part of a healthy living
Reducing our intake of harmful chemicals can only do so much. Eventually we need to remove the chemicals we’ve ingested and need innovation here.
We are exposed to many products daily (pesticides, phthalates, bisphenols, PFAS) which have been linked to cancer, hormone dyregulation, lower sperm count, and others. However, tools to measure the accumulation of these substances let alone remove them are very limited. I think part of health and longevity should include our bodies being as toxin free as possible. We’ve seen efforts to reduce the amount of PFOS/PFAS remediation with Fixed Earth, BluumBio, Orin Technologies, Allonnia (A Ginkgo Bioworks Company) but think the in vivo remediation could accrue more value. It also dovetails with proactive healthcare which is becoming popularized with the longevity movement.
In order to meaningfully undertake toxin removal, we need to fidelitously measure toxins and their metabolites, understand where they’re accumulating, ID technologies for removal. Previous work shows that PFAS accumulates mostly in lung tissue, with other forever chemical derivitives enriching in the liver and bone. For inspiration, I tried looking at other toxin removal stragies - developing antibodies which bind the toxin of interest, filtering blood through an affinity column which binds the toxin, carbon nano structures, enzymatic nanoreactors, enzyme discovery, diet, and others.
Other Thoughts
