episodes of @FreeRadicalsBio will be on pause until May 26th because we’re taking our show on the road!

This week we’re at @SynBioBeta. Next week @VitalistBay. We’ll be recording conversations with some amazing leaders in AI and Bio at these conferences!

We’ll be back to our regular weekly episodes soon.

And on a personal note this is the first time I’ve ever been at an event as a member of the press

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

“You’re born, you grow up, you have a career, and then you get older and then you die. And that's just like the acceptable plan. Even if the plan is horrible… as long as we're going to plan, everybody goes along with it.”

@realNathanCheng is one of the most prolific activists in the longevity field. He argues that aging, decline and death are not really a great plan, even if it's the way things work today. He has dedicated his life and career to finding us a new plan.

Follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech!

0:00 Intro
2:35 Why did Nathan dedicate his life to defeating aging & death? (And the absurdity of asking that question)
8:59 Why has Daniel been on the fence, despite being longevity-pilled
14:09 The agency and bravery of founders to tackle the hardest problems (like aging)
18:46 Many ways to contribute to longevity besides entrepreneurship
19:41 Is longevity underinvested into?
24:48 What does it mean to treat aging itself as the issue (vs other diseases)
32:23 Do we need more scientific arguments, or philosophical arguments?
39:50 Nathan’s experience longevity-pilling influential people
47:03 Billionaire paradox
53:18 The challenge in going from viewing aging as inevitable to malleable
57:29 What needs to change about our culture to save us from aging & death
1:16:55 Should we be intolerant of pro-death & pro-aging views?
1:22:59 Join us at Vitalist Bay!

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Thanks to AI, this century will be marked by an abundance of discoveries in biology.

Today’s guest on the @FreeRadicalsBio podcast is @KexinHuang5, one of the brightest minds in AI for life sciences.

Kexin recently raised $13.5M from @a16z and @MenloVentures Anthology Fund in partnership with @AnthropicAI, to build @phylo_bio - a research lab studying agentic biology.

Listen to learn how AI will make the dream of a one-man biotech reality within 10 years, how AI can unveil discoveries hidden in existing data, and much more.

Be sure to follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech!

0:00 Intro
2:47 Phylo’s vision to transform how biologist work
6:35 Phylo’s research areas
12:48 Why it’s harder for AI to do biology rather than software, and how to get around that
18:05 Building a virtual cell is a data problem
22:31 What it means for a biotech to go fully AI-native
27:26 The role of a human scientist & the importance of taste
32:22 Experiments in teaching AI scientific taste
36:57 How agents are transforming biology
42:53 The dream of the one-man biotech
47:21 How AI agents can find low hanging fruit through indication expansion
51:51 Can AI agents inflect biotech progress to give us radical life extension?
1:00:47 POPPER model for hypothesis validation
1:04:17 AI research institutes

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Two young Harvard professors are coming for the supplements industry.

@omarabudayyeh and @jgooten run a joint lab at @harvardmed, have co-founded 4 biotechs, and raised over $300M to develop genetic medicines and diagnostics.

But what surprised me most: they think like consumer tech founders, not academics. They start with what people actually want and work backwards from there.

And best of all? They’re totally longevity-pilled. Consumers want to feel younger and healthier, and big pharma is waking up to it.

In this week’s episode of the Free Radicals podcast, we discuss the biology of aging, the future of longevity therapeutics, and how Harvard can bring legitimacy to the supplements industry.

One of my favorite episodes yet.

Be sure to follow me, @EricDai_BioE and @FreeRadicalsBio to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech!

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Have you thought about the politics of longevity?

Today’s guest on the @FreeRadicalsBio podcast is Dylan Livingston (@dullunlivin), the 28 year old founder of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives @theA4LI.

Dylan created America’s first and only lobbying group focused on advancing longevity initiatives in Washington DC.

Since its founding, A4LI has created a longevity caucus composed of 8 congresspeople, and hosted leaders like Dr. Oz, Newt Gingrich and @mkaeberlein at their summits. A4LI also played a key role in garnering bipartisan support to advance Montana’s Right to Try legislation, which expands the right for consenting patients to utilize safe experimental medicines in Montana.

In this episode, we discuss how Dylan gets bipartisan support for healthy life extension initiatives, what it’s like selling politicians on longevity, and A4LI’s role in accelerating longevity towards its ChatGPT moment.

Follow me and @EricDai_BioE for weekly episodes about longevity biotech!

