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British biotech company Shift Bioscience has secured $16 million to advance its AI-driven cell simulation platform for discovering safe, gene-based therapies targeting aging at the cellular level. Founded in 2017, Shift operates from the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, combining generative AI with biological aging biomarkers to pinpoint rejuvenation genes that don’t carry the risks associated with Yamanaka factors. These factors, discovered in 2006 by Nobel Laureate Professor Shinya Yamanaka, can revert aged cells to an embryonic stem cell state but pose safety concerns for clinical use.
Shift’s platform aims to solve these challenges by simulating and predicting genes capable of reversing cellular aging without inducing stem cell identity, which has limited clinical applications. Through this approach, Shift has already identified six promising gene-based interventions, including one single-gene intervention, that reverse epigenetic age without forming pluripotent colonies, making them safer for therapeutic development.
The new funding, led by BGF and joined by investors like F-Prime Capital and Kindred Capital, brings the company’s total investment to $18 million, extending its resources through 2026. This investment supports Shift’s efforts to create a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio around novel rejuvenation genes and accelerate lab-based testing of identified candidates.
With aging linked to over 200 diseases, Shift’s vision extends beyond addressing individual age-related conditions. The company aims to develop a family of drugs targeting multiple age-linked diseases—such as cardiovascular issues and osteoarthritis—that collectively impact life expectancy. Shift’s ultimate goal is to produce therapies that extend healthy lifespan, meeting the urgent demand for treatments targeting aging’s root causes. The team, now nearly 20 experts, leverages AI to map the risk landscape of age-linked diseases, making Shift’s approach a significant advance in cellular rejuvenation science.
CEO Daniel Ives explained “our technology is addressing the current limitations of cellular reprogramming for treatment of age-related illnesses.”
