Elevian is one of several companies searching for ways to increase life span — in this case, using a protein called GDF11. But challenges lie ahead.This article is part of Upstart, a series about young companies harnessing new science and technology.Several years ago, scientists studying aging at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute used a somewhat Frankensteinian technique known as parabiosis — surgically joining a young mouse and an old mouse so that they share blood — to see what would happen to the heart and skeletal muscle tissue. They knew from previous research that putting young blood in old mice caused them to grow biologically younger, and that young mice exposed to old blood aged faster.The Harvard researchers, Amy Wagers and Dr. Richard Lee, found that the old mouse’s heart tissue had been repaired and rejuvenated, becoming young again. In fact, the size of the old mouse’s heart had reduced to that of a young heart.“We all wondered, what’s the magic stuff in the blood?” said Lee Rubin, a professor of stem cell and regenerative medicine at Harvard and the co-director of the neuroscience program at the Stem Cell Institute. The “magic” they identified was a protein, GDF11, one of tens of thousands produced in the human body. Dr. Rubin’s lab also found that GDF11 in mice stimulated the growth of new blood vessels in the brain and neurons in the hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with learning and memory. Dr. Wagers’s lab found that GDF11 rejuvenated skeletal muscle tissue, too. The scientists’ discoveries were published in the journals Cell and Science in 2013 and 2014.The obvious next question: Could GDF11 be harnessed to promote regeneration and repair in humans? In 2017, Drs. Rubin, Wagers and Lee, along with five others, founded the pharmaceutical start-up Elevian with the aim of commercializing GDF11-based therapies to stop, slow or reverse diseases associated with aging. It’s a big step from mice to humans, but one that could have profound consequences.“We’re interested in proteins like GDF11 that are excreted into the bloodstream because those can cause changes throughout the body,” said Dr. Mark Allen, the chief executive of Elevian. “And those are the kind of changes we want.”Scientists at Elevian’s headquarters looking at markers of new neuron formation in rats treated with GDF11.Cody O’Loughlin for The New York TimesDr. Allen started his first health care company while in medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles, and he left his residency position in 2000 to start a second. In early 2017, he and his investment partner, Sebastian Giwa, an economist, were looking to start a new one that would develop therapies targeting the degenerative processes involved in aging. They looked at two dozen potential research projects before deciding on GDF11.“I had this idea that aging itself could be a target for therapeutic intervention,” Dr. Allen said, “because if we target one aspect of the aging process, then we have the potential to treat many different diseases.”Lee Rubin, a professor of stem cell and regenerative medicine at Harvard and the co-director of the neuroscience program at the university’s Stem Cell Institute. Dr. Rubin’s lab found that GDF11 in mice stimulated the growth of new blood vessels in the brain.Cody O’Loughlin for The New York TimesThe initial research into the rejuvenating properties of GDF11 has gotten some pushback from the scientific community. In 2015, after Dr. Wagers and Dr. Lee had published their results, a group of researchers led by David Glass, the executive director of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., at the time, challenged the accuracy of their findings in an article in the journal Cell Metabolism. The Harvard researchers subsequently countered the Novartis team’s findings in another paper published later that year in the journal Circulation Research, in which the Harvard researchers cited a problem with the Novartis team’s findings.Dr. Glass, who is now at the biotechnology company Regeneron, said in a recent email that he stands by his original work, which showed that GDF11 inhibits, rather than helps, muscle regeneration. But, he added, “our work still leaves open the possibility that there could be positive effects of GDF11 in particular settings.”Dr. Allen said that since the original controversy, Elevian’s research team has reproduced and extended its original findings in multiple studies, but none have yet been published in peer-reviewed journals. However, institutions unrelated to Elevian have conducted and published many preclinical studies demonstrating the therapeutic efficacy of rGDF11 (the form of GDF11 developed in a lab) in treating age-related diseases.The company is on track to begin human clinical trials in the first quarter of 2023 and has raised $58 million in two rounds of funding, with another round set for mid-2023.Elevian is one of many companies racing to find ways to increase the human life span by increasing “health span,” the period of life when a person is in generally good health. This emerging sector of the pharmaceutical industry is often referred to as “longevity therapeutics” and includes companies like Altos Labs, which started in January with $3 billion in funding; Calico Life Sciences at Google; Unity Biotechnology; Alkahest; and Juvenescence. About $2 billion in venture capital was invested in pharmaceutical companies focused on anti-aging in 2021, according to Longevity Technology, a market research company and investment platform focused on the longevity sector.From left: Scans of mice brain cells that have been treated with GDF11; protein purification instruments used to extract GDF11 protein; and a scientist working in Dr. Rubin’s lab.Cody O’Loughlin for The New York TimesFor years, researchers have been looking for drugs that can extend life span and health span. The Interventions