Anti-aging science has enormous potential. Age-related diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases are among the leading causes of death and a significant burden on health funding.

Five Alarm Bio is developing a small molecule approach to boost the body’s defence to aging, based on a new understanding of how the chemical damage associated with age accumulates in cells. Five Alarm plans to deploy our discoveries to develop safe and effective treatments for a range of age-associated diseases and disabilities..

Founded in 2016 by three experienced entrepreneurs, Five Alarm Bio is based near Cambridge, UK, and is carrying out research at the Babraham Campus.

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Who we are

  • Janette Thomas

    CEO

    Dr Thomas has a background in Biochemistry research at Leicester, Cambridge, and Glaxo, after which she has had 25years of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development experience from large Pharma (GSK) and SME’s. She has been instrumental in the early strategy and growth of small companies including Horizon Discovery (now a public company). She was Director of International Operations at Atlantic Healthcare until she founded Pellis Care Ltd. As a member of leadership teams, Janette has broad experience in developing company and product R&D strategy. Examples of her expertise include the successful completion of commercial-scale oligonucleotide manufacturing process, submission of regulatory dossiers, and invention and grant of patents. She has managed multinational projects for charities and not-for-profits to find new treatments for Malaria and led InnovateUK grants through to successful completion.

  • William Bains

    CSO

    William is a scientist and entrepreneur with a 30-year track record research into the fundamentals of biology and translating that research into new enterprises.William has a BA in biochemistry from Oxford University,a PhD in molecular biology from Warwick, and did a postdoc at Stanford and a lectureship at Bath before joining PA Consulting Group’s Technology division. In 1998 Dr. Bains joined a boutique London VC group as head of science,and he was founder and CSO of his first start-up in 2001. Dr. Bains research focuses on the chemical nature of life, it’s limits and it’s failures, especially in ageing. He is author of over 100 papers on subjects as diverse as drug chemistry, anti-aging drugs, sewage plant management, company law and extra-terrestrial life, and five books. William continues active scientific research in collaboration with MIT and Arizona State University. He has taught at Bath, Warwick and Cambridge Universities, and is a frequent speaker to University, conference and non-scientific audiences.

  • Peter Tyrer

    Lead Research Scientist

    Peter is a biologist with almost 30 years industrial and academic experience in therapeutics discovery methods and their deployment, including the preclinical development of an oncology drug which went on to successful launch. He has worked across the biomedical industry in large pharmaceutical companies such as  in Merck, Sharp & Dohme and Astra Zeneca, established biotech companies such as Celltech, and small start-ups such as Provalis. He has specializing in using cell biological techniques in drug discovery, especially in immunology. His last job before joining Five Alarm Bio was at Enplas, leading the biological development of a cutting-edge organ-on-a-chip technology. Peter holds a BSc from University of Liverpool (UK) and a PhD from University of Canberra (Australia).

  • Hannah Mizen

    Research Scientist

     Hannah is a cell biologist with expertise in ageing and longevity research, specifically the role of cellular senescence. She has recently completed an interdisciplinary PhD and Post-Doc at Queen Mary University of London, and has prior experience whilst collaborating with Unilever, with further industry experience working for MedImmune, an AstraZeneca company. Hannah holds a Bsc from the University of Leicester. 

  • Ann Baker

    Director

    Ann has more than 25 years of experience working on strategy and business consulting engagements with companies in the pharmaceuticals, biotech, and medical devices sectors. She specializes in working with the R&D functions of life sciences companies. Until recently she worked for Charles River Associates as VP of their life sciences Practice. Before joining CRA, Ms. Baker co-founded Atkinson Cowan, a life sciences consulting firm in London. Previously, she was a partner with Accenture in the Health and Life Sciences Group and led the Pharmaceutical R&D Practice in the UK. She also worked for PA Consulting Group, and led the Pharmaceutical Strategy Group in its Melbourn, UK facility and the Technology Strategy Group in the US. Ms. Baker holds an MA (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Oxford and a BA (Hons) in History from The Open University.

