VDP-8 Turn Biotechnologies (Turn.Bio) Investment Analysis and Recommendation

NOTE: This is a duplicate of an on chain proposal from prior to VitaDAO's using snapshot, and is present here for completeness on snapshot. No snapshot vote occurred.

Summary

VitaDAO recommends the Fund (established in VDP-7, upon which this proposal depends) invest in Turn.bio or not, based on the on-chain vote for this proposal. You, the token holders, will decide.

After multiple meetings and careful analysis with access to the Turn Bio Data room under NDA, the Longevity WG recommends an "Agree" vote.

Proposal Details

Turn.Bio is developing therapeutics to correct aging-related conditions using mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based cellular reprogramming.

• Scientific and market validation: Cellular reprogramming has emerged over the past half-decade as one of the most promising approaches for aging and aging-related disease. The most recent validation of this was a $270M investment to create Altos Labs funded by Yuri Milner, Jeff Bezos, amongst other high-profile investors.
• Out in front in both core technologies: reprogramming and mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based gene therapy. The reprogramming approach the field has gravitated towards is conceptually based on the 2012 Nobel Prize work of Shinya Yamanaka. The LNP approach has similarities to that used in the COVID-19 vaccines as well as gene therapy applications already tested in humans, e.g., by Alnylam - a MIT-founded $20B+ market cap biotech.
• Strategic lead indications: skin and eye indications have strong market demand. Additionally, Turn.Bio has novel payload delivery approaches for both.
• Elite management (CEO, Anja Krammer, has IPO’d biotech companies before) and scientific team (Stanford Univ. IP, peer-reviewed science in leading outlets, such as Nature journals).
• Already supported by top tech and longevity investors such as Khosla Ventures and Methuselah Fund.
• Fits the fund’s thesis of relatively lesser-risk, already patented technology (vs. VitaDAO, which funds relatively higher-risk, pre-startup technology, e.g., VDP-5).
• Turn Bio provides a potential buyer of reprogramming, mRNA, and LNP technology being developed by others that VitaDAO is considering.

More information

For the full proposal with more details, see the discussion on Discourse here.