Jacob Kimmel thinks he can find the transcription factors to reverse aging. We do a deep dive on why this might be plausible and why evolution hasn’t already optimized for longevity. We also talk about why drug discovery has been getting exponentially harder, and what a new platform for biological understanding to speed up progress would look like. As a bonus, we get into the nitty gritty of gene delivery and Jacob’s controversial takes on CAR-T cells. For full disclosure, I am an angel investor in NewLimit. This did not impact my decision to interview Jacob, nor the questions I asked him.

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒
* Transcript: https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/jacob-kimmel
* Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-evolution-designed-us-to-die-fast-how-we-can-change/id1516093381?i=1000722975425
* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3xUwUYLpjGI3bxsEM114jq?si=mo4FBuI4RoG42PUYYCFUDw

𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒
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𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
00:00:00 – Three reasons evolution didn't optimize for longevity
00:12:48 – Why didn't humans evolve their own antibiotics?
00:26:08 – De-aging cells via epigenetic reprogramming
00:45:24 – Viral vectors and other delivery mechanisms
01:07:03 – Synthetic transcription factors
01:10:13 – Can virtual cells break Eroom's Law?
01:32:13 – Economic models for pharma