Testing Program at the National Institutes of Health began testing drugs — some approved by the Food and Drug Administration, some not — in mice 17 years ago to see if these interventions would extend their lives. Dr. Richard A. Miller, a professor of pathology at the University of Michigan and the director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, said anti-aging therapies are often tested on mice because aging in mice is very similar to aging in humans. “Mice and people share organs, cell biology and most varieties of neurons and neurotransmitters, and they often respond to drugs in similar ways,” he said.A significant challenge lies ahead for all of these companies: Commercializing a drug for aging is nearly impossible because the F.D.A. doesn’t recognize aging as a disease to be treated. And even if it were considered a disease, the clinical studies required to prove that a treatment for it worked would take many years.“It is likely that clinical studies to see if some drug slows aging — and thereby delays the many consequences of aging — would take a long time,” Dr. Miller said.So Elevian’s founders determined that the fastest way to market for GDF11 was to target a specific medical condition.“We thought, what’s the worst disease that has no good treatment and that we could treat for the shortest possible duration and show clinical effects?” Dr. Allen said. “We decided that stroke was the right one to target, because it’s the No. 1 cause of long-term disability with very limited treatment options.”Dr. Elisabeth Breese Marsh, the medical director of the comprehensive stroke program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, said the best treatments for strokes caused by clots (about 87 percent of them) is a type of medication known as tissue plasminogen activators, or tPA, which must be given within 4.5 hours of the stroke, and the surgical removal of large clots.But according to experts, only about 20 percent of stroke victims receive tPA, either because the stroke is not recognized soon enough or because the patient doesn’t qualify because of pre-existing conditions. Elevian’s researchers said their preclinical (and as yet unpublished) studies have shown that just a few days of treatment with GDF11 can improve recovery after stroke. They have found that GDF11 reduces inflammation, improves metabolism and stimulates the brain to regenerate blood vessels and neurons.Dr. Mark Allen, the chief executive of Elevian, at the company’s headquarters.Cody O’Loughlin for The New York TimesThe next big hurdle for Elevian is scaling its manufacturing, which requires specialized equipment and conditions. So much research is being conducted in biotech that contract manufacturers are “full up,” Dr. Allen said. “They are busy with Covid-related work, and there has been a lot of funding in biotech generally,” he added. “So it’s a challenge finding the space that meets our specifications.”And, like almost all other sectors of the economy, biotech research is facing supply chain issues, which make it harder for Elevian to get some of the basic materials it needs to conduct research. But the company is moving forward as fast as it can, and Dr. Allen said he believed the results of its work would have a profound impact on the way we age and how long we live.“By targeting fundamental mechanisms of aging, we have the opportunity to treat or prevent multiple aging-related diseases and extend the health span,” he said. “We want to make 100 the new 50.”

When life is disrupted by crisis, some people see opportunities — for change, action, introspection — they might not otherwise.This article is part of a series on resilience in troubled times — what we can learn about it from history and personal experiences.About a year ago, just as the pandemic was hitting New York City, St. John Frizell and his two partners were readying for the grand reopening of Gage & Tollner, a newly renovated, 140-year-old restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn. One day before the March 15 opening — for which the three partners had spent almost a year and a half preparing — they made the difficult decision not to open.Mr. Frizell retreated to his home in Brooklyn. “The only sounds in the street were ice cream trucks and ambulances,” he recalled. Anxious about going to the supermarket but needing groceries for himself and his son, he reached out to one of his vendors, Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op, to see about having some food delivered. Lancaster was delivering boxes of seasonal produce, but needed an order large enough to be worth the trip. So Mr. Frizell, who suddenly had downtime, did something he hadn’t done in a while: He reached out to his neighbors.“I posted something about it in a local Red Hook group on Facebook and got a big response,” he said. “I thought, OK, I can set this up for all of us.”Mr. Frizell also owns Fort Defiance, a beloved Red Hook bar that he opened in 2009 and that also closed in March; it became the order pickup spot. Neighbors began asking about other grocery items, so Mr. Frizell added things like milk, eggs, cheese and meats. “A lot of people in the neighborhood began looking to us for their staples,” he said.By midsummer, Fort Defiance had permanently become a general store, with new signage painted over the old “Cafe & Bar.” This March, Mr. Frizell started a crowdfunding campaign to help the store move to a bigger space one block away. (Gage & Tollner, which has been open for takeout since mid-February, plans to open for indoor dining on April 15.) The whole experience made Mr. Frizell aware of how much richer his life is when he is connected to the community. “Reaching out and asking what people needed felt really good, like I was doing what I could to help,” he said. “It felt very purposeful.”Fort Defiance in 2018. Now, the business operates as a general store serving the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn.Marian Carrasquero/The New York TimesWhen life is disrupted by crisis, as it has been this past year, some people see opportunities — for change, action, introspection — they might not otherwise. The pandemic has caused many to question the way they live and what is important to them. That’s because a crisis often helps us develop a wider perspective on our lives, said Amit Sood, a physician and executive director of the Global Center for Resiliency and Wellbeing in Rochester, Minn. And that allows us to reframe what we see.Of course, for many people struggling to make ends meet or lacking savings, a big life change — or even just a shift in perspective — may not be possible. But for those fortunate enough to have the psychological space and economic security, this kind of reframing can present real possibilities for change.