Life Biosciences Partners with Singapore Institute to Advance Epigenetic Therapies for Age-Related Diseases
核心洞察
Life Biosciences (搜索) has formed a research partnership with SingHealth Duke-NUS Regenerative Medicine Institute (搜索) of Singapore (REMEDIS (搜索)) to advance cellular rejuvenation therapies targeting age-related diseases across seven therapeutic areas.
The collaboration will combine REMEDIS (搜索)'s clinical expertise with Life Bio's Partial Epigenetic Reprogramming Platform, which uses three transcription factors to restore cells to a younger state by reversing epigenetic changes.
Life Bio's lead program ER-100 is being developed for optic neuropathies including glaucoma (搜索) and NAION (搜索), with first-in-human clinical trials planned for early 2026.
Life Biosciences (搜索), a Boston-based biotechnology company specializing in cellular rejuvenation, has announced a research collaboration with SingHealth Duke-NUS Regenerative Medicine Institute (搜索) of Singapore (REMEDIS (搜索)) to advance therapeutic development for age-related diseases. The partnership aims to leverage Life Bio's proprietary epigenetic reprogramming platform alongside REMEDIS's clinical and translational expertise to develop novel treatments across multiple organ systems.
Targeting Fundamental Aging Mechanisms
The collaboration centers on Life Bio's Partial Epigenetic Reprogramming Platform, which utilizes three transcription factors—Oct4 (搜索), Sox2 (搜索), and Klf4 (搜索)—to restore older and damaged cells to a younger state. Jerry McLaughlin, CEO of Life Bio, explained that "partial epigenetic reprogramming is like pressing a cellular 'reset button' which reverses some of these chemical tags to restore cells back to a more youthful state."
David Sinclair, PhD, Professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Life Bio, emphasized the universal nature of aging as a treatable process. "This collaboration reflects our belief that aging is a universal process that can be treated, which offers opportunities for interventions that may help address multiple age-related diseases," Sinclair stated.
Seven-Disease Therapeutic Focus
The joint research partnership will target seven disease areas, including corneal and retinal eye diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, bone marrow diseases, blood disorders, cardiovascular diseases, acute and chronic wound healing, and neurosensory diseases. This broad approach reflects the platform's potential versatility in addressing multiple age-related conditions.
Professor William Hwang, Co-Director of REMEDIS (搜索), noted the strategic value of combining expertise: "By combining REMEDIS's extensive clinical expertise with Life Biosciences (搜索)' cutting-edge platform, we hope to accelerate innovations in regenerative medicine. Our collaboration aims to pioneer targeted treatments for age-related diseases and chronic conditions, opening new possibilities for transformative patient care."
Lead Program Advances Toward Clinical Testing
Life Bio's most advanced program, ER-100, is being developed for serious eye diseases including glaucoma (搜索) and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (搜索) (NAION (搜索)). McLaughlin revealed that the company plans to "initiate the first-ever human clinical trials for an epigenetic therapy in early 2026" for both indications, marking a significant milestone in the field.
The company has already demonstrated progress in preclinical studies, with data from nonhuman primate studies showing ER-100's ability to improve retinal ganglion cell (搜索) function and restore vision, as presented in October 2024.
Addressing Translation Challenges
The partnership acknowledges key challenges in translating promising preclinical results to human applications. McLaughlin highlighted the importance of ensuring "that what works in animal models translates safely and effectively to humans." He emphasized that "partnerships like this are important [because] they bring together global expertise across biology, medicine, and translational science to help close those gaps."
Strategic Global Expansion
This collaboration represents Life Bio's first milestone in a broader strategy to align with leading research centers in longevity science worldwide. McLaughlin noted that "Singapore is emerging as a global leader in healthy aging with its renowned scientific talent and facilities," positioning the partnership as part of the company's international expansion in the aging research space.
REMEDIS (搜索) brings significant scientific capabilities to the collaboration, including breakthrough laminin-based technologies that have successfully expanded clinically relevant cells of the heart, eye, and skin. These technologies are already being translated into clinical applications for treating ischemic heart disease (搜索), blindness, and major skin burns.