SENS Research Foundation

What it is

SENS Research Foundation (SRF) is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2009 by Aubrey de Grey and Michael Kope to fund and conduct research on the SENS damage-repair framework — an engineering-style approach to aging that categorises age-related damage into seven types and proposes specific repair strategies for each.

What it has funded

• Foundational work on cyclodextrin-based 7-ketocholesterol clearance that became Cyclarity Therapeutics.
• Allotopic expression research (moving mtDNA-encoded genes to the nucleus).
• Mitochondrial repair programmes.
• Cross-link breaker discovery (precursors to alagebrium-style drugs).
• Catabodies for clearing extracellular junk.
• Several academic-affiliated programmes that have spun out as independent biotechs.

Organisational history

de Grey departed SRF in 2021 amid internal controversy; he later founded the Longevity Escape Velocity (LEV) Foundation, which now pursues a similar but distinct research agenda. SRF continues operating under new leadership.

Influence

The SENS framework — treating aging as repairable damage rather than an undruggable inevitability — predates and partly seeded the modern longevity-biotech industry. Many specific programmes at Altos, Cyclarity, and elsewhere can be traced to SENS-funded work.

Related entries

Aubrey de Grey, Cyclarity, Methuselah Foundation.