  • Janette Thomas

    CEO

    Dr Thomas has a background in Biochemistry research at Leicester, Cambridge, and Glaxo, after which she has had 25years of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development experience from large Pharma (GSK) and SME’s. She has been instrumental in the early strategy and growth of small companies including Horizon Discovery (now a public company). She was Director of International Operations at Atlantic Healthcare until she founded Pellis Care Ltd. As a member of leadership teams, Janette has broad experience in developing company and product R&D strategy. Examples of her expertise include the successful completion of commercial-scale oligonucleotide manufacturing process, submission of regulatory dossiers, and invention and grant of patents. She has managed multinational projects for charities and not-for-profits to find new treatments for Malaria and led InnovateUK grants through to successful completion.

  • William Bains

    CSO

    William is a scientist and entrepreneur with a 30-year track record research into the fundamentals of biology and translating that research into new enterprises.William has a BA in biochemistry from Oxford University,a PhD in molecular biology from Warwick, and did a postdoc at Stanford and a lectureship at Bath before joining PA Consulting Group’s Technology division. In 1998 Dr. Bains joined a boutique London VC group as head of science,and he was founder and CSO of his first start-up in 2001. Dr. Bains research focuses on the chemical nature of life, it’s limits and it’s failures, especially in ageing. He is author of over 100 papers on subjects as diverse as drug chemistry, anti-aging drugs, sewage plant management, company law and extra-terrestrial life, and five books. William continues active scientific research in collaboration with MIT and Arizona State University. He has taught at Bath, Warwick and Cambridge Universities, and is a frequent speaker to University, conference and non-scientific audiences.

  • Sunil Shah

    Director

    Sunil has been active in the early stage biotech community in the UK since the mid 1990’s, his MBA thesis at Cambridge addressed issues virtualised networks in science. He started his career in the life sciences team at PA consulting group, followed by co-founding a tech company that gained public prominence between 1999 to 2003.In 2003 Sunil co-founded Oxygen Healthcare, which he grew into an integrated drug discovery services business specialising in chemistry and biology, with clients from the USA, Japan and the EU. The company grew into a team of 350 employees including a 100,000 sq. ft. purpose built greenfield development. Piramal Enterprises (NSE:PEL) acquired the business in 2011-2013. o2h Ventures was co-founded by Sunil in 2013. In the last 3-4 years, he has co-founded four companies with UK based academics and entrepreneurs, held Chairman or Director level positions in nine companies, built up a portfolio of twenty early stage investments, and executed early stage drug discovery research projects for fifteen different companies.

  • João Pedro de Magalhães

    Advisor

    João Pedro de Magalhães graduated in Microbiology in 1999 from the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia in his hometown of Porto, Portugal, and in 2004 obtained a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Namur in Belgium. Following further training in computational biology and genetics at Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA), in 2008 Dr de Magalhaes joined the University of Liverpool in the UK as a faculty member to develop his own group on genomic approaches to ageing. His research on genetics, ageing and longevity has widely been featured in scientific magazines (Science, Nature, Scientific American, New Scientist, etc.). In addition, he has a long-term interest in technological trends and their future impact on society. His work on predicting how technology will shape the human condition has been published in magazines such as Futures and The Futurist, and in newspapers like The Independent. Dr de Magalhaes has given over 100 invited talks, including a TEDx talk, and makes regular media appearances (BBC, CNN, the Washington Post, the Financial Times and many others). He is also an advisor/consultant or various organizations, including nonprofit foundations and biotech companies. For more information please see the personal website of Dr de Magalhaes http://jp.senescence.info/

  • Barry Bentley

    Advisor

    Barry L. Bentley is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Bioengineering Research Group and Bio-AI Laboratory, and Deputy Director of the EUREKA Robotics Centre, in the Cardiff School of Technologies at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Barry received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge, where he worked at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology to map and analyse the neuromodulatory connectome of C. elegans. Previous research includes work with Prof. Angelo Cangelosi and the Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency, investigating brain-inspired control systems for planetary rovers; and the verification of operational space flight dynamics software with engineers at University at Buffalo (SUNY) and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. His current research focuses on the development of laboratory systems for cryopreservation, and the development of systems for classifying and staging age-related pathology.

Aging is the number one cause of disability and morbidity in our society, and the cause of the biggest drain of resources on the healthcare systems in the Western world.

