Sierra Sciences, LLC is a

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 ...

company founded by William H. Andrews, former director of

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

Geron Corporation Geron Corporation is a biotechnology company located in Foster City, California, Foster City, California, which specializes in developing and commercializing therapeutic products for cancer that inhibit telomerase. Company information Geron, ba ...

. Andrews founded Sierra Sciences in 1999 in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

with the goal of preventing and/or reversing

cellular senescence Cellular senescence is a phenomenon characterized by the cessation of cell division. In their experiments during the early 1960s, Leonard Hayflick and Paul Moorhead found that normal human fetal fibroblasts in culture reach a maximum of approxi ...

, and ultimately curing diseases associated with human

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 ...

, including the aging process itself.

Background

In humans, aging is strongly correlated with the length of an individual's

telomere A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...

s, the repetitive DNA at the ends of each

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

. Each time a cell in the body

divides In mathematics, a divisor of an integer n, also called a factor of n, is an integer m that may be multiplied by some integer to produce n. In this case, one also says that n is a multiple of m. An integer n is divisible or evenly divisible by ...

, its telomeres become shorter. Eventually, telomeres shorten to the point where the cell is unable to divide (the " Hayflick limit"). The enzyme

telomerase Telomerase, also called terminal transferase, is a ribonucleoprotein that adds a species-dependent telomere repeat sequence to the 3' end of telomeres. A telomere is a region of repetitive sequences at each end of the chromosomes of most euka ...

adds these DNA sequence repeats to the telomere, re-lengthening it. In humans, telomerase is expressed in

embryonic stem cells Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre- implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they co ...

and some other cells, but most

somatic Somatic may refer to: * Somatic (biology), referring to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells ** Somatic cell, a non-gametic cell in a multicellular organism * Somatic nervous system, the portion of the vertebrate nervous sys ...

cells do not express it. While working at Geron Corporation, Andrews co-discovered the

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

component of human telomerase (" hTR"). For this discovery, Andrews was awarded second place as "National Inventor of the Year" in 1997 by the

Intellectual Property Owners Association {{single source, date=July 2012 The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) is a trade association that is composed of owners of intellectual property, represented mostly by in-house corporate counsel and private practice attorneys practici ...

. Andrews also co-discovered the protein component of human telomerase ("

hTERT Telomerase reverse transcriptase (abbreviated to TERT, or hTERT in humans) is a catalytic subunit of the enzyme telomerase, which, together with the telomerase RNA component (TERC), comprises the most important unit of the telomerase complex. T ...

"). The hTERT gene is present in all human cells, but is repressed in most. In 1997, Andrews left Geron, and, in 1999, founded Sierra Sciences to pursue the anti-aging implications of these discoveries, intending to find a

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

that would "switch on" this repressed gene.

Company history

At the time of its inception, Sierra Sciences' President was

Dan Fylstra Dan Fylstra is a pioneer of the software products industry. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1975 he was a founding associate editor of ''Byte'' magazine. In 1978 he co-founded Personal Software, and that year reviewed t ...

, founder of

VisiCorp VisiCorp was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products were Microchess, Visi On and VisiCalc. It was founded in 1976 by Dan Fylstra and Peter R. Jennings as Personal Software, and first published Jennings' Microches ...

. In 2002, Richard Offerdahl, co-founder of Zycad Corporation and former director of

Digi International Digi International is an American Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology company headquartered in Hopkins, Minnesota. The company was founded in 1985 and went public as Digi International in 1989. The company initially offered intelligen ...

, assumed the position of

Chairman of the Board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of Sierra Sciences. In 2003, Offerdahl was elected

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

and

Pierluigi Zappacosta Pierluigi Zappacosta (born Chieti, Italy, on July 2, 1950) is an Italian businessman and chairman of Faro Ventures. He has co-founded, directed, and served on the boards of several prestigious companies, including Logitech and Sierra Sciences. ...

(co-founder of

Logitech Logitech International S.A. ( ; often shortened to Logi) is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software, with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Newark, California. The company has offices throughout Europe, ...

) was elected President and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. In 2008, Andrews was promoted to President and CEO, and Zappacosta took the roles of Co-Chairman of the Board and Vice President, Business Development. In early 2016, Bill Andrews announced that Sierra Sciences was working with BioViva and will be to starting a new venture BioViva FIJI on

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and they will be the first company to use gene therapy to treat biological aging in humans. However when contacted for comment authorities in Fiji denied any such claim.

Discoveries

In 2001, Sierra Sciences discovered a

repressor In molecular genetics, a repressor is a DNA- or RNA-binding protein that inhibits the expression of one or more genes by binding to the operator or associated silencers. A DNA-binding repressor blocks the attachment of RNA polymerase to the ...

binding site (dubbed "Site C") that blocks the expression of

telomerase reverse transcriptase Telomerase reverse transcriptase (abbreviated to TERT, or hTERT in humans) is a catalytic subunit of the enzyme telomerase, which, together with the telomerase RNA component (TERC), comprises the most important unit of the telomerase complex. T ...

("TERT"), patented in 2004. Sierra Sciences discovered another repressor bind site, "GC-Box 5," in 2004, patented in 2007. Sierra Sciences discovered methods of

assay An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a ...

ing TERT promoter modulatory agents, allowing the company to efficiently check a variety of compounds to see if they inhibit repression of hTERT, in 2005. In 2007, the company discovered a small-molecule drug-like compound, "C0057684", that activates telomerase

expression Expression may refer to: Linguistics * Expression (linguistics), a word, phrase, or sentence * Fixed expression, a form of words with a specific meaning * Idiom, a type of fixed expression * Metaphorical expression, a particular word, phrase, o ...

in human cells. In 2008, using C0057684 as a positive control, Sierra Sciences developed a

quantitative PCR A real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR, or qPCR) is a laboratory technique of molecular biology based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It monitors the amplification of a targeted DNA molecule during the PCR (i.e., in real ...

based

high-throughput screening High-throughput screening (HTS) is a method for scientific experimentation especially used in drug discovery and relevant to the fields of biology, materials science and chemistry. Using robotics, data processing/control software, liquid handlin ...

assay to more efficiently screen for compounds that transiently induce the expression of

endogenous Endogenous substances and processes are those that originate from within a living system such as an organism, tissue, or cell. In contrast, exogenous substances and processes are those that originate from outside of an organism. For example, es ...

telomerase in human cells. Sierra Sciences has identified more than fifty such drugs and is characterizing their

mechanism of action In pharmacology, the term mechanism of action (MOA) refers to the specific biochemical interaction through which a drug substance produces its pharmacological effect. A mechanism of action usually includes mention of the specific molecular targe ...

References

External links

Company web site
{{Life extension Biogerontology organizations Biotechnology companies of the United States Companies based in Reno, Nevada Life extension organizations Privately held companies based in Nevada American companies established in 1999

Background

Company history

Discoveries

See also

References

External links