Innovations in Agriculture, Anti-Aging,
the advancement of longevity.

The inventor of the technology and the company’s CSO and co-founder is Dr. Andrew Wojtovich. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He completed his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Rochester.

After finishing postdoctoral work at the University of Rochester, he joined the Department of Anesthesiology. He is an expert on optogenetics and metabolism. His work developed the mtON technology to control mitochondrial function using light. His lab is funded by the National Institute of Health to address fundamental questions in hypoxic biology, aging, and redox biology.

Dr. Shahaf Peleg is the CEO and co-founder. Dr. Shahaf Peleg received his PhD from the University of Göttingen, Germany in 2010 where he was part of the international Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) of Neuroscience. He later did his postdoctoral training at the University of Munich where he focused on metabolism – epigenetics connectivity during early aging.

Since 2018, his laboratory at the FBN is working mainly on flies and Giant mice. He is seeking to better understand molecular changes that are associated with the progression of aging.He is interested in novel approaches to extend healthy life span, which center around the concept of energy replacement. To this end, he uses recent technology that enables metazoans to harness the energy of light and translate it to chemical energy in their mitochondria. He received the Schilling prize at 2011.

Peter Hungerford graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Accounting and Economics. He then founded a real estate brokerage in NYC. After several years in the brokerage business he left for graduate school at Columbia University. He then completed two Master’s degrees; one in Finance and one in Operations Research. Upon completing his masters research, he began working as a principal full-time buying his own value-add commercial real estate; the more distressed the better.

Within a few years, he built a portfolio of over 1,000 units, completing over 100 transactions, starting with small single-family flips and working up to foreclosed apartment complex. He has always manages his properties in-house and supervised all construction. What started as single-family rentals has since grown into copious capital partner relationships, over 3,500 units purchased, rehabbed and refinanced or sold. To date, his cumulative transaction volume is in excess of $5 billion.

Anuroop V Venkatasubramani is currently a doctoral student at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, where he has been immersed in the intricate interplay of environment, epigenetics, and metabolism, employing fruit flies as his primary research subjects since 2017. His academic journey began with a Bachelor of Technology in Industrial Biotechnology from SASTRA University (India) and culminated in a Master of Science in Human Genetics from the University of Helsinki. In 2018, he had the privilege of participating in the prestigious Linda Nobel Laureate conference. Beyond his scholarly pursuits, Anuroop is an ardent volleyball enthusiast and a culinary explorer, delighting in the art of cooking and savoring diverse cuisines.

Dr. Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk is an Assistant Professor within the Departments of Physiology and Biophysics, as well as Ophthalmology, and is a member of the Center for Translational Vision Research (CTVR) at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. Dr. Skowronska-Krawczyk is a biochemist and molecular biologist. The focus of research conducted in Dr. Skowronska-Krawczyk’s laboratory revolves around understanding the implications of natural aging on visual function, as well as its impact on neurodegenerative ocular conditions. Using a multifaceted approach encompassing molecular, biochemical, and cellular methodologies, her team works to elucidate the intricate processes affected during the aging and assess the translational potential of these findings for clinical applications. Dr. Skowronska-Krawczyk’s investigations have led to groundbreaking insights, including the identification of senescence as a pivotal factor in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. Moreover, she has established a compelling genetic link between the mechanisms of aging and the development of ocular diseases. Notably, her research has unveiled that susceptibility to stress responses increases with advancing age and is epigenetically regulated at the chromatin level. Furthermore, her work has demonstrated that repeated episodes of intraocular pressure elevation accelerates the aging process within the young retina. The expertise of Dr. Skowronska-Krawczyk’s laboratory extends to the domains of epigenomics, transcriptomics, and lipidomics, facilitating an in-depth exploration of age-related eye disorders at the molecular level. This enables her to provide a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving these conditions. Notably, a significant part of the research conducted in her laboratory is dedicated to the development of therapeutic interventions, and on the repurposing of FDA-approved pharmaceutical agents for potential application in ophthalmic clinical settings. Through years, work of Dr. Skowronska-Krawczyk has been funded from many sources, including NIH National Eye Institute, Glaucoma Research Foundation, BrightFocus foundation.

Dr. Shiqiang Gao is a Group Leader at the Physiology Institute of University Wuerzburg. He is interested in studying photoreceptors, synthetic biology, and engineering optogenetic tools to apply them in different biological systems. He has a study and research background in molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics, with specific expertise in molecular engineering. In 2015, he obtained his PhD with Prof. Georg Nagel in the field of Optogenetics, there he characterized the first rhodopsin with 8 transmembrane helices and showed light-activated cGMP production. Later, he brought the all-trans-retinal production into plants and thus facilitated the functional expression of microbial rhodopsins in plants. He also developed synthetic potassium and calcium channels by fusing light-gated nucleotide cyclases with CNG channels. He has established close collaborations with international researchers and produced a number of peer-reviewed publications.

Prof. Andreas S. Richter obtained his PhD in molecular plant physiology from Humboldt University Berlin. After a short Post-Doc and one year as an Assistant Professor in Berlin, he was appointed Assistant Professor for the Physiology of Plant Metabolism (with tenure track) at the University of Rostock in 2021. With his team he focuses on the function and regulation of plant metabolism, transcription and intracellular communication for plant acclimation to an ever-changing environment.

After receiving a Socrates International Honours Society lifetime membership for outstanding achievements in her early academic career, Yani Langenberg went on to concurrently complete a multidisciplinary Master’s degree in Biogerontology at Leiden University and be selected for a fast-track M.D. degree at the University of Amsterdam. While at Leiden University, she was awarded a LISF grant for international work in science communication and stakeholder management. In 2019, she co-founded Medevice, a medical device startup working on developing non-invasive tools for continuous monitoring of post-operative status, which won several prizes before the team decided to license the technology and move on to other projects.

Over the past 7 years, Yani has been working as a Business Development Manager and Strategic Advisor in the longevity space and broader biotech industry where she has spearheaded fundraising, partnership acquisition and clinical strategy for a wide variety of companies. She is currently a medical resident at the Amsterdam University Medical Center and consults on business development and strategy for start-ups and scale-ups working on advancing human health- and lifespan.

Charles Owen Wolffsmith Ph.D. is the PI and scientist at Luminova Biotech, LLC. He is an alumnus of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate program at the University of Rochester, and has extensive training in Mitochondrial Bioenergetics, Pharmacology and Physiology, Metabolomics, Genetics. His experience in the biotech industry includes development and testing of the receptor-based potency technology in live human cells and constructing a testing platform for determining the biologic potency of cannabinoids in blends and isolates.