0:00 Intro
1:52 Origin story of the first longevity lobby
10:30 State of government support for longevity
14:49 Trump administration’s view on longevity
17:30 The unique policy needs of longevity biotech
23:42 A4LI’s success with right to try
30:30 Why lobbying is so effective for accelerating longevity
34:32 Case for optimism in longevity & the need for more investment
40:04 What arguments resonate with congresspeople
49:23 Bryan Johnson’s impact on the perception of longevity
52:15 Who are the most important people to influence

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Today’s guest on the Free Radicals podcast is @M_S_Ringel, COO @lifebiosciences and former Managing Director at @BCG.

Michael is a leader in longevity and pharma who spent 25+ years advising top pharma companies on their R&D strategy. He is now COO at Life Biosciences where he is bringing the first ever partial epigenetic reprogramming therapy to human clinical trials - a major milestone for the longevity industry.

In this episode, we discuss Michael’s insightful paper on why aging is an optimization by evolution, why that means it’s malleable, and how to push the longevity field forward.

Michael also sits on the US board of @hevolution_f and on the board of the @AFARorg.

Be sure to follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech!

0:00 Intro
2:30 Why aging is an optimization by evolution
15:10 Why scientists miss the role of evolution in aging
19:31 Evidence that aging is a regulated process
24:40 Hormesis and adaptive stress responses
28:55 The promise of partial epigenetic reprogramming in humans
35:08 Life Bio's first therapy proceeding to clinical trials
47:47 Why targeting the eye, particularly glaucoma and NION, is a strategic choice
52:03 The pharma industry's perspective on anti-aging research
56:39 The importance of public engagement for funding and policy change
1:05:42 Reasons for optimism in longevity
1:08:26 Advice on how to have an impactful and interdisciplinary career
1:11:54 The ethical case for longevity
1:17:34 Concrete steps for audience members to support longevity research

[José Luis Ricón Fernández de la Puente @ArtirKel]

I have recorded a bunch of podcasts, but this last one is my favorite one so far. We talked about longevity, but also many of my other niche interests
https://t.co/ffQf1nxtJn

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Today’s guest on the Free Radicals podcast is @ArtirKel, head of theory @RetroBio_ and blogger https://t.co/b7CdZZqt9D.

Jose is a prolific blogger, covering a wide breadth of topics across economics, philosophy, progress studies, science funding, much more, and of course longevity. His works have been published by @a16z, @WorksInProgMag and @ASI.

Our conversation is wide ranging, spanning a deep dive on Retro’s work to replace and engineer microglia to rejuvenate the brain and how our cells have the ability to turn back the aging clock but choose not to. We also covered the technological stagnation and why biological engineering is the new frontier of progress, as well as philosophical topics like transhumanism and how a future of total biological control might impact our values and way of life.

Be sure to follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech! And Special thank you to @NFX & @omri_drory for lending us their beautiful podcasting studio!

0:00 Intro
2:49 What is aging & why cells have a tough choice to make
9:02 When cells choose to reverse aging themselves
12:43 Cellular vs Organismal Aging & the magic wand experiment
18:31 What is reprogramming
22:40 How reprogramming plays a role in DNA damage repair
25:42 Do we already know how to cure aging? FOXO3!
28:37 How to cut through the complexity of interconnected biology
32:32 Why transcription factors are so great for intervening
36:49 Does a rejuvenation program exist already in the genome
38:51 Michael Levin: from thinking in terms of genes to morphogenesis
48:14 Tech stagnation and why physics is cooked
55:03 Why doesn't the world look more futuristic
57:26 Transhumanism & asking ourselves what we want out of life
1:05:34 Do we need war for technological progress
1:09:31 Government role in science funding
1:15:06 How Jose became the Head of Theory at Retro
1:24:53 How AI might put software engineers out of a job, and push them towards biotech
1:27:28 What it takes to get a flywheel in biotech
1:29:04 Rejuvenation vs Prevention
1:34:23 Aging is the coolest hardest problem to work on
1:36:09 What does it take to cure aging
1:42:25 Delivery mechanisms for genetic therapies
1:48:53 Retro's work to replace microglia and engineer them outside the body
1:59:10 Consciousness
2:00:39 Jose's Origin Story

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Today’s guest on the Free Radicals podcast is @ricomnl, head of applied AI @retrobio_.

