Bough Biosciences aims to build a novel approach for the discovery of senolytics 

Every day the cells in our body are subject to several stressors. Cells are normally able to repair the damage they endure, but from time to time they are unable to do so. When this happens, damaged cells are usually removed from our tissues by a process called apoptosis. But as we get older it becomes harder and harder for our body to remove these damaged cells. When they are not removed, damaged cells undergo a process called cellular senescence. The cells lose their identity, become resistant to cell death, and secrete toxic factors into their environment. As the number of these senescent cells builds up over time, the tissue starts to break down and function less efficiently. Eventually, the large presence of these cells predisposes tissues and organs to disease development. Since they release toxic factors into their surroundings, these cells can also corrupt the cells around them, earning them the nickname “zombie cells”. Bough Biosciences will be developing disease-specific senolytic compounds.

When overwhelmed with stress, cells can enter a zombie-like state called senescence. The build-up of these cells in the brain has been linked to several diseases. Bough Biosciences will develop a novel approach to discover senolytics, drugs that remove senescent cells. We will tailor and develop disease-specific senolytics using single cell-RNA sequencing to build models to understand what causes the build-up of these cells in different diseases. Understanding these features allows us to model disease-specific cellular senescence in a petri dish outside the human body and identify potent compounds specific for the senescent cells in neurological and neuropsychiatric disease.