FAB is working to boost the body’s defences against this damage that accumulates with aging. Our bodies have their own defences, but they decline with age. A decade’s research by FAB’s scientific founder Dr. Bains has identified how that process could be ‘tuned up’ in cells as we age, extending the healthy life of our cells and hence of our bodies.

See the other sections for more background on the chemistry and biology of aging, and how Five Alarm Bio is targeting it.

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In a landmark paper, Manuel Serrano and his colleagues listed nine types of failure that happen in our cells and bodies as we age:

1. DNA damage and instability
2. Altered cell:cell communication
3. Epigenetic alteration
4. Loss or protein quality control
5. Accumulation of senescent cells
6. Running out of stem cells
7. Mitochondrial damage and dysfunction
8. Failure in cellular sensing of nutrients
9. Telomere shortening

Many of these come down to accumulated chemical damage. This is directly seen in the accumulation of compounds called Advanced Glycation Endproducts – AGEs – which damage proteins inside and outside cells, and are the targets of several anti-aging programmes and drugs.

Our approach is to look at the more subtle effects of chemical damage, the degradation of cellular accuracy, and target this for redress.

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Our bodies are assaulted by chemicals every second. Even if we drank nothing but pure water and ate only the cleanest, healthiest food, the oxygen in the air we breathe is a reactive substance that damages us, and our own metabolisms generate ‘accidental’ products that are harmful.

Why are all these random chemicals bad? In a landmark paper published in 2016, Five Alarm Bio’s founding scientist William Bains described why any chemical that was not part of the body’s healthy biochemistry is bound to interfere with the actions of enzymes and other proteins throughout the body. This is not just obvious chemical attack. Even small changes in how a protein functions can disrupt the delicate balance of a healthy cell.

Luckily our cells have many defences against such disruption, but they gradually fade with age. A key development of the 2016 work was seeing how those defences could be encouraged to work just a bit harder, to counter the effect of chemistry and hence extend healthy lifespan. This is the technology that Five Alarm Bio is implementing.

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Five Alarm Bio's foundational science has shows that targeting the chemical damage of aging can modulate a range of fundamental aging processes. We have used a model 'probe' compound to test what effects modulating Five Alarm's target mechanism will have. Working with primary human skin cells, we have shown that we can reduce cell senescence, reduce the chemical damage that accumulated in aged cells, and reduce the decline in their ability to heal a 'wound' in cell culture. We have also worked with Magnitude Biosciences to test the effect of our probe on aging in the nematode worm C. elegans. C. elegans is a well-tested model for aging in animals, and has been the organism that pioneered many breakthroughs in aging research. Magnitude have shown that our probe extends the healthspan of C. elegans by ~40%.

Future programmes will target this core technology to specific organ systems and their diseases. Our initial programmes are in Chronic wounds (for which we have been awarded a Biomedical Catalyst grant), sarcopenia, and an evaluation of whether this has the potential to be a treatment for Alzheimer's Disease.

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News

Five Alarm Bio Raises over £500k Seed Investment February 2023
Five Alarm Bio announces closing a Seed Round investment of over £500,000 from Cambridge Angels, Meltwind, o2h Ventures, SyndicateRoom, and Angel investors, with support from KPMG Acceleris. See here for more details.

Five Alarm Bio starts research at the Babraham Research Campus October 2022
Five Alarm Bio has started our research programme at the world-class Babraham Research Campus, near Cambridge. See here for more details.

Five Alarm Bio wins O2h 'Kickstarter' competition September 2022
Five Alarm Bio has won one of O2h Discovery's Kickstarter awards to provide cost-effective chemistry services to complement our biology discovery pipeline. See here for more details.

Five Alarm Bio appoints CEO July 2022
Five Alarm Bio is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Janette Thomas as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, to take us forward to the next phase of growth. See here for more details

Five Alarm Bio's test molecule shows anti-aging effect March 2022
Five Alarm Bio has collaborated with Magnitude Biosciences to test its technology in the worm C. elegans, showing a 40% incresae in healthspan in this well-tested model organism. See here for more details

Five Alarm Bio wins BioMedical Catalyst grant February, 2022
Five Alarm Bio has won a grant worth £360,000 from InnovateUK's prestigious Biomedical Catalyst programme to take our programme in the treatment of chronic wounds forward. See here for more details.



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