EP 151: Understanding cell ageing with Marco Quarta Co-founder & CEO of Rubedo Life Sciences

In this episode, Patrick is joined by Marco Quarta, Co-founder and CEO of Rubedo Life Sciences, and previously Director of Bioengineering in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University. Since childhood, Marco had the dream of “curing” aging and his work at Rubedo focuses on understanding cell senescence, with the goal of developing novel therapies for age-linked diseases.

Join Marco and Patrick as they discuss his transition from academia to founding multiple companies, why not all senescent cells are equal, and how understanding the processes behind cell aging could help extend human healthspan.

0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast

01:00 Welcome to Marco

02:00 The areas Marco focused on during his academic career and what motivated him to found his first company

03:18 How our understanding of aging has changed over the past two decades and some of the current big questions in aging biology

06:01 How to get a clearer picture of the aging process within a tissue or cell and if new technologies like single cell genomics can aid this process

11:08 Catalyst or cause? Understanding the role of cellular senescence in disease and how it impacts treatment pathways

12:54 The challenges of building a company that addresses an area of biology which sits at the core of so many diseases and disease types

16:17 Deciding on which therapeutic modality to target when using a platform biology approach

17:57 Identifying the most effective stage at which to intervene in the senescence process and if this change is dependent upon organ system or disease area

24:33 How another company founded by Marco, Turnbio, uses a different approach by focusing on turning back the biological clock rather than understanding the aging process and intervening

31:08 Addressing if both preventative and intervention approaches are required to comprehensively treat or cure a disease

35:39 Whether there is potential to develop core therapeutics which can have a system-wide effect and address all-cause aging

40:12 Why “biohacking” therapies can present a risk to the field of aging biology as a whole, as well as to individuals

41:18 The developing area of science or technology Marco is most excited about and which he believes is going to have a significant impact in the coming years

43:23 Closing remarks


Find out more
www.rubedolife.com