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Sufal Deb
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Sufal Deb

@sufaldeb

📍SF & Tdot @NornGroup || @longxbio Prev: @age_rate || @mcmasteru Bat Lab

  • San Francisco
  • Joined
73 Following70 Followers108 Posts
  1. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: If we’re optimistic about what AI will do for medicine, we should be collecting the data it will need to deliver. In other words: we already plan for future compute demand by building datacenters. We should also build biological datasets to meet anticipated demand from abundant intelligence. Our next Impetus round will fund AI-enabling datasets and the tools to generate them. We’ve raised $9M toward our $15M goal. If you’d like to help build the datasets that future biomedical AI will depend on, donate here: That includes data linking molecular and cellular changes to measured outcomes in organs and people. Some projects will start experiments that take years to mature; others can build on years of observation already completed. Projects could include: - Existing cohorts and trials: adding richer measurements of stored samples and linking them to recorded health outcomes. - Experiments in living organisms: testing interventions and measuring cellular responses within diseased organs. - New measurement tools: extracting more biological information from routine samples, such as blood. - Adaptive clinical trials: testing AI-generated hypotheses and adapting as evidence accumulates. Learn more:
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  2. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: Very good news for the future of longevity trials! HHS has announced the SURPASS program to develop new methods to make clinical trials faster, less expensive, and less burdensome to patients. Researchers could make better decisions as evidence accumulates and test new treatments without rebuilding the infrastructure for each study. For longevity, more efficient trials could expand the range of treatments we can afford to test. Promising biology can only become medicine if we can study it in people. When trials are too costly or difficult to run, treatments can be ruled out before we learn whether they work. SURPASS could give more longevity medicines that chance:
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  3. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Talent talent talent talent talent... Curation of it is more important than you think
    Norn Group @NornGroup
    America brought exceptional people here, and they built the most powerful scientific system in history that gave everyone in the world more years of life. We want to bring more people here so we can get more of that. That’s why we launched Talent Bridge. If you are very talented and distance stands between you and the work you can do in aging, we want to help you get to America ASAP. We provide: - Support with O-1 and other exceptional ability visa applications - Grants for projects and logistical costs - An exceptional longevity network, including mentors and potential hosts - Practical relocation help, including introductions to legal and accommodation providers Apply here: More info here:
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  4. Norn Group✓@NornGroup
    America brought exceptional people here, and they built the most powerful scientific system in history that gave everyone in the world more years of life. We want to bring more people here so we can get more of that. That’s why we launched Talent Bridge. If you are very talented and distance stands between you and the work you can do in aging, we want to help you get to America ASAP. We provide: - Support with O-1 and other exceptional ability visa applications - Grants for projects and logistical costs - An exceptional longevity network, including mentors and potential hosts - Practical relocation help, including introductions to legal and accommodation providers Apply here: More info here:
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  5. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @MartinBJensen: Here's my conversation with @BrackLab on the FDA shift on longevity, and how his PROSPR program will sustain the momentum.
    Martin Borch Jensen @MartinBJensen
    Highly positive panel on longevity trials at ARDD: Lowell Zeta (chief of staff) says longevity is a priority for the current FDA. There's now a point person for longevity trial design: Justin Penzenstadler (reviewer on GLP1s). Steven Kozlowski (chief scientist) working on guidance and tech specs, to be released first half of next year. Justin recommends the field forma precompetitive consortium for which biomarkers, how to include in trials. And to talk to regulators regularly.
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  6. Martin Borch Jensen✓@MartinBJensen
    Highly positive panel on longevity trials at ARDD: Lowell Zeta (chief of staff) says longevity is a priority for the current FDA. There's now a point person for longevity trial design: Justin Penzenstadler (reviewer on GLP1s). Steven Kozlowski (chief scientist) working on guidance and tech specs, to be released first half of next year. Justin recommends the field forma precompetitive consortium for which biomarkers, how to include in trials. And to talk to regulators regularly.
    Download
    72813314.5K
  7. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    If youre around Boston this weekend, ill be hosting an event and moderating an amazing panel. Ill see you there :)
    Norn Group @NornGroup
    How can you contribute to longevity from another field? We're hosting Breaking into Longevity Biotech with age1 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this Sunday, October 4. Satvik Dasariraju @satvik_93 joins Andrew Brack @BrackLab (ARPA-H), James Peyer @JamesPeyer (Cambrian Bio), Michael Cooney (Bain Capital), and Jack O'Meara @Jack_O_Meara (Aerska). They'll discuss how they entered longevity and what they look for in people joining the field, with our own Sufal Deb @sufaldeb moderating. Stay after the panel to discuss cardiovascular disease and women's health with Nexus member Madison Ueland @madiueland and Aging Initiative president Ezekiel Bajomo @EzekielBajomo. 12–3pm ET. Request to join:
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  8. Norn Group✓@NornGroup
    How can you contribute to longevity from another field? We're hosting Breaking into Longevity Biotech with age1 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this Sunday, October 4. Satvik Dasariraju @satvik_93 joins Andrew Brack @BrackLab (ARPA-H), James Peyer @JamesPeyer (Cambrian Bio), Michael Cooney (Bain Capital), and Jack O'Meara @Jack_O_Meara (Aerska). They'll discuss how they entered longevity and what they look for in people joining the field, with our own Sufal Deb @sufaldeb moderating. Stay after the panel to discuss cardiovascular disease and women's health with Nexus member Madison Ueland @madiueland and Aging Initiative president Ezekiel Bajomo @EzekielBajomo. 12–3pm ET. Request to join:
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  9. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @MartinBJensen: Conversation with the first author John Martinez, about extending life and female reproduction by reducing retrotransposons.
