Longevity biotechnology company launched in 2022 and reportedly funded largely by Sam Altman, aiming to add years to human lifespan through reprogramming, autophagyTermAutophagyThe cell's recycling process that breaks down and reuses damaged components, important for stress resistance and maintenance.In glossary →, and plasma work.
Facts
- Founded
- Around 2021, public launch 2022
- Chief executive
- Joe Betts-LaCroix
- Headquarters
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Focus
- Reprogramming, autophagy, plasma therapies
- Funding
- About 180 million dollars
- Backer
- Reportedly Sam Altman
Overview
Retro Biosciences is a longevity biotechnology company whose stated mission is to add ten years to healthy human lifespan. Founded around 2021 and unveiled publicly in 2022, the company disclosed initial funding of about 180 million dollars, a sum later reported to have come almost entirely from Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAICompanyOpenAIThe artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, viewed through its work on AI for biology and the longevity investments of chief executive Sam Altman.Company →. Retro presents itself as a lean, fast-moving operation aimed squarely at the biology of aging. Rather than betting on a single mechanism, it pursues several distinct approaches at once, including cellular reprogrammingArticleCellular ReprogrammingPartial reprogramming aims to restore youthful cell function without erasing identity or triggering uncontrolled growth.Read entry →, autophagyTermAutophagyThe cell's recycling process that breaks down and reuses damaged components, important for stress resistance and maintenance.In glossary →, and blood-plasma based therapies. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, it positions itself as an alternative to larger, more diffuse aging-research organizations, emphasizing speed and focus.
Founding and funding
Retro was co-founded and is led by Joe Betts-LaCroix, an entrepreneur and inventor who had previously started technology and biology companies. He has described Retro as deliberately structured like a focused startup, running a small number of programs quickly rather than spreading effort across many targets. When the company launched in 2022 it announced 180 million dollars in funding without naming the source. Reporting by MIT Technology Review later revealed that the entire sum had come from Sam Altman, who beyond leading OpenAICompanyOpenAIThe artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, viewed through its work on AI for biology and the longevity investments of chief executive Sam Altman.Company → is one of Silicon Valley's most active technology investors. Altman has publicly expressed interest in extending healthy lifespan, and the disclosure tied Retro closely to OpenAI's leadership while drawing attention to the growing overlap between the artificial intelligence and longevity communities.
Programs
Retro divides its work into a small number of ambitious programs. In cellular reprogrammingArticleCellular ReprogrammingPartial reprogramming aims to restore youthful cell function without erasing identity or triggering uncontrolled growth.Read entry → it studies partial epigenetic reprogramming, using factors that can reset a cell's biological ageTermBiological ageAn estimate of organism or tissue state relative to typical aging patterns, usually inferred from biomarkers rather than birthdays.In glossary →, an approach it shares with ventures such as Altos LabsCompanyAltos LabsBiotechnology company launched in 2022 with reportedly around three billion dollars to pursue cellular rejuvenation and reverse aspects of aging through epigenetic reprogramming.Company →. In autophagyTermAutophagyThe cell's recycling process that breaks down and reuses damaged components, important for stress resistance and maintenance.In glossary → it works on restoring the cellular recycling process that clears damaged components and tends to decline with age, a mechanism also linked to interventions such as rapamycin. In plasma work it develops blood-plasma based therapies inspired by research into young blood and plasma dilution, which explores whether removing or diluting age-associated factors in blood can rejuvenate tissues. In early 2025 Retro and OpenAICompanyOpenAIThe artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, viewed through its work on AI for biology and the longevity investments of chief executive Sam Altman.Company → announced a collaboration to build a purpose-designed artificial intelligence model aimed at improving the proteins used in cellular reprogramming, with the reported goal of redesigning the Yamanaka reprogramming factors to make the process more efficient, an example of how AI drug discovery is being applied to longevity science.
Reception
Retro's explicit target of adding a decade to healthy lifespan is bold, and the company has been open that its approaches, from reprogramming to plasma-based therapies, are still experimental and unproven in extending human life. Independent scientists caution that none of these strategies has yet been shown to lengthen human lifespan, and that plasma and young-blood interventions in particular have a mixed and sometimes hyped history, having produced striking results in some animal studies but far less clear benefits in people. Reprogramming, meanwhile, carries the same safety concerns that face the broader field, including the risk of tumors if cells lose their normal identity. Retro is nonetheless frequently cited, alongside CalicoCompanyCalicoAlphabet-backed research company founded in 2013 and led by Arthur Levinson that studies the biology of aging and lifespan, known for its secrecy and AbbVie partnership.Company → and Altos LabsCompanyAltos LabsBiotechnology company launched in 2022 with reportedly around three billion dollars to pursue cellular rejuvenation and reverse aspects of aging through epigenetic reprogramming.Company →, as part of a wave of well-funded companies treating aging as a tractable problem, and its work feeds into wider hopes for radical life extension.