Astor Perkins on LinkedIn: Ginkgo Bioworks lays off 158 employees, with more to come (2024)

Astor Perkins featured on ForbesThe deep tech revolution creating a new class of wealth“Space maverick” Scott Amyx’s skills are niche – so niche that only a handful of people in the world possess his depth of knowledge about deep tech. In layperson’s terms, he’s a leader in the deep tech VC market, investing in complex scientific ideas and space technology that will one day change the world as we know it. Amyx – a Forbes Business Council Member and TEDx speaker – believes that deep tech will create the next industrial revolution, leading to profound changes in how we live and work and creating a new class of mega-wealth. SpaceX alone, for example, has a market valuation of $US140 billion ($198.8 billion) – that figure is predicted to substantially increase when the company goes public. “When we look at… the digital revolution that kind of spanned 2000s until recently — we think that what we’re looking at now [with deep space] is probably going to eclipse all of that combined,” Amyx says. “We are very much at the precipitous of being a one-planet species to being an interplanetary species. We’re going to build habitats [on other planets], and the long-term plan is to have a habitat on the moon, as well as on Mars and other planets.”As previous industrial revolutions created billionaire tycoons like the Rockefellers, Amyx predicts that the deep space revolution will see a new class of entrepreneurs – only this time, they will be trillionaires. “For the first time, we’re going to see mega industries [with players] like SpaceX and Starlink, where we’re going to create trillionaires not billionaires. Elon Musk will be just one of a few”Amyx says while 95 per cent of VCs “pile money into the same thing”, such as Web3, crypto, SAS and FinTech, deep space is a potentially massive market for innovation that very few VC experts understand. Astor Perkins’s recent deep tech investments include D-Orbit, Metawave and Lunar Station.“We are focused on backing mavericks and solving some of the hardest problems facing humanity on earth and in space. And specifically, we look at areas of climate change mitigation…longevity, human survival, and deep space.”When it comes to space travel and tourism, Amyx says history can lend a clue to where the real money will be made by the next generation of entrepreneurs. “When people came to California during the gold rush, it wasn’t the people that were mining for gold that became rich. It was actually the merchants. The same goes for the moon,” he says.https://lnkd.in/e547_7zq#forbes #space #deeptech #vc #startup

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Gut microbiome discovery provides roadmap for life-saving cancer therapiesThe balance between bacterial communities in the gut affects the likelihood of a positive response to drugs called checkpoint inhibitors.Despite their small size, gut bacteria wield large influence over the effectiveness of certain cancer drugs. Researchers have now found that the ratio of specific microbial communities in the gut can help to predict who will respond to next-generation drugs for treating some kinds of cancer.The findings will also help to identify healthy volunteers who could donate faecal bacteria to transfer into the intestines of people who do not respond to these drugs, a procedure known as faecal microbiome transplantation, study co-author Laurence Zitvogel, an immunologist and oncologist at the Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus in Villejuif, France.The work “is a breakthrough from a diagnostic point of view”, says Fabio Grassi, an immunologist at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Bellinzona, Switzerland. The findings, he says, also highlight how the delicate balance of gut microbial species can affect the success of high-stakes therapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors. This treatment helps the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells and is the focus of the new research. The findings were published today in Cell.https://lnkd.in/eT-tacvd

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Cell surface CD55 traffics to the nucleus leading to cisplatin resistance and stemness by inducing PRC2 and H3K27 trimethylation on chromatin in ovarian cancer.Cleveland Clinic researchers believe they may have discovered one of the ways that ovarian cancer cells resist chemotherapy. The results may help them identify patients unlikely to benefit from the treatment, the researchers say.The study showed that blocking CD55′s migration from the cell surface to the nucleus disrupted cancer growth and lessened the cell’s resistance to chemotherapy.Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecologic cancer in the U.S. and the most common cause of death. The disease’s vague symptoms often lead to late-stage diagnosis, complicating treatment.https://lnkd.in/edcUfUrt

