Business and Laboratory Operations Manager - Drug Discovery & Development Sciences

AI models need more data about biology, and OpenAI is paying to create it. 1 hour ago 51 Last year, the clinical trial policy analyst Ruxandra Teslo posted an idea for super-charging medical AI systems: use data from failed biotech companies. By bidding at their bankruptcy proceedings, she proposed, it might be possible to obtain detailed regulatory filings, manufacturing strategies, and safety data - information usually kept hidden as valuable trade secrets. She called these documents "biotech's lost archive" and said they could be used to help train AIs that would act as powerful co-pilots in the often opaque drug approval process. Today, the OpenAI Foundation, the nonprofit parent of OpenAI, said it would fund her idea as part of a new effort it calls Data for Public Health, which aims to help artificial intelligence make big leaps in medicine by funding the creation of "high-quality scientific datasets." The basic idea is that AI isn't going to be capable of making important breakthroughs in curing disease unless researchers can feed the models much more information than they have so far. Explore AI Tools "Everyone is recognizing that data is the biggest bottleneck in successfully applying AI to biology," says Morgan Levine, a former vice president for computation at Altos Labs, a longevity company. In its initial round of data grants, the OpenAI Foundation announced it would give $40 million to a program to collect data about novel cancer vaccines at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and will also support OpenAdmet, a group that runs competitions in which researchers try to predict drug effects. Teslo's biotech archive idea received $500,000 and will be pursued by 1Day Sooner, an advocacy group representing clinical trial volunteers that she advises. "We expect many remaining breakthroughs in preventing and curing disease to come from pairing the intelligence of new models with more observations of the world - in other words, more data," the OpenAI Foundation said in a statement. OpenAI started as a nonprofit, but leader Sam Altman forked its personnel into a for-profit corporation that develops new models, launches products, and which is now planning an initial public offering of stock that could value it

Can VivaTech slow aging? What VivaTech 2026 revealed about the future of Longevity. Article by Collie Mall Copywriter @VivaTech Posted at: 07.30.2026 What if medicine could target aging itself? At VivaTech 2026, Dr. Joan Mannick of Altos Labs shared how breakthroughs in longevity research are bringing that possibility closer to reality. What if medicine could target aging itself, rather than simply treating the diseases that come with it? At VivaTech 2026, Dr. Joan Mannick, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Product Development at Altos Labs, explored that question during Longevity Unlocked: The Science Extending Human Healthspan. Her message was clear: the future of longevity isn't about living forever. It's about extending the years VivaTech spend healthy. "Most of us think longevity isn't about just living longer, it's about living healthier longer." She believes that future may arrive sooner than many expect. "In the next 10 years, we'll have our first drug approved targeting aging biology." Why scientists are targeting the biology of aging. For Mannick, aging is not simply the passage of time. It's the gradual loss of the body's ability to protect and repair itself. "What happens as we get older is we lose that buffer." Longevity research is focused on restoring that resilience, helping people stay healthier well into old age rather than treating one chronic disease after another. One of the most promising areas of research is cellular reprogramming. Mannick pointed to the Yamanaka factors, four proteins capable of resetting a cell's biological age, which are now being investigated in therapies designed to regenerate damaged tissue. Life Biosciences, for example, has launched clinical trials using this approach to restore vision in glaucoma patients. Artificial intelligence is accelerating that work by modelling virtual cells, identifying drug targets, and helping researchers understand one of biology's most complex systems. A review published in Nature concludes that targeting the biological mechanisms of aging could transform medicine by delaying multiple age-related diseases simultaneously, rather than treating each one independently. Despite the excitement surrounding the field, Mannick was equally clear about what works today. "Right now there's nothing that's been proven to extend lifespan or healthspan except exercise, reasonable diet, sleep." She also noted that she does not take longevity supplements herself, stressing the importance of evidence over hype. Longevity may be attracting unprecedented investment, but Mannick believes scientific rigor remains essential. She argued that progress will require patient capital, experienced teams, and a willingness to accept failure as part of discovery. "You can't be scared when you go into this field." That same philosophy shapes her confidence in regulation. Placebo-controlled clinical trials, she argued, remain the best way to understand whether new therapies truly work, while many supplements and peptides sold today have little evidence behind them. Why healthy aging matters. For Mannick, longevity is as much an economic challenge as a scientific one. As populations age, chronic diseases are placing increasing pressure on healthcare systems around the world. Alzheimer's disease, in particular, illustrates the scale of that challenge. "It's going to be over a trillion dollars in the next decade of costs." She believes therapies that target aging biology could transform healthcare in much the same way new medicines have reshaped the treatment of obesity and diabetes. "It will have an enormous impact like the GLP-1 ones. Enormous." Despite her optimism, Mannick remains careful not to overpromise. The field was inspired, she recalled, by Cynthia Kenyon's groundbreaking discovery that changing a single gene could double a worm's lifespan. Decades later, longevity science has matured into one of biotechnology's most ambitious frontiers, but its success will depend on rigorous evidence rather than bold claims. Her focus remains on delaying disease, not chasing immortality. "By targeting aging biology, we'll get one big chronic disease delayed that we couldn't delay before in a new way." Asked which disease she believed would be first, she smiled. "I'm going to take the fifth on that one." Want to explore the future of healthy aging? Watch the full replay of Longevity Unlocked: The Science Extending Human Healthspan, then join VivaTech at VivaTech 2027 as the world's leading scientists, entrepreneurs, and innovators continue exploring the breakthroughs shaping the future of health.