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    Altos Labs

    Also known as Altos, Altos Labs Inc.

    Altos Labs is a biotechnology company that launched in January 2022 with US$3 billion in committed funding to pursue cell rejuvenation. It was initially based in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Cambridge, UK.[1] It says its mission is to reverse disease, injury and disability by restoring cell health. Its researchers publish on partial reprogramming, and its public materials list no clinical-stage program as of October 2026.[2][3][4]

    Editor reviewedStrict sourcingUpdated Aging and longevity biologyLife sciencesHealth and medicine
    Key facts

    Overview

    Altos Labs launched on 19 January 2022 with US$3 billion in committed funding. It was initially based in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Cambridge, UK, with collaborations in Japan.[1] It describes its mission as reversing disease, injury and the disabilities that occur throughout life by restoring cell health and resilience through cell rejuvenation.[2]

    Organisation and people

    Altos lists Hal Barron as CEO and founder, Hans Bishop as president and founder, Rick Klausner as chief scientific advisor and founder, and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte as founding scientist.[5] It is organised into internal institutes, including an Institute of Computation and an Institute of Medicine.[6] The Institute of Computation was set up to complement the Institutes of Science and the Institute of Medicine. Its brief is to build computational models of biological resilience at the level of cells, organs and whole organisms.[7]

    Altos appointed Joan Mannick as Chief Medical Officer and Head of Product Development to help bring therapies to patients.[8] She came from Tornado Therapeutics, which she co-founded and ran, where she worked on mTOR inhibitors for aging-related diseases. Before that she held leadership roles at Life Biosciences, at resTORbio, which she also co-founded, and at a Novartis unit that ran clinical programs aimed at aging biology.[9] For the mTOR research behind that work, see rapamycin-and-mtor. Life Biosciences is the developer of er-100.[10] Barron previously helped lead calico-life-sciences, the Google-founded aging company, alongside Arthur Levinson.[11]

    Science

    Altos’s focus area, rejuvenating cells, overlaps with partial-reprogramming, which uses brief exposure to Yamanaka factors to restore youthful gene activity without erasing cell identity.[12] A 2025 Cell paper from Altos’ San Diego Institute of Science reported a “mesenchymal drift” in aging tissues that partial reprogramming reduced in experiments.[13][3] The idea that cells keep a recoverable record of youthful gene regulation also has support from earlier mouse work: in 2020, the eye benefits of three-factor reprogramming depended on the DNA demethylases TET1 and TET2.[14] Other groups have reported whole-body effects in mice. In a 2022 study, longer-term partial reprogramming in normally aging mice rejuvenated tissues such as kidney and skin, and worked better than short-term regimens.[15]

    Competitors and AI

    Altos is one of several well-funded efforts in the area. Retro Biosciences, which news reports say was funded with US$180 million by openai chief executive Sam Altman, has worked with OpenAI on a protein-design model called GPT-4b micro.[16] In January 2025 OpenAI said the model’s suggestions made two Yamanaka factors more than 50 times as effective on some preliminary measures. These are company claims that outside scientists could not yet check against published data.[17] Calico, the Alphabet-founded aging company, likewise describes pairing large computing resources with human datasets for target discovery.[18] Altos’s own Institute of Computation reflects the same bet that machine learning can help design rejuvenation interventions.[7]

    Where it stands

    As of October 2026, Altos’s public materials describe discovery and translation work but no specific clinical-stage program. The first partial reprogramming therapy in human trials is Life Biosciences’ er-100, not an Altos product.[4][10] Any therapy Altos brings to the clinic would likely target a specific disease: the FDA does not recognize aging as a disease, and a 2025 scoping review found no regulatory framework for approving aging-targeted therapies.[19]

    Questions readers ask

    What does Altos Labs do?

    It researches cell rejuvenation. Its stated mission is to reverse disease, injury and disability by restoring cell health and resilience.[2]

    How much money did Altos launch with?

    US$3 billion in committed funding, announced in January 2022.[1]

    Who leads Altos Labs?

    Altos lists Hal Barron as CEO and founder, with Hans Bishop as president and Rick Klausner as chief scientific advisor. Joan Mannick is Chief Medical Officer.[5][8]

    Sources

    Each numbered claim is a statement we checked against the sources listed with it. Status shows how well established it is.