Retro was seeded with $180M by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to develop therapies to prevent and reverse age-related disease, and is widely recognized as one of the leading AI for longevity companies.

This was a fun conversation about Retro’s work with OpenAI to engineer 50x more efficient Yamanaka factors in a matter of months, what it means to build foundation models that can reason across natural language and protein sequence, and why the bottlenecks in biology are more experimental than computational. We also get into the biology of aging and how AI can enable therapies that dramatically advance healthy lifespan.

Be sure to follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech! And Special thank you to @NFX & @omri_drory for lending us their beautiful podcasting studio!

0:00 Intro
1:42 Engineering transcription factors for more efficient reprogramming
19:02 How protein models are used
30:40 Exciting developments in protein engineering
36:20 Challenges in predicting protein behavior
39:38 Do scaling laws apply to protein models?
43:41 How these models are useful for longevity
56:15 Existing pathways for damage repair in the body
1:03:07 Will superintelligence solve aging for us?

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Today’s guest on the Free Radicals podcast is Christopher Bradley, founder of @matterbio.

Christopher is a serial entrepreneur who has dedicated himself to solving aging after his last startup Mana Health was acquired by NBC Universal. His company Matter Bio is developing therapies to enhance DNA damage repair to slow the rate of aging, and to treat cancer through novel bacterial delivery mechanisms. They've raised over $9M for this purpose from investors including Lifespan Vision Ventures and @quadrascope.

In today’s conversation we discuss the theory of aging as information loss, which Chris contends is primarily mediated through DNA damage, how to unlock new approaches for longevity through large scale genomics studies, and the evolving business of biotech.

Be sure to follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech!

Special thank you to @NFX & @omri_drory
for lending us their beautiful podcasting studio!

0:00 Intro
2:13 Largest study ever of genes for longevity
06:49 DNA damage as a driver of aging
14:10 Counter-arguments against the DNA thesis
25:16 Cancer isn't aging
27:53 How Matter Bio is targeting DNA damage to extend lifespan
35:15 Stem cell therapies
41:03 Different pathways for managing DNA damage
50:28 Sex ed (or what we can learn from germline rejuvenation)
55:14 What to expect from Matter Bio in the future
57:36 How to make longevity therapies as visual as rocket launches
1:00:35 The business of biotech
1:06:47 The importance of longevity as a moonshot
1:09:31 Sequencing techniques
1:12:02 What is it like working with co-founder George Church
1:16:02 Navigating the volatile industry of biotech

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Today’s guest on the Free Radicals podcast is @RaianyRomanni. Raiany is a Harvard and Brown-trained bioethicist focused on understanding why secular people like to narrate death and aging as good things, and quantifying the economic impacts of such narratives.

Our conversation focuses on the ethics and economics of longevity. Listen to hear the moral case for delaying aging, why it’s not a “luxury problem” and much more!

More info on Raiany: she worked with legends like George Church and Steven Pinker on her PhD, and also played a central role in designing the $101 million dollar XPRIZE for Healthspan, the largest science prize ever awarded. She is the founder of a new think tank designed to study and streamline progress in America’s science and technology, and most recently published a paper demonstrating that delaying overall biological aging by just one year could yield $27 trillion dollars in net present value.

Be sure to follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech!

0:00 Intro
2:44 Daniel and Eric discuss their takeaways
8:35 Raiany explains the economic impact of longevity
13:08 The connection between ethics and economics
17:20 The importance and failures of bioethics in the modern age
20:28 Objection to longevity #1: nature knows best
25:07 Are the pharma companies heroes or villains?
29:31 Objection to longevity #2: overpopulations
30:20 Objection to longevity #3: vampire billionaires and tyrants
30:20 Objection to longevity #4: vampire billionaires and tyrant
31:52 Objection to longevity #5: cultural stagnation
33:28 The importance of human agency
41:01 How to influence the culture and policy
46:30 Objection to longevity #6: longevity is full of snake oil salesmen
49:20 US-China and the race to longevity
52:43 Evidence that aging is malleable
58:00 Eric and Daniel open up about their relationships
1:02:48 Is longevity a “luxury problem”?
1:06:21 The greatest crisis facing our generation

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

So excited to host @MartinBJensen on this week's episode the Free Radicals podcast!

As the co-founder and CSO of @GordianBio, Martin has raised over $60M from top investors like @foundersfund , @HorizonsHK , @fiftyyears and The Longevity Fund, to revolutionize testing of therapeutics and targets at scale. Gordian also recently announced a partnership with @pfizer!