    Martin Borch Jensen @MartinBJensen
    Very cool new data on lifespan and reproductive longevity by targeting LINE1 from Gorbunova lab.
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  10. Martin Borch Jensen✓@MartinBJensen
    Very cool new data on lifespan and reproductive longevity by targeting LINE1 from Gorbunova lab.
    Download
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  12. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: Some people describe biotech as a lottery - how do you make it more like compound interest? Our founder @MartinBJensen is back in the arena this October 1-3 at the @ARDD_Meeting in Boston! He’ll be talking about how @GordianBio systematically derisks new drugs by creating candidate abundance, then testing candidates against each risk encountered in drug development. We used this process in osteoarthritis, screening 197 perturbations and carrying the strongest candidates through human tissue, diverse in vivo models, and head-to-head comparisons with clinical-stage drugs. Now we’re scaling the same playbook across cardiorenal metabolic disease, and ultimately across the druggable genome and every major age-related disease.
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  13. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: American science and technology became the best in the world because we made deliberate institutional choices that let exceptional people from everywhere come here, find one another, and build. @NornGroup created Talent Bridge (applications open!) to increase the throughput of exceptional people into the US longevity ecosystem, where most of the field’s highest-leverage labs, companies, and funders are. Talent Bridge is for people: - whose main constraint is distance from the US - who could do unusually good work with the right project, people, and path into America - already working on longevity, in a neighbouring field, or ready to turn their skills toward aging - who are ambitious and driven We support projects aligned with adding healthy years to life, including scientific research, tool development, aging theory, policy work, Norn open calls, and other work that helps expand the truth-seeking capacity of the field. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis for candidate potential, project fit, and expected contribution to aging research. We reply within two weeks to applicants we are interested in sponsoring, and can help with visa and relocation logistics, network introductions, legal and housing connections, awards, and mentorship. Apply with a project proposal aligned with Norn’s mission of adding healthy years to life. More info on Talent Bridge: Application form: For any questions, email: team@norn.group
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  14. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @MartinBJensen: The longevity field is over-translated at this point, the basic research needs more support. There was a ~decade long 'golden era of discoveries' from early 2000s to say 2016 Ocampo paper, where we learned about many new mechanisms. We naturally started translating those, fueled in part by Calico as validation for investors. This is good, but the field didn't grow enough to replace the researchers now focused on translation. And new sources of funding like @ARPAHealth also focus on translation. So the well is running low. Time for some rain. (company data from @KarlPfleger)
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  15. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: AI in bio needs more data to train new models. But what data? At Vitalist Bay, our founder @MartinBJensen argued for moving beyond the existing kinds of bio datasets and mobilizing researchers to plan definite data strategies for their fields (@impetusgrants's next focus.)
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  16. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: Viruses you picked up decades ago might quietly be driving age-related disease. But we are starting to learn how to fight back. Epstein-Barr virus infects ~95% of adults and can persist in the body for life. It has been found causal in multiple sclerosis and several cancers. It has also been linked to immune and cardiovascular disease, making it a large burden to public health. But EBV is not an inevitable risk factor. We are figuring out ways to fight back. One approach is prevention. in clinics. Moderna made an mRNA vaccine against EBV called mRNA-1189. It is currently being tested in humans as a way to prevent infectious mononucleosis (Eclipse trial). Another approach is immune control. Moderna is also testing vaccine mRNA-1195 in people with multiple sclerosis, asking whether targeting EBV could help treat relapsing MS. A third approach is directly attacking EBV-positive cells. In Europe, an EBV-specific T-cell therapy (Ebvallo/tabelecleucel) is already authorized for a rare EBV-positive cancer that can occur after transplant. Multiple other therapeutic avenues are pursued in either preclinical stages or Phase I trials. EBV is scary because it is common, lifelong, and implicated in diseases that can appear decades after infection. If we can prevent EBV, control it, or eliminate the cells where it hides, we may be able to reduce a surprisingly large burden of disease later in life.
