What is longevity research? 

In a recent episode of The DeSci Podcast, we welcomed Krister Kauppi, founder Rapamycin Longevity Lab, and Dr Mitchell Lee, CEO and co-founder at Ora Biomedical. The conversation focused on two major themes: how to accelerate research in the longevity space and the potential of gamification and decentralized incentives to push longevity research forward.

Longevity, in its simplest form, refers to extending human healthspan — the period of life spent in good health. While much of modern medicine is focused on treating ailments, longevity research aims to target the root causes of aging. Traditional research is expensive, bureaucratic, and slow-moving in the best of circumstances, and this is particularly true in the longevity field. With people dying from old age every single day this slow rate of progress just won’t cut it. 

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The Wormbot

Enter Ora Biomedical and the Wormbot. The Wormbot is a low-cost, rapid experimental platform developed by Ora Biomedical, founded by Dr. Matt Kaeberlein and Dr. Mitchell Lee to inexpensively and efficiently test a large number of potential longevity regimens on C. elegans, a worm with an average lifespan of 20 days. This robotic system performs automatic population-level imaging, capturing worm survival, movement, interactions, and more on a scale that is exponentially larger than other labs,

“A single one of our worm bot platforms does the work of about five full-time research scientists.” Dr Mitchell Lee

When it comes to testing anti-aging compounds, there is a concept known as the ‘Longevity Trilema’ - systems need to be fast enough for multiple iterations, cheap enough to test many variations, and high quality enough that the data gathered is relevant. Given the Wormbot 20-day turnaround time, $100-per-run price tag, and the choice to use C.elegans, we’d say that the Wormbot solves the longevity trilemma.  Additionally, traditional science often follows a "one molecule" approach, testing a single compound from start to finish, which can take up to 15 years. In practice, however, we often end up using medications in combination, and these combinations can have both positive and negative effects. One of the exciting aspects of Wormbot is its ability to test various longevity "cocktails" efficiently.

“Our goal is to facilitate finding the best breakthrough, game-changing, disruptive interventions that extend healthy lifespan and fight the diseases associated with aging all at the same time.” Dr Mitchell Lee

Why choose to work on worms? 

Worms are actually able to tell us more than you think - 40% of their proteins are similar to ours. Interestingly enough the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2024 was granted to two researchers for their work on C.elegans, because the model organism was responsible for driving forward so many developments in healthcare. They are by no means a perfect match for humans, but they’re an excellent starting point for basic research. 

“At the end of the day, the things that drive aging are so highly evolutionarily conserved that the same things that drive aging in a worm drive aging in a human, in a companion pet, in a mouse.” Dr Mitchell Lee

Democratizing Science 

DeSci is a movement that leverages blockchain technology and decentralized networks to fund and coordinate scientific research. The concept rests on the idea of democratizing science — allowing anyone with an internet connection to contribute ideas, resources, and data to scientific experiments. This model is seen as a way to break free from the limitations of traditional funding systems and push the field forward faster. Additionally, DeSci allows for the creation of more open, transparent, and collaborative research models.

A core belief of Decentralized Science (DeSci) is that science should be accessible, with minimal barriers to participation and contribution. This belief is shared by the team at Ora Biomedical. They have launched the Million Molecule Challenge, where anyone in the world can choose to get involved in longevity research. 

“You can propose an idea and have an intervention tested. In terms of the enthusiasm and interest, this is really where we're seeing this incredibly exciting signal. People want to participate in science. They want to have this process demystified. They are not excited with the slow rate of progress that we're seeing. And there is an opportunity with our system to actually take the lead, accelerate, grab the reins of science. Let us be your scientific team, and we'll test your ideas. 

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At Molecule we’re big fans of the ‘hive-mind’ concept - the upside to sourcing ideas from a varied range of people is the ability to discover novel answers you never would’ve reached by yourself. 

“The interventions that have been sponsored by Citizen Science and the Million Molecule Challenge, I never would have thought to test. Nobody else on my team would have thought to test. People are bringing ideas and insights to the table that we would not have prioritized. So your ideas are important, critical, and this is a place for you to vet those hypotheses.” Dr Mitchell Lee

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Pump.science

We recently announced the vision for Pump Science at Solana Breakpoint:to create    focused on longevity compounds with the support of Ora Biomedical’s Wormbot. The ultimate goal of Pump.science is to  let anyone submit longevity regimen ideas (drug strategies) to be tested on the Wormbot (and soon - other experiments), own the intellectual property (IP), and stream the experiment results.