Martin is also a prominent voice in longevity, and as the founder of @NornGroup he has also made countless contributions to the field more broadly, including through @impetusgrants.

In this episode, Martin shares his insightful thoughts on the longevity field broadly, and also deep dives into Gordian's technology. This was a fun, wide ranging episode.

Be sure to follow me and @EricDai_BioE to stay up to date on the latest news in longevity biotech! And special thank you to @NFX & @omri_drory for lending us their beautiful podcasting studio!

0:00 Intro
03:27 Where is the longevity field today and are we on track to cure aging in our lifetimes?
14:25 Is longevity truly different from other areas of biotechnology?
16:07 What is aging?
22:13 An aging body is like a company that’s developed toxic bureacracy
26:46 Gordian’s approach to tackling aging
45:09 Will scale alone solve biology?
49:08 What data would superintelligent AI need to cure aging?
54:00 Unified theory of aging or biology
59:26 What understudied areas in aging deserve more attention?
1:02:23 How does loss of cellular identity relate to aging and disease?
1:10:07 Why are there no trillion-dollar biotechs and what would it take to create one?
1:17:32 What are the key components needed for a biotech flywheel?
1:21:43 How can biotech companies de-risk clinical development?
1:37:02 What is Norn Group and what problems does it address?
1:43:58 What opportunities exist for individuals to impact the aging field?

[Norn Group @NornGroup]

How do we unlock faith in the longevity field? @MartinBJensen:

"$250 billion for biomedical R&D per year in the US or $400 billion globally. Aging field globally is like $1 billion. So it's less than 1% of biomedical R&D. That's very low for something that is the primary risk factor for most of those diseases. Why is it low? Because nobody thinks it's going to work."

But that’s starting to change.

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

For our 10th episode of the Free Radicals podcast, @EricDai_BioE and I are excited to host @KarlPfleger

After a decade as one of the first AI researchers at Google from 2002 to 2011, Karl dedicated himself to the cause of rejuvenation biotechnology.

He is a philanthropist, community builder, and prolific angel investor with over 35 investments into rejuvenation biotech startups. His website, https://t.co/mIBZinQQ94, provides valuable information to the entire field, and his talks and X posts are highly insightful and influential within longevity.

Karl has deeply researched and nuanced takes, and those really show in this conversation. We cover why epigenetic reprogramming won’t solve aging, Karl’s investment strategy, what distinguishes true rejuvenation technology, why better diagnostic technologies could be the key to personalized aging interventions, and much more.

Special thank you to @NFX & @omri_drory for lending us their beautiful podcasting studio!

0:00 Intro
1:56 Peter Attia and defining longevity
8:37 What is aging?
12:41 Wear and tear vs programmed obsolescence
16:12 Which molecular mechanism of aging do we have the most control over?
19:29 Does partial reprogramming solve the whole aging problem?
25:23 How to identify truly rejuvenating therapies
32:35 The role of AI and good screening technologies
37:03 Do we understand the mechanisms of aging well enough to intervene?
38:39 Will there be a longevity tipping point?
44:51 Karl's investment strategy for aging biotech
52:21 Senolytics
1:01:33 Misfolded protein clearance & mitochondrial transplantation
1:08:21 Sauna & parabiosis (not combined)
1:15:54 Stem cell therapies
1:22:02 Karl's research process & formal techniques for evaluating arguments
1:28:55 The successes of the geroscience paradigm
1:34:13 Diagnostic bottlenecks

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

This week, we are excited to welcome @dives86 onto the Free Radicals podcast!

Dr. Daniel Ives is the founder of @ShiftBioscience. Shift has built a novel single-cell aging clock that has enabled them to run high-throughput screens to discover genes that regulate aging, with the goal of identifying a therapy to systemically reverse aging. They’ve raised $16M from investors like Business Growth Fund, @FPrimeCapital, and @Kindred_VC to pursue this mission.

In this episode, we discuss Shift’s formation and their approach, and dive deep into two promising targets they’ve discovered, as well as the coming cultural shift when anti-aging drugs become mundane reality.

Be sure to follow @FreeRadicalsBio and @EricDai_BioE for weekly episodes about longevity biotech!

