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Calico Life Sciences LLC is an Alphabet subsidiary responsible for health
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
,
life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...
and
biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
. Originating on September 18, 2013 prior to the Google restructuring and headed by
Bill Maris Bill Maris (born William J. Maris) is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist focused on technology and the life sciences. Bill Maris's investments have to date resulted in over 150 exits and more than 50 companies that have grown to over ...
with the goal of combating
aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
and diseases of aging, it was incorporated into Alphabet with Google's other sister divisions in 2015. In Google's 2013 Founders Letter,
Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American business magnate, computer scientist and internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was the chief executive officer of Google from 1997 unt ...
described Calico as a company focused on "health, well-being, and
longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...
" and the company's name additionally as a play on "California Life Company."


Partnerships and staff

In September 2014, it was announced that Calico, in partnership with
AbbVie AbbVie is an American publicly traded biopharmaceutical company founded in 2013. It originated as a spin-off of Abbott Laboratories. History On October 19, 2011, Abbott Laboratories announced its plan to separate into two publicly traded compan ...
, would be opening up an R&D facility focused on aging and age-related diseases, such as
neurodegeneration A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Such neuronal damage may ultimately involve cell death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic ...
and
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. Initially, each company will invest $350 million, with an option for each to add an extra $500 million later on. In the same month, Calico announced a partnership with the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 18,800 employees, more than 2,900 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient vi ...
and 2M Companies regarding drug development for neurodegenerative disorders. In 2015, the
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to: People * A slang term for a woman. * Broad (surname), a surname Places * Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth * The Broads, a network of mostly navi ...
announced a partnership with Calico to "advance research on age-related diseases and therapeutics", a further partnership also was announced with the
Buck Institute for Research on Aging The Buck Institute for Research on Aging is an independent biomedical research institute that researches aging and age-related disease. The mission of the Buck Institute is to extend the healthy years of life. The Buck Institute is one of nine cen ...
. Also in 2015, Calico announced a partnership with QB3 based on researching the biology of aging and identifying potential therapeutics for age-related diseases and one with
AncestryDNA Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, t ...
based on conducting research into the genetics of human lifespan. At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, Calico lost two top scientists; in December 2017 Hal Barron, its head of R&D, left for
GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...
, and in March 2018
Daphne Koller Daphne Koller ( he, דפנה קולר; born August 27, 1968) is an Israeli-American computer scientist. She was a professor in the department of computer science at Stanford University and a MacArthur Foundation fellowship recipient. She is one o ...
, who was leading their AI efforts, left to pursue a venture in applying machine learning techniques to drug design.


Reception

Aubrey de Grey Aubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey (; born 20 April 1963) is an English author and biomedical gerontologist. He is the author of ''The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging'' (1999) and co-author of ''Ending Aging'' (2007). He is known ...
has criticized Calico in an interview in 2017, calling it a "massive disappointment". De Grey claimed that Calico is ignoring existing research on longevity, and instead focuses on understanding aging better. De Grey asserted that, among other people at the top, CSO David Botstein is responsible for this approach, being "a basic scientist through and through" who would therefore "never feel that we have enough knowledge". The company was criticized for its secrecy, contrary to Google's "open culture" politics, and ineffectiveness given its huge budget.


See also

*
Verily Verily Life Sciences, also known as Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences), is Alphabet Inc.'s research organization devoted to the study of life sciences. The organization was formerly a division of Google X, until August 10, 2015, when Sergey ...
*
Altos Labs Altos Labs, Inc. is an American biotechnology research company. Altos Labs' goal is to develop life extension therapies that can halt or reverse the human aging process. Specialized cell therapies based on induced pluripotent stem cells are to ...
*
SENS Research Foundation The SENS Research Foundation is a non-profit organization that does research programs and public relations work for the application of regenerative medicine to aging. It was founded in 2009, located in Mountain View, California, USA. The organiza ...
*
Human Longevity Human Longevity, Inc. is a San Diego-based venture launched by Craig Venter and Peter Diamandis in 2013. Its goal is to build the world's most comprehensive database on human genotypes and phenotypes, and then subject it to machine learning so tha ...
*
Life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human life expectancy, lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled oldest people, limit of 125 years. S ...


References


External links

* {{Life extension, state=collapsed GV companies Biogerontology organizations Health care companies based in California Biotechnology companies of the United States Life sciences industry Life extension organizations American companies established in 2013 Biotechnology companies established in 2013 Alphabet Inc. 2013 establishments in California Companies based in South San Francisco, California Alphabet Inc. subsidiaries