#4 - Andy Koff - Preventing Quiescent Cells from Turning Senescent - A Unique Approach to Fighting Senescent Cells by Atropos Therapeutics

Andy Koff is the Founder of Atropos Therapeutics. A company with a new approach to tackling senescent cells, one fo the biggest hallmarks of aging.Atropos Therapeutics uses a bio marker to identify when a cell starts transitioning from a quiescent cell into a senescent cell. Using this bio marker, Atropos aims to be able to prevent the cell from transitioning into a senescent cell, they've dubbed this type of technology a "senosuppressant"For 25 years or so, starting with his post-graduate work at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center with Jim Roberts, and into his faculty position at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Andy has used a multitude of approaches, biochemical, genetic and cellular, to identify the proteins and the mechanisms that control how cells choose between duplicating themselves, known as proliferating, or remaining in a non-proliferating state.  This decision is incorrectly made in virtually all cancer cells, thus providing the framework to explain much about how drugs work in oncology.About five years ago, Andy’s attention shifted to another decision…how cells maintain themselves in the non-proliferating state and what might be the consequences to not being able to do so. His work today has applications in both oncology and in aging and age-related diseases.-James Ruhle, SimpleBioTechPodcast.com Stay up to date with the latest episodes and BioTech updates by following me on instagram @SimpleBioTech If you want to know which BioTech companies I'm currently excited about, connect with me on Angel List at Angel.co/jamesruhle