Aging Code Summit 2026 - Pitch Competition

MelliCell is developing an oral pill for autism, obesity, and neurodegeneration by targeting a shared genetic switch at the root of all three diseases. Three birds, one stone. Using an exclusive discovery engine, MelliCell discovered that this switch reverses obesity without muscle and bone loss similar to a keto diet. It also rescues intellectual disability and controls genes like amyloid precursor that causes Alzheimer's. MelliCell designed a novel, oral once-daily pill for this target and has already shown that it works safely in animals. MelliCell has also won federal awards, paid agreements with big pharma, and was named Boston's 2025 Startup of the Year by Startup Grind. The company is on the cusp of >20x growth in 2027 with a single clinical trial for initial safety and efficacy of all three indications.

Tetraxis Therapeutics is developing a novel tetra-receptor agonist platform for metabolic diseases, combining GLP-1R, GIPR, GcgR, and Y2R agonism to improve tolerability and efficacy in obesity and MASH treatment. The platform addresses the critical tolerability failure that prevents patients from reaching therapeutic doses of current GLP-1 therapies.

Foundation Model of the immune system. Building a foundation model of the immune system to power blueprints for therapeutics. Owns the world's largest proprietary immune platform with HD discovery that finds rare cells others miss, feeding a database that trains AI to turn biological complexity into de-risked drug development assets.

Fast in vivo discovery for longevity therapeutics. We start with human-relevant compounds, test them in Daphnia and read out lifespan and healthspan in weeks instead of years. (Smart Tanks, AI Vision, Kinome Regularization, Predictive Datasets)

We turn mucus into medicine—first-in-class mucin-mimetic barrier therapies for mucosal defense. Tulip’s modular glycopolymer platform develops synthetic mucin analogs that reproduce the protective functions of natural mucus to restore barrier function and prevent recurrent infections.

Hiba Therapeutics is developing AND-logic gated, targeted therapies against cancers, autoimmune diseases and age-associated fibrosis by clearing aberrant cells by harnessing tissue-resident immunity. The company's TROIKA platform is a modular, programmable technology with inbuilt specificity and safety features designed to eliminates aberrant cancer and senescent cells that drive disease.

Fidra Therapeutics is developing a novel antibody drug designed to clear extracellular inflammasome particles to prevent chronic inflammation, with the goal of treating neurodegenerative, cardiometabolic, and immunological diseases without broadly suppressing innate immunity.

Developing an IND-track small-molecule combination therapy that clears senescent cells and stimulates regeneration to restore wound healing in aging and fight aging-related diseases. Dual-mechanism therapeutic approach combining senolytic and proliferation-enhancing agents to restore tissue repair and increase healthspan.

ReGENE LLS is developing small-molecule drugs to target core mechanisms of aging and longevity with a specific focus on Alzheimer’s disease. ReGENE developed early lead compounds and demonstrated their efficacy and safety in rodent studies. Currently, we are looking for proceeds to conduct lead optimization, grow the team, strengthen operations, fuel R&D, and IP protection.

Sole 1 creates robotic apparel for the 24M adults facing mobility decline, a leading cause of fall-related injury and death. Our robotic sock continuously monitors gait, detects decline as the wearer ages, and dynamically adjusts physical assistance in real time to help keep adults mobile, safe, and independent longer.

Euler Biologics is building antibody-based drugs to help keep older adults stronger, longer.

HarborSite is a pre-seed Church Lab spinout developing a programmable gene insertion platform to efficiently and safely add large therapeutic genes into safe sites in the human genome, enabling durable treatments for genetic disease, cancer, and broader human health applications.

Biologics for metabolic diseases. Elangen, Inc., was founded in 2024 to advance therapeutics to safely treat, prevent, and reverse complications of metabolic disorders. Elangen's antibody-peptide conjugates were designed to break the inflammatory loops that underlie disease progression and drive pathologies of aging.

Predictive mobility intelligence for aging care. Nuvio captures every walk passively, continuously, visible to the care team through sensor-enabled mobility aids that provide 15+ clinically relevant metrics without requiring wearables or manual testing.