www.owlposting.com/p/some-questions-and-answers-i-had
4 corrections found
Altos Labs launched in 2022 with $2 billion and backing from Jeff Bezos.
Altos Labs did launch in 2022, but the launch funding amount was widely reported as $3 billion, not $2 billion.
Full reasoning
The company’s own launch announcement says Altos Labs “launches with $3B fully committed from renowned company builders and investors.” That directly contradicts the post’s $2 billion figure. Multiple contemporaneous reports described the launch as a $3 billion debut as well. So the year is right, but the amount stated here is not.
2 sources
- Altos Labs launches with the goal to transform medicine through cellular rejuvenation programming
Altos launches with $3B fully committed from renowned company builders and investors.
- Altos Labs launches with $3 billion for cellular rejuvenation
The biotech company Altos Labs has launched with an unprecedented $3 billion in funding.
Retro Biosciences launched in 2023 with $180 million and backing from Sam Altman.
Retro Biosciences was publicly reported as launching in April 2022, not 2023.
Full reasoning
Contemporaneous coverage from April 6, 2022 reported that Retro Biosciences was launching with $180 million in funding. Later reporting also refers to that April 2022 launch and seed financing. So the funding figure is consistent with reports, but the launch year in the post is off by a year.
2 sources
- Mysterious Retro Biosciences Launches to "Increase Healthy Human Lifespan by 10 Years"
April 6, 2022 ... Retro Biosciences announced on Twitter that it is launching with $180 million in funding.
- Retro Biosciences, backed by Sam Altman, is raising $1 billion to extend human lifespan
Altman previously provided Retro Biosciences’ entire seed round of $180 million.
NewLimit launched in 2023 with $40 million and backing from Brian Armstrong.
NewLimit was announced in December 2021; the $40 million figure refers to a later 2023 Series A, not the launch.
Full reasoning
NewLimit’s own announcement says the company’s formation was announced on December 11, 2021, and that it initially raised $105 million from the founders. In May 2023, NewLimit separately announced a $40 million Series A. So the post conflates a later funding round with the company’s launch.
2 sources
- Announcing NewLimit: a company built to extend human healthspan
Dec 11, 2021 ... Today, we’re announcing the formation of NewLimit ... We've raised $105M initially from the founders to help get the company off the ground.
- NewLimit secures $40 million in venture funding from Dimension Capital, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins and other investors
May 16, 2023 ... NewLimit has secured $40 million in Series A funding ... This new funding is in addition to the founders' original $110 million commitment to the company.
As a creature ages, the ratio of unmethylated CpG to methylated CpG sites goes up, reflecting a general loss of methylation in aging. This is also known as Horvarth's Clock.
Horvath’s epigenetic clock is not a simple genome-wide unmethylated:methylated CpG ratio. It is a weighted predictor built from 353 specific CpG sites, some of which gain methylation with age and some of which lose it.
Full reasoning
This description collapses two different ideas into one and ends up misdescribing Horvath’s clock. Reviews of the 2013 Horvath clock explain that it is a multi-tissue age predictor based on 353 specific CpG sites, not a single global ratio of unmethylated to methylated CpGs. Those same reviews note that among the 353 sites, some become hypermethylated with age and others hypomethylated with age. More broadly, the aging methylome is not just a monotonic global loss of methylation: age-related changes include both hypomethylation and hypermethylation in different genomic contexts. So calling a general rise in the unmethylated:methylated CpG ratio “Horvath’s Clock” is inaccurate.
2 sources
- Multi-tissue DNA Methylation Age: Molecular Relationships and Perspectives for Advancing Biomarker Utility
Since its introduction in 2013, the multi-tissue 353-CpG DNA methylation-based estimator of chronological age ... 353 CpGs were selected ... 193 were hypermethylated with age and 160 were hypomethylated.
- The role of DNA methylation in epigenetics of aging
Epigenetic clocks, which measure changes in a few hundred specific CpG sites ... A small fraction (~2%) of the CpG sites show age-related changes, either hypermethylation or hypomethylation with aging.