Harnessing AI-powered virtual cells to fight diseases of aging

Aging is the largest driver of disease

Aging mechanisms are common to the major modern diseases (right) and are being targeted by Shift to create a universal therapeutic approach.

CDC Underlying Cause of Death database, 2005-2014

Aging is reversed between generations

Each of us developed from a single cell passed down by our parents, yet we’re not born at our parent’s age and we begin our post-development lives in full health. The biology inherited from our parents is safely scrubbed, renewed and restarted, with evidence of a natural rejuvenation event in the embryo shortly after conception.

Δ Epigenetic age = Δ Principal component Skin & Blood DNA methylation clock

Shift has decoupled cell rejuvenation from a tumor-inducing pathway

Yamanaka factors (OSKM) rejuvenate multiple cell types and ameliorate disease phenotypes but are optimised to activate a tumor-inducing pathway, posing safety concerns for therapeutic development.

Shift's AI-powered virtual cells have discovered novel transcription factors that rejuvenate aged human fibroblasts and maintain their identity (left) whilst decoupling the tumor-inducing pathway (below) even when continuously expressed.

Best in the world for AI virtual cells and aging clocks

Shift has assembled a talented team of computational and wet-lab research scientists.

AI virtual cells

Bo Wang

Senior advisor, Prof University of Toronto, Inventor of the cell simulator single-cell-GPT (scGPT)¹

1. Cui & Wang, Nature Methods 2024

Cell aging clocks

Brendan Swain

CSO and founder, PhD University of Cambridge, Inventor of the first accurate cell aging clock (proprietary to Shift)

Brendan received his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, where his focus was on basic research. First as an intern and then as a founder, Brendan began to prototype single-cell transcriptomic aging clocks, helping forge a new direction for Shift. Since 2021, Brendan has led Shift’s science team in the search for new rejuvenating interventions, with the belief that these discoveries could have a massive impact across healthcare.

Lucas Camillo

Head of ML, MPhil University of Cambridge, Inventor of the most accurate aging clock²

2. Camillo & Singh, NPJ Aging 2022

Shift's AI virtual cells have found 6 novel interventions

Shift's AI-powered virtual cells and aging clock (AC3) reduce centuries of real world experiments to years, bringing forward the most exciting interventions. Shift has identified 6x transcription factor interventions that reverse epigenetic age, and a more druggable downstream target. We continuously improve our virtual cells and aging clock with active learning cycles to accelerate future discovery.

Shift is hiring Target Validation Scientists

You'll work alongside Shift's Head of Target Validation, delivering novel interventions to aged human cells and generating data on their safety, efficacy and generalisability to multiple cell types. For more details on the role and how to apply, click here

Leadership team

Daniel Ives

CEO and founder, PhD University of Cambridge, Mitochondrial biologist turned computational biologist

Pantic, Ives, Holt & Spinazzola, Nature Communications 2021

Daniel received his PhD from the University of Cambridge where he focused on the role of mutations in the mitochondrial genome in rare diseases, embracing computational biology to discover a novel therapeutic approach. In 2017 Daniel founded Shift Bioscience and since then has been on a scientific journey from mitochondria to mouse aging clocks to single-cell aging clocks and, finally, to now: leveraging single-cell aging clocks inside cell simulations to explore the combinatorial space of interventions for cell rejuvenation.
David Prior

Chair, previously NHS Chair
2018-2022

From “Sick care” to precision public health
Laurence Reid

Non-exec director, previously CEO Decibel Therapeutics, CBO Alnylam Pharaceuticals, General Manager Millennium Pharamceuticals

Featured in 'Reflections on Alnylam' by John Maraganore

Laurence has had a successful career in Biotech in Boston (Millennium, Alnylam, Warp Drive, Decibel Tx, Garuda Tx) as CBO and more recently CEO. Laurence excels in mapping new platforms and modalities to strategy for clinical translation and financing.
Jill Reckless

Translation advisor, CEO RxCelerate, previously Senior Research Associate University of Cambridge

From miner's daughter to leading biotech boss

Co-founder and CEO of RxCelerate. Provides strategic vision to RxCelerate Group. Over 20 years’ experience of translational biology and leading drug discovery programmes covering a wide area of therapeutic indications.
Tony Kouzarides

Scientific advisor, Director Milner Therapeutics Institute, Cofounder CEO Vellos, Prof University of Cambridge

Milner Therapeutics Institute Director Professor Tony Kouzarides awarded a knighthood

Tony Kouzarides is Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Cambridge, a senior group leader at the Gurdon Institute and director/co-founder of the Milner Therapeutics Institute. His research lab at the Gurdon is interested in epigenetic modifications and their involvement in cancer. The Milner Therapeutics Institute has a mission to connect academia and industry to drive University research into therapies.

Tony is a co-founder of Abcam plc, a publicly trading research reagents company in Cambridge, a co-founder of Chroma Therapeutics, a drug discovery company based in Oxford and a co-founder and director of STORM Therapeutics, a drug discovery company based in Cambridge. He is founder and director of Cambridge Gravity, a University entrepreneurial organization and a founder of Conquer Cancer ("Vencer el Cancer"), a cancer charity in Spain.