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  17. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @ladanuzhna: Notes on my trip to Shanghai. On how China has temufied all of biotech. Investigator-initiated trials. And why we are choosing to run trials there. Link in comms
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  18. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: We audit the longevity field to map the bottlenecks on the road to aging therapies, and one of the biggest is that most targets still aren’t druggable. More than two thirds of targets are out of reach for conventional medicines, and gene therapies often trigger an immune response. This is called immunogenicity. Removing immunogenic sequences from a therapeutic protein tends to break its function, and the variant space is too large to screen experimentally. A lab we funded via @impetusgrants published an ingenious way around these, using AI. To engineer therapeutic proteins that are both functional and non-immunogenic, the Xiaojing Gao lab at Stanford (@SynBioGaoLab) built a modular workflow using ML models to optimize for protein function and low immunogenicity simultaneously. They demonstrated it by generating deimmunized zinc-finger proteins that upregulate two therapeutically relevant genes, utrophin (UTRN) and SCN1A, passing both the function and immunogenicity filters. The workflow is modular. As better models emerge, they can be switched in, making the pipeline more powerful without rebuilding it. That turns deimmunization from a bespoke problem into a repeatable process any lab can use. On our map this sits at Viability, Development Stage. The question it addresses is what fraction of aging targets can be turned into drugs. Work like this makes that fraction larger. The work was published in Cell Systems. Link below.
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  19. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: History has shown that investing in the right high-quality datasets can enable AI to create disproportionate gains in progress. We want to make that happen for longevity. You can see the benefit of high-quality datasets in how protein structure databases laid the groundwork for AlphaFold and the applications it enabled, or how the ImageNet database transformed modern vision, now enabling self-driving cars. Longevity needs its own equivalent of that "right data moment": datasets that let AI find more and better drugs, and quickly filter out weak ones at scale. What’s missing today is data that tracks interventions over time and measures their effects at the level of organs and whole organisms. This is the level where disease lives. We have plenty of molecular and cellular data, but far less of this higher-level longitudinal intervention data. We think that gap is a key reason therapeutic progress is lagging AI capability. This is why we are starting an @ImpetusGrants focus on AI-enabling datasets. Useful projects in this vein include richer readouts in existing human cohorts, in vivo perturbation maps, and adaptive trial infrastructure. The sooner we build those datasets, the sooner intelligence can translate into therapeutic abundance. Click the link below to learn more about this round, and contribute.
    Norn Group @NornGroup
    Something is bottlenecking AI from increasing the number of treatments that make it to patients… @MartinBJensen: “Today, [hypothesis generation, making the drugs, and clinical trials] are being greatly accelerated by AI... But what about the causal validation? Right now, we are still going into the lab and running experiments. Every pharma company is still testing their drug in animal studies. We're not doing things differently than we were when ChatGPT2 came out.” - @PMWCintl 2026
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  20. Norn Group✓@NornGroup
    Something is bottlenecking AI from increasing the number of treatments that make it to patients… @MartinBJensen: “Today, [hypothesis generation, making the drugs, and clinical trials] are being greatly accelerated by AI... But what about the causal validation? Right now, we are still going into the lab and running experiments. Every pharma company is still testing their drug in animal studies. We're not doing things differently than we were when ChatGPT2 came out.” - @PMWCintl 2026
    Download
    03133.6K
  21. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @pdhsu: Project Hail Mary is funny because Ryan Gosling is introduced as a PhD molecular biologist, but his brain seems to contain exactly zero percent molecular biology and an astonishing amount of non-molecular biology that the plot needs
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  22. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Rip ARDD 2026
    Maddie Lee, PhD @m_janelee
    academic conferences are crazy because it’s like Let’s go to the most beautiful place in the world and then look at powerpoints for 12 straight hours
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  23. Maddie Lee, PhD@m_janelee
    academic conferences are crazy because it’s like Let’s go to the most beautiful place in the world and then look at powerpoints for 12 straight hours
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  24. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: "A very palpable shared mission of alleviating the burden of age-related disease on patients." That's what led Satvik Dasariraju @satvik_93 to be part of Norn Nexus. Satvik is an undergrad at @Harvard studying Human Developmental & Regenerative Biology and a Principal at @age1vc, a biotech VC firm investing in age-related diseases. He's also president of the Aging Initiative at Harvard @aginginit, and has co-hosted events with Norn Group bringing together Boston's aging research and biotech communities. Brilliant, mission-driven people like Satvik are exactly who the longevity field needs. Nexus exists to connect them.
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  25. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @zanehkoch: for a while i've had a slight fear that the bluetooth from my airpods could be frying my brain this weekend i pulled the raw data from a $30m government study of 1,679 mice blasted with cell phone radiation and reanalyzed it what i found was...not what I expected? 🧵
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  26. Sufal Deb@sufaldeb
    Sufal Deb
    RT @NornGroup: Rapamycin has extended lifespan in every model organism we've tested it in, and we have run a few trials in humans. But there is still no approved aging intervention. Why? @NicolasDiLeo, who recently moved to the US with support from our early-career program Talent Bridge, spent months interviewing the trial PIs to find out. It turns out a major reason is the challenge of designing clinical trials right the first time, especially for a new “disease” and mechanism..
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