Forever In Love And In Love With Forever: Introducing The World’s First True Longevity Couple – Forbes

The first true longevity biotechnology family

There comes a time in everyones life when finding the perfect work-life balance becomes challenging. For many researchers and clinicians, work often takes precedence over everything else. Our desire to succeed professionally, push AI-driven research to new heights, and take novel drugs toward clinical trials can force us to set aside personal priorities like a spouse, family, personal and spiritual growth. There are many of us who enjoy and relish our professional lives, and theres nothing wrong with that. For example, immersing yourself completely in longevity research for the betterment of humankind is a very noble cause from the perspective of effective altruism.

But at the same time, it can be easy to normalize working long hours and exerting ourselves under extreme amounts of stress. Also sometimes, its just not possible to make changes at work. However, the lack of balance between professional and personal life can cause burnout (a syndrome that can impair job performance and result in poor health). So no matter how challenging it becomes to balance your professional and personal life, it is crucial to try and find a balance because it actually helps improve your physical, emotional and mental well-being. After all, whats the point of living a long and healthy life if youre neither happy nor feel fulfilled?

In my quest to figure out the perfect formula for a healthy work-life balance, a thought struck me: its very rare, almost impossible to find a PhD couple working in longevity. There are almost 8 billion people on the planet and it is safe to assume that around 3 billion of them are in their reproductive years. However, finding your true better half is sometimes very hard, and for some people it is almost impossible. It is especially difficult for scientists in the nascent field of longevity biotechnology - a new credible science of healthspan extension.

The longevity biotechnology industry is rapidly emerging with hundreds of scientists joining the field just in the past few years and multiple biotechnology companies openly stating life - and health - extension as their primary goal and operating within the credible biopharmaceutical framework. Over 2,500 scientists from all over the world regularly attend the annual ARDD meetings, thousands of medical doctors are engaging in longevity medicine, and there are tens of thousands of longevity enthusiasts.

After a series of articles covering the wonderful women in longevity medicine, on this Valentines Day I would like to point your attention to the worlds first Longevity Couple - two highly-educated and impactful professionals in this emerging new branch of biomedicine, who found each other, got married, and are living the dream, enjoying each others company, and making this world a little bit better every day.

Ned is 54 but looks at least 15 years younger. He is a serial company builder and a drug hunter, having co-founded four biotech companies: Syrrx, Achaogen, Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, and UNITY Biotechnology. Collectively these companies have raised over $2 billion in the financing, have led to three successful IPOs, and two M&A acquisitions (Syrrx and Kythera Biopharmaceuticals were acquired by Takeda and Allergan, respectively). Ned is also responsible for four FDA-approved medicines, including Alogliptin, Trelagliptin, Zemdri, and Kybella. Apart from this, Ned holds dozens of allowed patents in various fields such as nano volume crystallography, antibiotic resistance, aesthetic medicine, and cellular senescence. His academic qualifications include a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and an AB in Biology from Harvard.

Dr. Maria Konovalenko obtained her PhD in the biology of aging in a joint program between the ... [+] University of Southern California and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

Maria is 34 but looks like a teenager. She is currently Scientist in Residence at Formic Ventures, a diversified venture capital firm that makes early stage investments in biotechnology startups focused on human longevity and tools that help accelerate scientific research. From 2008-2016, Maria was part of a team at a Moscow-based non-profit called The Science for Life Extension Foundation and has been raising funding for longevity and regenerative medicine research from both government and private sources. She is also one of the organizers of the Genetics of Aging and Longevity Conference series. Maria obtained her PhD in the biology of aging in a joint program between the University of Southern California and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. She got both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, probably the best physics and engineering school in the post-Soviet space.

In 2015, Ned was visiting the Buck Institute for Research and Aging to set up a new company. It was there that he crossed paths with Maria, who at the time was doing research on aging of stem cells in respiratory epithelium as well as the overlap between mTOR signaling and cellular senescence. Ned knew right then that he wanted to meet Maria. But he didnt want to approach her with a simple hi because he knew that wouldnt make much of an impression. Instead, he decided to take a different route.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JULY 29: Laura Deming of National Geographic Channels' 'Breakthrough' attends ... [+] the Getty Images Portrait Studio powered by Samsung Galaxy at 2015 Summer TCA's at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 29, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Samsung)

He rented a house in Napa Valley and recruited Laura Deming, a fellow longevity enthusiast whose work focuses on life extension, and using biological research to reduce or reverse the effects of aging. Ned and Laura planned a series of parties at Neds house as a way for Ned and Maria to meet with plausible deniability. The parties were spaced out by two weeks. The strategy worked; and after the second party, Ned invited Maria to a dinner date. I had no idea it was a date, Maria admits. Ned had to tell me explicitly, this is a date and Im interested in you. The two started dating and got married in 2018.

Not only are Ned and Maria a super successful PhD couple, they also maintain a very healthy balance between their professional and private lives. Being partnered with other scientists is something that will bring you tremendous joy and peace and simplicity in your life said Ned when I asked for his opinion on whether scientists should date other scientists, non-scientists just care about other things in the world.

