Solarea Bio Investigators Receive National Academy of Medicine Healthy Longevity 2022 Quickfire Challenge Award

Work focuses on studying the mycobiome as a novel class of probiotics for the dietary management of inflammation associated with aging

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Solarea Bio, a clinical stage biotech company, has been selected as an awardee of the NAM Healthy Longevity 2022 QuickFire Challenge, launched by Johnson & Johnson Innovation together with the National Academy of Medicine, for work studying the mycobiome as a novel class of probiotics to target inflammation associated with aging, or 'inflammaging'.  

This new funding for Solera Bio is in addition to an earlier award in November 2021 from the NAM's Healthy Longevity Initiative to Solarea Bio, along with Douglas P. Kiel, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Musculoskeletal Research Center, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, and Shivani Sahni, Ph.D., Director, Nutrition Program, Marcus Institute.

"We're dedicated to delivering products that can make a meaningful impact on people's lives by unlocking the power of the edible plant microbiome," said Dr. Gerardo V. Toledo, CEO and co-founder of Solarea Bio, Inc.

Solarea Bio has developed a unique approach of harnessing microbes derived from fresh fruits and vegetables, including fungi, with the aim to manage chronic inflammation associated with aging, leveraging the team's deep expertise in data science, microbial discovery, and product development. With inflammation as its core target, Solarea is developing a pipeline of products in addition to its existing lead clinical program for the dietary management of bone health.

Dr. Eric Schott, co-founder and Vice President of Translational Research and Operations at Solarea said, "Healthy aging as a target is advancing through the product development process with strong initial results. We will continue to develop these products with the support of this grant and with the aim to quickly bring them to market to meaningfully improve the lives of many."

The global human population is aging, with the number of individuals over age fifty estimated to have exceeded 1.8 billion in 2020 (United Nations World Population Prospects 2019). "We need to focus on improving the quality, rather than just the quantity of life for our aging population by focusing on age-related diseases," commented Dr. Kiel, who works with Solarea Bio as a collaborating scientist.

According to the researchers, discussing the original project funding, "An aging population has led to a significant global increase in age-related diseases including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, and others. At the core of this is chronic low-grade inflammation known as inflammaging, and recent evidence describes the gut microbiome as a key regulator of the inflammaging process through direct impact on immune system development and function." 

However, while the impact of beneficial bacteria on the immune system and human health is well described, fungi, a major component of the gut microbiome, have been largely overlooked due to multiple factors including fungi's large, complex genomes, paucity of high quality genome databases for functional gene prediction, and underdeveloped bioinformatic tools to identify fungal metabolites important to human health. 

The researchers hypothesize that the "mycobiome" (the collection of fungi that are part of the overall microbiome) could offer a large, untapped reservoir of probiotic fungi with the ability to manage inflammaging. Based on this hypothesis, the team will be working to characterize the effects of food-derived fungi and bacteria with probiotic potential on markers of inflammation and aging. Lead candidates may then be further tested clinically by working closely with Drs. Kiel and Sahni at the Marcus Institute. 

The National Academy of Medicine's Healthy Longevity Initiative is designed to kick start innovation to support healthy longevity through a series of monetary awards and prizes. In the tradition of international races to fly across the Atlantic or walk on the moon, the initiative will rally the world's greatest minds to achieve what may at first seem an impossible goal.

Scientists at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute at Harvard Medical School affiliated-Hebrew SeniorLife seek to transform the human experience of aging by conducting research that will ensure a life of health, dignity, and productivity into advanced age. The Marcus Institute carries out rigorous studies that discover the mechanisms of age-related disease and disability; lead to the prevention, treatment, and cure of disease; advance the standard of care for older people; and inform public decision-making.

Solarea Bio is a clinical stage biotechnology company based in Cambridge, MA mining the untapped microbial diversity of fresh fruits and vegetables to develop novel solutions for managing inflammatory diseases and enabling people to enjoy long, healthy lives. Solarea has built a best-in-class strain catalog of bacteria and fungi, a database of their genomes, and a computational platform to mine them to develop products across a range of categories including supplements, medical foods, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture.

CONTACT: Rachel Raymond, [email protected]

SOURCE Solarea Bio