“When people focus on what is right within what seems wrong in their life (for example, the car has a flat tire but isn’t totaled), that can lead to seeing things that present themselves as opportunities,” he said.This is not the same thing as positive thinking. Instead, said Rick Hanson, a clinical psychologist and author of “Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness,” it’s about seeing openings in life for change and transformation, even in difficult circumstances. Mr. Hanson said that although we often think of opportunities as things that exist outside ourselves, like a new job or moving to a different city, opportunities for growth and change exist inside us, too.Justin E.H. Smith, for example, a philosopher, historian and professor at the University of Paris, made subtle but important changes this past year. Mr. Smith describes himself as an introvert with a tendency to lead a rigid life, doing the same things in the same way every day. The pandemic forced him to restructure his daily life and soften his rigidity.“I’m aware of the contingency of these new routines now,” he said, “and my power to restructure them if they don’t suit.” Mr. Smith, 48, also admitted that he used to feel too old to try anything new. But the pandemic gave the professor permission to be a novice again. “It didn’t feel shameful any longer for me to be a beginner.”So after some research, he opened an online brokerage account. He also took up guitar (and now plays every day) and in August, decided to start a paid subscription newsletter on the digital publishing platform Substack, where he writes about the philosophical dimensions of culture, science and politics, and the ways they are changed (and distorted) by technology.Absent the pandemic, Mr. Smith probably never would have considered it, but for the first time in his professional life, he thought about diversifying his income. “I’m thinking ahead in a precarious moment,” he said.Those sorts of moments often shake up all that we believe to be true about the world, and that is what leads to personal growth. “These are core beliefs we have about the world that we generally don’t question, such as how vulnerable or safe we are, how much control we have over things or what our identity is,” said Richard Tedeschi, who, along with fellow psychologist Lawrence Calhoun, coined the term “post-traumatic growth” in the 1990s, naming this phenomenon.Red Hook in November. After the pandemic hit last spring, neighborhood residents began looking to Fort Defiance for basic grocery items.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesWe use these assumptions about the world to make decisions every day and to plan for the future. When a crisis hits, we often have trouble believing and accepting what is happening because it disrupts those core beliefs. “That is what qualifies as trauma,” Dr. Tedeschi said. “And it can set in motion major changes in people’s lives.” In fact, one of the five areas where growth and change occur after a crisis is in recognizing new possibilities.That is what happened to Elaine Mazanec. In mid-2019, she was a co-owner of a public relations agency in Washington and the mother of a 2-year-old when her husband died suddenly. As someone not used to asking for help, she was forced into a position of vulnerability.“I allowed myself to be cared for in a way I hadn’t before,” Ms. Mazanec said. “I had so much support. It wasn’t comfortable for me, but it was what enabled me to find my footing after the loss.”Just as she was getting back into a normal routine, the pandemic descended. “For the first few weeks, I felt similar to when I lost my husband, like the rug got pulled out from under me,” she said. In the weeks that followed she became more reflective, appreciating the positives in her life, especially the security and support she has (and that so many others do not).“I think sometimes when we’re super busy, we don’t get a chance to zoom out and see the bigger picture,” Ms. Mazanec said. “I realized that what had felt the most meaningful for me in the last two years was having the support of others to help me through a terrible loss, to help me process it.”Ms. Mazanec decided she wanted to be a person who supports others going through difficult times, so she started looking into graduate programs in social work. Most deadlines for applying had already passed, so when she learned that the University of Maryland School of Social Work — her first choice — had extended its deadline because of the pandemic, she took it as a sign she was on the right path.Now in her second semester of the program and doing her fieldwork in an elementary school, Ms. Mazanec says she feels that the work has real purpose and is closely aligned with her values.“The loss I experienced, that tragedy, really changed me,” she said. “And then the pandemic gave me an opening. It all came together in a way I couldn’t have predicted, but I know I’m where I’m supposed to be.”Eilene Zimmerman is author of the memoir “Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy.”