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Anti-aging research takes major leap forward thanks to unprecedented telomere techHigh resolution long-read telomere sequencing reveals dynamic mechanisms in aging and cancer.Researchers from the Salk Institute have developed a groundbreaking technique called Telo-seq that is set to revolutionize our understanding of telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of our chromosomes. Telomeres play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of our genetic material, but their repetitive nature and length have long posed challenges for scientists seeking to study them in detail. Telo-seq overcomes these hurdles by combining a clever molecular biology approach with state-of-the-art long-read sequencing technology.Telo-seq, in essence, is a method that allows researchers to sequence and analyze entire telomeres, along with a portion of the adjacent subtelomeric DNA, at an unprecedented level of resolution. The researcher used Telo-seq to resolve bulk, chromosome arm-specific and allele-specific human telomere lengths using Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ native long-read sequencing. Telo-seq resolves telomere shortening in five population doubling increments and reveals intrasample, chromosome arm-specific, allele-specific telomere length heterogeneity. Telo-seq can reliably discriminate between telomerase- and ALT-positive cancer cell lines. Telo-seq is a tool to study telomere biology during development, aging, and cancer at unprecedented resolution.This innovative approach enables scientists to probe the composition and length of telomeres in a way that was previously impossible. By providing a high-resolution view of these crucial structures, Telo-seq promises to shed new light on the complex dynamics of telomeres during human development, aging, and disease.Scientists demonstrated the capabilities of Telo-seq across a range of cell types, including cancer cells, aging cells, and even induced pluripotent stem cells. Their findings reveal striking variations in telomere length not only between different cell types but also among individual chromosome arms and even between the maternal and paternal alleles of the same chromosome.https://lnkd.in/eMKJyspx

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Ex-OpenAI star Sutskever shoots for superintelligent AI with new companyThe former OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever announced he is forming a new company called Safe Superintelligence, Inc. (SSI) with the goal of safely building "superintelligence," which is a hypothetical form of artificial intelligence that surpasses human intelligence, possibly in the extreme.Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever leaves OpenAI six months after Altman ouster"We will pursue safe superintelligence in a straight shot, with one focus, one goal, and one product," wrote Sutskever on X. "We will do it through revolutionary breakthroughs produced by a small cracked team."Sutskever was a founding member of OpenAI and formerly served as the company's chief scientist. Two others are joining Sutskever at SSI initially: Daniel Levy, who formerly headed the Optimization Team at OpenAI, and Daniel Gross, an AI investor who worked on machine learning projects at Apple between 2013 and 2017. The trio posted a statement on the company's new website.During his former job at OpenAI, Sutskever was part of the "Superalignment" team studying how to "align" (shape the behavior of) this hypothetical form of AI, sometimes called "ASI" for "artificial super intelligence," to be beneficial to humanity.As you can imagine, it's difficult to align something that does not exist, so Sutskever's quest has met skepticism at times. On X, University of Washington computer science professor (and frequent OpenAI critic) Pedro Domingos wrote, "Ilya Sutskever's new company is guaranteed to succeed, because superintelligence that is never achieved is guaranteed to be safe."Much like AGI, superintelligence is a nebulous term. Since the mechanics of human intelligence are still poorly understood—and since human intelligence is difficult to quantify or define because there is no one set type of human intelligence—identifying superintelligence when it arrives may be tricky.Already, computers far surpass humans in many forms of information processing (such as basic math), but are they superintelligent? Many proponents of superintelligence imagine a sci-fi scenario of an "alien intelligence" with a form of sentience that operates independently of humans, and that is more or less what Sutskever hopes to achieve and control safely."You’re talking about a giant super data center that’s autonomously developing technology," he told Bloomberg. "That’s crazy, right? It’s the safety of that that we want to contribute to."https://lnkd.in/eCnGrDmq