Here's how it will work:

1. Submit a regimen idea or back someone else's by buying tokens
2. Once the regimen reaches a certain market cap, the Wormbot experiment is run
3. Watch the experiment data stream as the regimen is tested on real worms
4. Buy tokens if you think the compounds can extend life and the regimen is valuable

The goal? Predict which treatments extend human lifespan.

To date, two compounds have launched on Pump Science (Rifampicin and Urolithin A). More compounds and additional experiement types will be launching soon. Follow Pump Science on X or join the Telegram for updates. 

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Why do we think gamification is the answer?

We’re all dopamine addicts at the end of the day, and games are your one-stop-shop for dopamine. Gamification refers to applying game design principles to non-game contexts to encourage engagement and participation. By introducing game mechanics such as rewards, leaderboards, or challenges, people feel a sense of competition and accomplishment, which drives more consistent participation and data collection.  Rather than being passive subjects, participants actively contribute and even make decisions that influence the direction of experiments.  Pump. science aims to rapidly accumulate and progress valuable data on aging and longevity, creating a feedback loop that accelerates the development of anti-aging interventions. 

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Hurdles faced by longevity researchers

While developments like the wormbot are primed to supercharge longevity research, we’d be remiss not to mention two of the primary hurdles that researchers come up against time and time again. 

1. Aging is not classified as a disease, which means the FDA does not approve clinical trials specifically aimed at combating it. The current interventions targeting aging on the market were largely discovered by accident—initially approved for treating specific diseases and later found to improve overall healthspan and lifespan. Another approach is to develop supplements, which can go directly to market without FDA approval, however, this has resulted in the market flooded with products with varying effectiveness. It is up to the supplement developers to hold an unwavering standards.
2. What do you measure as a proxy of aging? There is the challenge of choosing biomarkers that are highly predictive of biological aging. For something as systemic as aging there isn’t one single pathway that you can measure and then conclude that lifespan will be improved. 

“Another major thing that isn't doesn't have the attention to it that it deserves is natural genetic variation. Even when we find these interventions, just like aspirin doesn't work across the board the same way for everybody, these interventions are not likely to be magic bullets that equally work as well for every single person. So we really actually have to develop a toolkit of these interventions along with precision approaches to apply those interventions to the right people who will maximally benefit.” Dr Mitchell Lee

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A case study: the mTOR pathway

The mTOR pathway is a highly conserved master regulator of nutrient signaling, playing a critical role in determining how cells respond to their nutrient state—whether to proliferate, grow, or remain dormant. By targeting mTOR, we can potentially rebalance nutrient signaling, offering a promising intervention point for influencing cellular behavior. Rapamycin is a well-known drug that targets the mTOR pathway and has shown significant effects on healthspan and longevity. Interestingly, rapamycin itself was discovered by accident - it was approved to be an immunosuppressant during organ transplants, but at much lower dosages it was found to be beneficial to longevity. 

Krister Kauppi of the Rapamycin Longevity Lab believes that there are better mTOR inhibitors out there but they haven’t been found due to the regulatory hurdles surrounding longevity clinical trials. This blocker isn’t a reason to abandon the process however, and using the Wormbot Krister begun collecting data on other potential compounds. 

“The first thing I did was to test five mTOR inhibitors that I found in their library. Thanks to that, we found one mTOR inhibitor, which is better than rapamycin. So yeah, step by step, we move forward. I'm confident that we will find even better ones when we screen the 568 additional mTOR inhibitors.” Krister Kauppi

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What does the future hodl

By allowing more people to conduct experiments, share their findings, and collaborate with experts, the DeSci movement could unlock entirely new avenues of research. The combination of decentralized funding, gamification, and citizen science can revolutionize the longevity space. Instead of waiting for large institutions to fund and conduct studies, individuals and small groups can contribute directly. 

“We see ourselves as the medicine cabinet for longevity biotech. We're going to be the source for the best breakthrough interventions, things that don't just, you know, give a five or ten percent increase in lifespan, but could give thirty, fifty, double lifespan. Those kind of big, audacious goals pushing the limits of what a single or combination intervention can do in a physiological system.” Dr Mitchell Lee

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Many thanks to Krister Kauppi and Dr Mitchell Lee for taking the time to talk to us, and to our own Benji and Jillian for guiding the conversation. You can find the full podcast on our YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter for more insights on DeSci topics, and follow our podcast to stay updated on engaging conversations.

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