Gene therapy screening to discover aging targets (Martin Borch Jensen -  Gordian Biotechnology)
Gordian Biotechnology is a San Francisco Bay Area biotech company that has created the first in vivo therapeutic screening platform aimed at drug development for complex diseases of aging. Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Dr. Martin Borch Jensen joins the show today to discuss Gordian’s unique in vivo pooled screening in animals, as well as which indications they are targeting, their strategy to bring drugs to market, and how Gordian is currently tackling the challenges inherent to animal models. Martin also speaks about his passion from an early age to help fight age-related disease, and making the transition from academia to entrepreneurship, giving up a K99 fellowship at thehttps://www.buckinstitute.org/ ( Buck Institute for Research on Aging) to make the jump into biotech.
You’ll also hear about Martin’s involvement in multiple efforts to promote longevity science and bring new people into the field, including his apprenticeship program, the newly announced Longevity Impetus Grants program, and recording his “Science of Aging” seminar. Next, Martin shares what’s next for Gordian as they get ready to scale to the next level, which areas of longevity science he is most interested in but not currently working on, and how he predicts the field will evolve over the next five to ten years. For more information on Martin’s apprenticeship program and Impetus Grants application process, please visit https://www.martinborchjensen.com/apprenticeship (MartinBorchJensen.com) or follow him on https://twitter.com/MartinBJensen (Twitter).
Episode Highlights:
Dr. Martin Borch Jensen is the co-founder and CSO of https://www.gordian.bio/ (Gordian Biotechnology)
Gordian Biotechnology created the first in vivo therapeutic screening platform to radically improve drug development for complex diseases of aging
Martin is also involved with an apprenticeship program and a newly announced grant program to catalyze rapid progress in aging research
How Gordian’s unique in vivo pooled screening in animals works
They’re focused on removing the diseases of aging, beginning with their three lead indications, NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or fatty liver), osteoarthritis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
How Gordian compiles their gene libraries
While other companies start with in vitro models and then figure out ways to test them in living animals, Gordian starts with the second step 
They deliver hundreds of gene therapies at once to a single animal
The drugs that they ultimately develop won't necessarily be gene therapy, but instead whatever is most appropriate to pursue the indication once they know the target (small molecule drugs, antibodies)
What a cell needs depends on what a cell is
Gene therapy has plenty of advantages, but the cost is very high
How Gordian is overcoming challenges that are inherent to animal models
Older mice are much more expensive and are rarely used in aging research
Animal models can actually be useful if the animal has progressively developed a disease in the same way humans do, and has similar biology
Example of studying osteoarthritis in horses, because the load-bearing structure of their joints is much more similar to humans, as is their cartilage thickness
Gordian’s strategy to bring drugs to market
Martin’s transition from academic to entrepreneur and what inspired him make the jump to biotech
He gave up a K99 fellowship at thehttps://www.buckinstitute.org/ ( Buck Institute for Research on Aging)
He realized as a teenager that he wanted to try to fix aging
Martin is good friends with https://bioagelabs.com/people/kristen.html (Dr. Kristen Fortney), co-founder and CEO of BIOAGE; her journey showed him that it was possible to start his own company
Martin is also involved in multiple efforts to promote longevity science, and to bring people into the field
His...