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Gilead’s Twice-Yearly Lenacapavir Demonstrated 100% Efficacy and Superiority to Daily Truvada® for HIV PreventionGilead Sciences, Inc. announced topline results from an interim analysis of its pivotal, Phase 3 PURPOSE 1 trial indicating that the company’s twice-yearly injectable HIV-1 capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir, demonstrated 100% efficacy for the investigational use of HIV prevention in cisgender women.PURPOSE 1 met its key efficacy endpoints of superiority of twice-yearly lenacapavir to once-daily oral Truvada® (emtricitabine 200mg and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300mg; F/TDF) and background HIV incidence (bHIV). Based on these results, the independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) recommended that Gilead stop the blinded phase of the trial and offer open-label lenacapavir to all participants.“With zero infections and 100% efficacy, twice-yearly lenacapavir has demonstrated its potential as an important new tool to help prevent HIV infections,” said Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Gilead Sciences. “We look forward to additional results from the ongoing PURPOSE clinical program and continuing toward our goal of helping to end the HIV epidemic for everyone, everywhere.”These are the first data generated from Gilead’s landmark PURPOSE program, which is the most comprehensive and diverse HIV prevention trial program ever conducted. The PURPOSE program comprises five HIV prevention trials around the world that are focused on innovation in science, trial design, community engagement and health equity.There were 0 incident cases of HIV infection among 2,134 women in the lenacapavir group (incidence 0.00 per 100 person-years). There were 16 incident cases among 1,068 women in the Truvada group (incidence 1.69 per 100 person-years). The results demonstrated superiority of twice-yearly lenacapavir over bHIV (primary endpoint, incidence 2.41 per 100 person-years) and superiority of twice-yearly lenacapavir over once-daily Truvada (secondary endpoint), with p<0.0001 for both endpoints. In the trial, lenacapavir was generally well-tolerated and no significant or new safety concerns were identified.HIV incidence in the Descovy group was numerically similar (39 incident cases among 2,136 women, incidence 2.02 per 100 person-years) to that in the Truvada group and was not statistically superior to bHIV. Previous clinical trials among cisgender women have commonly found challenges with adherence to daily oral pills for PrEP, and adherence analyses for Descovy and Truvada from PURPOSE 1 are ongoing. In the trial, both Descovy and Truvada were generally well-tolerated and no new safety concerns were identified. https://lnkd.in/ezy8FfuA

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Edible batteries, sensors and actuators unlock robots designed to be eatenImagine ordering drone delivery for your takeout, and then, after eating your food, you eat the delivery drone for dessert. The first part has been happening for a while; the second – the edible robot – could be coming soon, according to scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL).“Bringing robots and food together is a fascinating challenge,” said Dario Floreano, director of the EPFL’s Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS). “We are still figuring out which edible materials work similarly to non-edible ones.”At first glance, food and robots appear to be at opposite ends of the scientific spectrum. But, according to the article’s authors, edible robots are not just a novelty you’d pay a ridiculous amount of money to see on a plate at a high-end restaurant. They have a wide range of potential applications in areas like human health and nutrition, wildlife preservation and animal welfare, and the environment.There’s so much potential in edible robots that, in 2021, Floreano joined with Remko Boom from Wageningen University in The Netherlands, Jonathan Rossiter from the University of Bristol, UK, and Mario Caironi from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) to launch the RoboFood project, receiving backing in the form of EU funding to the tune of €3.5 million (US$3.75 million) over four years.In 2017, EPFL scientists created a gripper capable of handling an apple made from two fully edible actuators. The actuators were themselves made of gelatin-glycerol material with mechanical characteristics like those found in silicone elastomers.EPFL and Wageningen scientists designed a fixed-wing drone with wings made from puffed rice cakes glued together with gelatin in 2022. Granted, only the drone’s wings were edible, but it flew at a speed of 33 ft (10 m) per second and could carry 50% of its own mass as an edible payload.In 2023, IIT researchers created an edible rechargeable battery by making an anode out of riboflavin (vitamin B2) and a cathode from quercetin, a health-promoting natural pigment found in red onions, capers and kale. Activated charcoal increased conductivity, while nori seaweed – the stuff that’s usually wrapped around your sushi rolls – was used to prevent short circuits. Packaged with beeswax, the battery operated at 0.65 volts, still a safe voltage for ingestion; two connected in a series powered an LED for about 10 minutes.In 2024, scientists from the University of Briston, IIT, and EPFL created the first edible strain sensor based on electronic conduction. The key is a novel conductive ink, a combination of activated carbon, Haribo gummy bears, and a water-ethanol mix. When the ink is sprayed on an edible substrate, both can be eaten.https://lnkd.in/eF8dct6R

