Life Length is founded in Madrid
First biotechnology firm to measure telomeres
A Spanish scientist has developed the most precise method of measuring telomeres, which are key to determining biological age and have far-reaching applications in medicine and biotechnology.
The breakthroughs that Maria Blasco has made at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas, or CNIO) in Madrid, Spain, are the founding basis of Life Length, a new biotechnology company set up to measure the length of telomeres which form caps at the end of chromosomes and have a fundamental role in avoiding the break down and ageing of cells and organisms. Telomeres are the best-known measure of biological, as opposed to chronological, age and are potential indicators of the state of health of an organism.
Life Length will commercially exploit telomere length measuring techniques (initially as indicators of biological age), providing them to the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals and clinics, as well as other research laboratories.
Blasco, the Botin Foundation and Matlin Associates, a corporate finance and strategic consulting firm that will manage the company until new partners are incorporated, have provided the founding capital of the company.
The importance of telomeres was recognised in last year's Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Studies with genetically modified mice from Blasco's research group have shown that telomeres are essential in preserving the regenerative capacity of tissues and organs to the extent that when their length is cut back below a critical point, the organism begins to age. The technique developed by Blasco and the CNIO team measures short telomeres with superior precision to other known techniques.
Blasco was awarded this year's Santiago Ramon y Cajal National Research Prize, as well as the Pre-Clinical Research Prize of the Lilly Foundation.