    1. [1]

      Altos Labs launched on 19 January 2022 with US$3 billion in committed funding, initially based in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Cambridge, UK. confirmedas of 2022-01-19

    2. [2]

      Altos Labs says its mission is to reverse disease, injury and disability by restoring cell health and resilience through cell rejuvenation. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    3. [3]

      The 2025 Cell study on mesenchymal drift and partial reprogramming was carried out by researchers at Altos Labs' San Diego Institute of Science. confirmedas of 2025-08-14

    4. [4]

      As of October 2026, Altos Labs' about page describes discovery and translation work but lists no specific clinical-stage programs. reportedas of 2026-10-10

      • About Altos Labs · Altos Labs · Translation section; the page lists no named clinical programs (retrieved 2026-10-10)
    5. [5]

      Altos Labs lists Hal Barron as CEO and founder, Hans Bishop as president and founder, Rick Klausner as chief scientific advisor and founder, and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte as founding scientist. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    6. [6]

      Altos Labs is organised into internal institutes, including an Institute of Computation and an Institute of Medicine. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    7. [7]

      Altos Labs formed an Institute of Computation to build computational models of biological resilience at the cell, organ and organism levels, alongside its Institutes of Science and Institute of Medicine. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    8. [8]

      Altos Labs appointed Joan Mannick as Chief Medical Officer and Head of Product Development to help bring its rejuvenation science to patients. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    9. [9]

      Joan Mannick joined Altos Labs from Tornado Therapeutics, where she was chief executive and co-founder developing mTOR inhibitors for aging-related diseases; she earlier held leadership roles at Life Biosciences, resTORbio, which she co-founded, and a Novartis unit running clinical programs targeting aging biology. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    10. [10]

      On 28 January 2026 Life Biosciences announced FDA clearance of its investigational new drug (IND) application for ER-100 in optic neuropathies, the first partial epigenetic reprogramming therapy cleared for human testing. confirmedas of 2026-01-28

    11. [11]

      Under the 2014 AbbVie deal, Calico was to lead research and early development through Phase 2a over ten years, after which AbbVie would lead later development, with costs and profits shared equally; Calico was then led by Arthur Levinson and Hal Barron. confirmedas of 2014-09-03

    12. [12]

      In 2016, short-term cyclic expression of the four Yamanaka factors (partial reprogramming) improved hallmarks of aging and extended lifespan in a mouse model of premature aging. confirmedas of 2016-12-15

    13. [13]

      A 2025 Cell study reported a pervasive "mesenchymal drift" in gene expression across human tissues and diseases and found that Yamanaka-factor partial reprogramming reduced it before cells lost their identity. confirmedas of 2025-08-14

    14. [14]

      The vision and nerve-regeneration benefits of OSK reprogramming in mice required the DNA demethylases TET1 and TET2, suggesting cells retain a record of youthful epigenetic information. confirmedas of 2020-12-02

    15. [15]

      A 2022 study found that longer-term partial reprogramming in normally aging mice had rejuvenating effects in tissues such as kidney and skin, reversed epigenetic clock measures, and was more effective than short-term regimens. confirmedas of 2022-03-07

    16. [16]

      OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman personally funded Retro Biosciences with US$180 million, according to MIT Technology Review and Longevity.Technology. reportedas of 2025-01-17

    17. [17]

      In January 2025 OpenAI said a protein-engineering model, GPT-4b micro, built with the longevity company Retro Biosciences, suggested changes that made two Yamanaka factors more than 50 times as effective on some preliminary measures; outside scientists could not assess the claim until it was published. reportedas of 2025-01-17

    18. [18]

      Calico says it combines Alphabet's computing with large human genetic, phenotypic, clinical and lifestyle datasets, feeding machine learning used for target discovery and molecular design. confirmedas of 2026-06-22

    19. [19]

      Papers published in 2025 in peer-reviewed journals state that the FDA does not recognize aging as a disease and that no regulatory framework exists for developing or approving therapies that target aging, so such therapies are developed through disease-specific pipelines. confirmedas of 2025-08-04

    20. [20]

      Calico Life Sciences says it works to understand the biology of aging and turn those insights into medicines that help people live longer and healthier lives. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    Revision history (2)
    1. Page created.
    2. Refresh: added the Institute of Computation, Joan Mannick's background, long-term reprogramming evidence and a section on competitors and AI (Retro Biosciences, OpenAI, Calico); added verbatim excerpts to leadership and institute claims.

    Created Oct 10, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 10, 2026. Next scheduled review: Jan 10, 2027.

    Cite this page

    "Altos Labs." ContentLora, updated Oct 10, 2026. https://contentlora.com/wiki/altos-labs

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