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Elixir Pharmaceuticals Inc.

This article was originally published in Start Up

Executive Summary

Lenny Guarente, PhD, in a molecular genetics laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has found single gene mutations that appear to double the life span of single-celled yeast. Cynthia Kenyon, PhD, a biochemist with the University of California, has found a similar gene that appears to contribute to long life in roundworms. Elixir Pharmaceuticals Inc. was founded to apply the research of Guarente and Kenyon to that higher-order, two-legged mammal known as man.

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