Free Radicals Thiel fellow on how longevity can fix biotech - Lada Nuzhna
Dec 2, 2025
Lada Nuzhna, researcher, Thiel fellow and founder who has funded $34M+ in longevity science and now builds epigenetic editing therapeutics. She discusses evolutionary views of aging and antagonistic pleiotropy. Talk covers why current models and methylation clocks are limited, the promise and risks of programmable epigenetic editing delivered by LNPs, and how funding and incentives shape biotech for aging.
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Pick High-Value First Indications
- Choose first clinical applications that showcase unique advantages and solve big unmet needs rather than marginal improvements.
- Lada stresses new modalities must tackle gaps where incumbents can't compete on safety, durability, or mechanism.
Durable Effects Without Genome Edits
- Epigenetic editing can durably change cell programs and has already shown months-long effects in human trials for cholesterol without genome edits.
- Lada cites PCSK9-targeting epigenetic approaches as public examples of durable, non-genome-editing effects.
Methylation Clocks: Correlates, Not Proven Causes
- We still lack causal proof that methylation clocks drive aging versus reflecting it, hampering their use as definitive biomarkers.
- Lada emphasizes inconsistent clock responses to known lifespan-extending treatments like rapamycin as a central unresolved issue.