0:00 Intro
1:37 Deciding to work on aging
5:52 Origins of Shift Bioscience
9:54 Role of mitochondria in aging
13:03 Aging clocks & the meeting that led to XPRIZE Healthspan
18:11 Cracking the single cell aging clock
21:45 The accuracy and role of aging clocks
27:28 A single gene that reverses cellular age
36:59 Engineering small molecules for age reversal
43:07 How virtual cells accelerate scientific progress
49:55 From virtual cell to virtual human?
56:54 Asking the right questions
01:07:57 Backup plans
01:10:43 Lightning round

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

On this week's episode of the Free Radicals podcast, we are excited to host @NFX GP Dr. @omri_drory.

Omri leads NFX Bio, and has backed iconic companies like @mammothbiosci, C2i Genomics and @centivax. His mission in life is to end involuntary death, and he has deployed large amounts of capital and effort towards that mission.

I hope you enjoy this episode! And be sure to follow @FreeRadicalsBio & co-host @EricDai_BioE for weekly episodes!

0:00 Intro
1:47 Longevity can save America
6:05 Sci-fi and cultural negativity around longevity
11:28 Brain computer interfaces and an optimistic future
15:14 The race to 160 and reasons to believe in the future
20:42 ABCD plan to end death
24:23 Noticing when the tech tree is unlocked
28:54 Bottlenecks to longevity
33:09 Genetic engineering
35:04 Sci-Fi futures & the singularity
38:28 Why AI won’t solve everything for us (or why there’s still biology work to do)
48:08 Technologies to accelerate biotech into the clinic
53:21 Why biology is akin to alien technology
59:38 Most exciting work being done in biology
1:04:21 Advice on how to contribute to longevity
1:08:40 Sources of differentiation
1:16:11 Lightning round

[Eric Dai @EricDai_BioE]

@teleodaniel and I are excited to host @NFX GP Dr. @omri_drory for this week’s episode of @FreeRadicalsBio!

Omri is a scientist, operator, and investor who has founded, scaled, and backed some of today's most important techbio and longevity companies.

Before becoming an investor, Omri was the founding CEO of Genome Compiler, which develops software for genetic engineers and molecular and synthetic biologists. He led the company to a successful acquisition by @TwistBioscience , a next-generation DNA synthesis company currently valued at $2.5 billion.

As a founding partner at TechBio and GP at NFX, Omri has backed iconic companies like @mammothbiosci, C2i Genomics and @centivax.

This conversation was supremely energizing and is a must listen episode for anyone interested in AI and longevity.

[Eric Dai @EricDai_BioE]

@FreeRadicalsBio is back for 2026! @teleodaniel and I are thrilled to host @jacobkimmel
on our first episode of the year.

Dr. Jacob Kimmel is the Co-Founder and President of @newlimit. He co-founded NewLimit with @byersblake and @brian_armstrong, and has since raised over $300M from top venture capital funds like @_DimensionCap, @kleinerperkins,
@foundersfund, and @khoslaventures.

We chat with Jacob about why we age, what predictive biology is, how high quality data will unlock exponential takeoff in biological engineering, and why he avoids using the term longevity escape velocity.

Dr. Kimmel has garnered a reputation as one of the brightest minds in longevity and the intersection between artificial intelligence and molecular biology.
This is a must listen episode.

Listen to the full episode here or in the replies. And subscribe for weekly episodes!

0:00 Intro
2:40 What is aging and why do we age
8:04 Epigenome as most validated layer for molecular regulation of aging
10:08 Germline rejuvenation (how nature makes young organisms from old ones)
14:40 Creating synthetic transcription factors
17:24 Where the information for youthful function is stored
18:55 DNA damage as an overrated driver of aging
23:46 NewLimit’s therapeutic programs & the Predictive Biology revolution
33:30 Scaling laws in biology and the early signs of a race towards biology’s own ChatGPT moment
41:12 Bottlenecks to inflecting EROOM’s law
46:45 Drug delivery
51:03 Aging’s common mechanisms
58:22 Advice on studying biology
1:01:44 The topics Jacob finds most confusing
1:03:17 An idea in biology that most get wrong
1:05:31 What tools are we lacking in biology today?
1:08:36 Organ replacement
1:11:23 How to think about lifespan extension
1:14:12 Who is doing the most important work in radical life extension
1:16:00 Lightning round

[Daniel Shur @teleodaniel]

Happy new year from @FreeRadicalsBio! @EricDai_BioE and I will be back with episodes weekly again starting next week! We have many amazing guests lined up discussing the most exciting breakthroughs in longevity biotech.