What if a vaccine could help the immune system clear senescent “zombie” cells — damaged cells linked to ageing, chronic inflammation and age-related disease?
In this episode of Beyond Longevity, Daphna Stern sits down with David Scieszka, PhD, MBA, a biomedical scientist, computational biologist, and Founder and CEO of Vertical Longevity Pharmaceuticals (VeLo Pharma). His route into longevity has been anything but conventional, spanning service in the US Army, wet-lab science, computational biology and, eventually, biotech entrepreneurship.
VeLo Pharma is developing a senolytic vaccine designed to help the immune system recognise and remove senescent cells. Often described as “zombie cells”, these are damaged cells that have stopped dividing but remain active. As they accumulate with age, they can contribute to chronic inflammation, tissue dysfunction and age-related disease.
The company’s first focus is atherosclerosis, where plaque builds up inside the arteries. The aim is to target senescent cells within the vasculature — the network of blood vessels that carries blood around the body — as a potential new way of tackling vascular ageing and cardiovascular disease.
But this conversation goes far beyond one experimental vaccine.
David and Daphna explore one of the biggest problems in longevity science: why so many promising discoveries look exciting in the lab, yet so few make the difficult journey into treatments that patients can actually use.
They discuss where artificial intelligence can genuinely help drug development — and where the hype may run ahead of the science — what animal and primate studies can and cannot tell us, and what evidence would be needed before an approach like this could move towards human trials.
David also talks candidly about the business of building a biotech company: learning how to approach investors, getting the fundraising ask wrong, understanding what investors actually need to see, and building a company around a mission that goes beyond simply creating another expensive longevity treatment.
Running through the conversation is an even bigger question: if we do find effective ways to slow parts of the ageing process, who gets access to them first? Will longevity medicine remain something available primarily to those who can afford it — or can longevity eventually become something for everyone?
Guest
David Scieszka, PhD, MBA
Biomedical scientist, computational biologist, and Founder and CEO
Vertical Longevity Pharmaceuticals (Velo Pharma)
Vertical Longevity Pharmaceuticals
LinkedIn - Vertical Longevity Pharmaceuticals
Reach out to David on LinkedIn to find out about the upcoming “Ask VeLo Pharma Anything”
00:00 Welcome and Big Question
00:25 Meet David Cheska
02:53 Army Roots of Longevity
04:38 Choosing Biotech Path
05:49 Wet Lab Meets Computation
08:48 AI Promise and Limits
13:19 Longevity for All Mission
16:54 Vascular Ageing Explained
19:29 Senescent Cells 101
22:31 Lytic Vaccine Overview
24:11 Dosing and Study Strategy
26:12 How VLP Vaccines Work
29:02 Safety and Public Trust
29:58 Vaccine Safety Basics
31:14 Senescent Cells Strategy
32:42 Evidence So Far
35:35 Primate Trial Goals
36:40 Why Translation Fails
39:55 Personalised Longevity Care
42:41 PhD MBA Path
44:51 Fundraising Lessons
49:35 Mission-Driven Team
51:32 Longevity Next Decade
53:16 Rapid Fire Wrap
55:17 Final Takeaways
