Adam Freund

Arda is a biotechnology company taking aim at chronic diseases and aging by eliminating the pathogenic cells that drive these conditions.

Impetus Grants provides funding for scientists to start working on what they consider the most important problems in aging biology, without delay. Grants of up to $500k, with decisions made within 3 weeks. Our review process asks "what's the potential for impact" rather than "could this go wrong".

In this role I led multiple R&D teams focused on understanding and modulating the aging process. • Initiated and led Calico’s most advanced longevity-focused therapeutic program, a first-in-class biologic that neutralizes a validated aging pathway. This project has successfully transitioned from early-stage research through multiple stages of the drug development pipeline and is now in clinical trials. As a member of the leadership team, I coordinated activities including target discovery, target validation, preclinical proof of concept, mechanism of action investigation, biomarker development, lead optimization, pharmacology, DMPK, safety, first-in-human planning, and IP considerations. • Founded and managed a research lab with the mission of developing interventions that slow or reverse aspects of aging. The lab utilized a wide variety of tools including small molecules, biologics, gene therapy, cell therapy, preclinical models, mouse genetics, human biospecimens, modern cell and molecular biology techniques, functional genomics (CRISPR/Cas9), single-cell RNA sequencing, genome-wide association studies, automated behavioral monitoring, high content imaging, FACS, machine learning and bioinformatics. • Initiated and led multiple early stage R&D programs applying big data analytics and machine learning to dimensional representations of cell and organism state. • Helped grow Calico from 15 to >200 employees. Managed direct reports and matrixed teams. Collaborated with dozens of CROs, academics, and industry partners. Enthusiastically took part in the “whatever needs doing” model of a growing startup – contributed to early decisions regarding infrastructure, hiring, company strategy, and business development. Routinely gave presentations to executive management to update on lab progress, preclinical development, external collaborations, and to propose new directions for the company.

In Steven Artandi’s lab, carried out research projects and collaborations in the field of aging and cancer biology, specifically focusing on whole-genome screening to identify novel upstream regulators of telomerase trafficking. Developed the requisite technology, performed, and published the first whole-genome, high content screen using an RNA localization readout. This screen identified a novel regulator of telomerase and clarified the mechanism of action of pathogenic mutations in TCAB1, which cause the human condition dyskeratosis congenita. Work from this period was published in Cell and Cell Stem Cell and has been cited >400 times.

Studied the role of inflammation in cellular senescence, cancer, and aging in Judy Campisi's research group - a short-term continuation of graduate work.

In Judy Campisi’s lab, worked as a graduate student (05/2006-12/2010) and short-term postdoctoral fellow (12/2010-09/2011). Joint appointment at University of California (Berkeley) and The Buck Institute for Research on Aging (Novato, CA). Designed and carried out an independent thesis project identifying the signaling cascades that regulate the inflammatory response and growth arrest associated with cellular senescence. Work from this period was published in Nature Cell Biology, EMBO, Cell Metabolism, Aging Cell, Mol Biol of the Cell, and others, and has been cited >3700 times. Dissertation title: Signaling pathways that regulate cellular senescence