Laura Deming
Venture capitalist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laura Deming (born 1994) is a venture capitalist whose work focuses on life extension, and using biological research to reduce or reverse the effects of aging.
Laura Deming | |
|---|---|
Deming speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 | |
| Born | 1994 (age 30–31)[1] |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (dropped out) |
| Awards | Thiel Fellowship Forbes 30 Under 30 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Life extension |
| Institutions | The Longevity Fund |
| Academic advisors | Cynthia Kenyon |
Education
Laura Deming is the daughter of John and Tabitha Deming;[2] she grew up in New Zealand.[3] Deming and her brother, Trey, were homeschooled; she says she taught herself "calculus and probability and statistics, and French literature and history". At age 8, Deming became interested in the biology of aging,[4] and at age 12 she joined the lab of Cynthia Kenyon at the University of California, San Francisco.[3][5] Kenyon successfully increased the lifespan of the worm C. elegans by a factor of ten through genetic engineering.[citation needed][6] Deming was accepted to MIT at age 14 and studied physics,[5][7] but later dropped out to accept the $100,000 Thiel Fellowship and start a venture capital firm.[8] Deming was one of only two women in the 2011 initial class of Thiel Fellows.[9]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
Deming is the founder of and partner at The Longevity Fund, a venture capital firm focused on aging and life extension.[3][5] The firm raised $4 million in its first fund and $22 million for its second fund, in 2017.[7][10] The Longevity Fund investments include Unity Biotechnology, which develops senolytic drugs targeting diseases of aging, Navitor Pharmaceuticals, and Metacrine.
In 2018, Deming launched the AGE1 accelerator, a four-month startup program aimed at supporting founders developing longevity-focused companies.[11] The program graduated its first cohort of six on October 10, 2018, including Fauna Bio, a startup using the biology of hibernation to aid in heart attack and stroke recovery.[12][13] In August 2018, Deming also began advising the newly launched Pioneer, a fund designed to find talent and "lost Einsteins" around the world, for projects in longevity.[14]
In 2023, Deming joined forces with Alex Colville to launch age1, a next-generation venture capital fund building on the success of The Longevity Fund.[15][16] With $55 million in funding, age1 is dedicated to advancing breakthroughs in longevity and aging science by supporting innovative early-stage companies.[17] Colville, the fund's co-founder, has been recognized for his leadership in driving innovation and advocating for regulatory reforms in aging-related drug development.[18]
Deming believes that science can be used to create biological immortality in humans, and has said that ending aging "is a lot closer than you might think".[19] She has been featured in "30 Under 30" by Forbes magazine,[20] and was one of the stars of "The Age of Ageing", a documentary by National Geographic television channel.[5] She also spoke at the 2012 Singularity Summit[21] and at the 2013 TEDMED conference.[22]
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.