What if we could pause biological time to wait for a cure for a disease? Thanks to innovations and research in reversible cryopreservation, this possibility is no longer just science fiction. Sarah Guo sits down with Laura Deming, CEO and co-founder of biotech startup Until, to dive deep into the growing field of reversible cryopreservation. Laura talks about how her time as a Thiel Fellow as well as her founding of the Longevity Fund fueled her obsession with solving the “social blindspot” of aging. Laura details how her new startup, Until, seeks to build tools that allow for “pressing pause” on biological time, starting with human organs with the hopes of scaling up to full body medical hibernation. Together, they also discuss why ice is the enemy of tissue, using engineering tools to help solve biological problems, and how this technology may revolutionize organ transplantation by removing time as a variable. 

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Chapters:

00:00 – Cold Open

01:08 – Laura Deming Introduction

01:53 – Why Laura Focused on Cryo Preservation and Longevity

06:20 – Bringing on Co-Founder Hunter Davis

07:55 – Until’s Goal

10:10 – Other Use Cases for Cryo Technology

12:22 – Scientific Challenges in Cryo Tech

15:36 – Using Engineering Principles to Solve Biological Problems

20:18 – Scaling Up Cryo Preservation

21:48 – Leading and Recruiting at Until

25:02 – Why Hasn’t Cryo Tech Been Worked On More?

27:14 – Making Time Not a Variable in Organ Transplants 

29:06 – Changing How the Molecular World is Depicted

30:47 – Conclusion