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The biggest application of AI is going to be mass population surveillance"They've gone full mask off: do not ever trust OpenAI or its products," Snowden — emphasis his — wrote in a Friday post to X-formerly-Twitter, adding that "there's only one reason for appointing" an NSA director "to your board.""This is a willful, calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on earth," he continued. "You've been warned."Snowden wasn't the only prominent cybersecurity figure to raise an eyebrow at the OpenAI news."I do think that the biggest application of AI is going to be mass population surveillance," Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor Matthew Green tweeted, "so bringing the former head of the NSA into OpenAI has some solid logic behind it."Nakasone's installation comes after a series of high-profile OpenAI departures that included prominent safety researchers, in addition to the total dissolution of OpenAI's now-defunct "Superalignment" safety team. OpenAI's replacement for that team, the Safety and Security Committee, is now helmed by company CEO Sam Altman, who has come under fire in recent weeks for business practices that involved silencing former employees. It's also worth noting that OpenAI has routinely drawn criticism for — again — its lack of transparency regarding the data used to train its many AI models.https://lnkd.in/eynaWHpe

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B cells as drug factoriesCompanies are engineering B cells to produce gene-encoded medicines, but clinical proof of concept is needed to convince the doubters that this platform can deliver.Early observations from the world’s first clinical trial of B cell ‘biofactories’, engineered to produce therapeutic proteins continuously inside a person’s body, has given the field grounds for optimism. These B cells are taken from a patient and engineered in the lab such that, once differentiated into antibody-producing plasma cells — how they would normally respond to invading pathogens — they instead make therapeutic proteins. These medicines made in situ require neither immunosuppression nor lymphodepletion and could offer developers a way to deliver genetic cargoes across a whole range of conditions that is safer and less cumbersome than current approaches.Companies are engineering B cells to produce gene-encoded medicines, but clinical proof of concept is needed to convince the doubters that this platform can deliver.Early observations from the world’s first clinical trial of B cell ‘biofactories’, engineered to produce therapeutic proteins continuously inside a person’s body, has given the field grounds for optimism. These B cells are taken from a patient and engineered in the lab such that, once differentiated into antibody-producing plasma cells — how they would normally respond to invading pathogens — they instead make therapeutic proteins. These medicines made in situ require neither immunosuppression nor lymphodepletion and could offer developers a way to deliver genetic cargoes across a whole range of conditions that is safer and less cumbersome than current approaches.Later this year, Be Biopharma aims to become the second firm to move an engineered B cell therapy into clinical development, for treating hemophilia B. It will shortly submit to the US Food and Drug Administration an Investigational New Drug (IND) filing for testing BE-101. This treatment comprises patients’ B cells modified ex vivo using CRISPR–Cas9 to express the Padua variant of the F9 gene, which encodes a highly active form of coagulation factor IX (FIX).These pioneering programs will provide early insights into the potential of these long-lived B cell factories to improve the delivery of therapeutic proteins. The clinical possibilities appear to be vast, given the various shortcomings of classical enzyme replacement therapy, antibody therapy, gene therapy and different forms of cell therapy. These include suboptimal pharmaco*kinetic profiles and dosing regimens, immunological barriers to redosing, and the need for immunosuppression or harsh preconditioning regimens (required for engineered T cell, natural killer cell and hematopoietic stem cell therapies).Developers aim to harness B cells’ intrinsic ability to produce and secrete large quantities of antibodies, which they do as plasma cells. https://lnkd.in/embsZb4V

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