Ned David and Maria Konovalenko

In this interview, we talked about how they met, what they talk about over breakfast (spoiler: it includes discussions on research papers and other cool stuff), how they spend their time together as a longevity couple, and we also talked about some of their favorite video games.

The world of biogerontology is very small and almost everyone knows each other, and for someone who spent over 18 years in the field and co-founded the largest conference in aging research for drug discovery, I know pretty much everyone. There are several well-known couples working in the field and I am hoping to cover them in the next Valentines Day edition, but no couple is as colorful and famous as these two PhD love birds.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Ned, tell us how you first became interested in longevity biotechnology? And how did that help you to meet Maria?

Ned David: Before I ever worked on anything related to longevity, I spent about 12 years as a drug hunter where I would build companies and put molecules in the clinic. I got involved in a project where we had to eliminate senescent cells; so we put a company together in that space. While I was incubating this company at the Buck Institute, I would see Maria walk by my office a few times a day because my office was right between her lab and the bathroom. Thats when I decided to meet this woman. I knew that simply going up to her and saying hi would be a terrible idea, so I actually recruited Laura Deming to help me. Laura and I came up with a plan of throwing a series of parties and inviting guests, but the purpose of these parties was so I could meet Maria with plausible deniability. When we were about 80% of the way through with the first party, and she hadn't shown up, I thought oh my God, we put all this energy and effort into this whole thing and she's not here! Then about an hour before the party was ending, she walked in and I was like oh yes, I'm so excited! We talked for three hours straight and that's when our relationship began.

Alex Zhavoronkov: How many parties did it take for you to go on your first date?

Ned David: The parties were spaced out by two weeks. At party one, I think Maria thought I was cool and interesting, but there were another two weeks until party two. We had a date after that party but she didn't seem to fully recognize that I was interested in her.

Maria Konovalenko: I had no idea it was a date. Ned had to tell me explicitly, this is a date and Im interested in you.

Ned David: You know, whatever kind of receptor allows one to detect if someone's interested in them, Marias has a loss of function. Id often notice when another male is interested in her, Id point out and say, you know that guy was flirting with you? And she would have no idea.

Maria Konovalenko: That's true. I can see what's going on around other people, in terms of romantic interests, but I can never detect anything that is directed at me. I don't know if its for the better or for worse.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Maria, now that we know the story from Neds perspective, can you tell us your perspective?

Maria Konovalenko: I have been a fan of Laura Deming even prior to being invited to the parties. So when she reached out to me with the invitation, I was really excited to go. The reason I was so late to reach the party was because there was a Conference on Effective Altruism at which Elon Musk was speaking that day at the Google offices in Menlo Park. Just imagine the geography; Menlo Park to Napa Valley was about a four-hour drive. I could barely feel myself after such a long drive but when I walked in and met Laura, I was so excited. But Laura very, very sweetly said, I actually have a co-host, come meet Ned. And so we started talking and didn't stop for three hours straight. And it was so amazing. I shared notes from the Gordon conference on aging that I went to, and we discussed some recent talks and I was just very impressed with how well-versed Ned was in the biology of aging.

Ned David: She thought my hair was weird.

Maria Konovalenko: Yeah, a little bit. I also met Neds son and it became obvious that we all share a love for video games.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Which ones?

Maria Konovalenko: At the time it was StarCraft. We also play DOTA and New World.

Ned David: Honestly, both Maria and I play a lot of video games.

Maria Konovalenko: But I don't do shooters, I'm more into strategy games.

Alex Zhavoronkov: So you both have a passion for video games. How much time do you think you spend playing video games each week?

Ned David: Since I have a lot of work to do these days, I can maybe carve out 20 minutes over the weekend.

Alex Zhavoronkov: What about you, Maria?

Maria Konovalenko: I would say I have a little bit more time than Ned.

Alex Zhavoronkov: So I'm curious to know how different it is, from the experience standpoint of any past relationship, to be in love with somebody who is also in longevity and is a scientist?

Ned David: I would say it means everything. Having the same values as your partner is the most important thing because ultimately, what are values? Its the things you care about. And ultimately, you are the sum of the things you care about, right? And if you end up caring about the same things as your partner, everything is easy. People always talk about relationships being lots of work. We've been together for almost seven years. It is not any work. Being with Maria is as easy as breathing.

Maria Konovalenko: I would second that from my perspective as well. Definitely.

Ned David: We almost never get into conflicts, you know, except occasionally over her playing too many video games.

Maria Konovalenko: .

Alex Zhavoronkov: Do you think you would ever be able to date somebody who is not a scientist or doesnt work in longevity?

Maria Konovalenko: Absolutely not. Well, first of all, I don't think I want to ever date anybody else.

Ned David: Yeah, but if suddenly either of us was vaporized from this earth, right? First of all, Maria is the love of my life. And you could screen through the other 3.5 billion humans and I would not find someone as well matched to the things I think are cool and beautiful and that I care about. I don't think it's longevity per se, but I do think it would be cuckoo not to be partnered with another scientist.

Alex Zhavoronkov: One of my friends once advised me not to marry another scientist because if I do, we would always end up competing with each other as scientists and one of us would have to take a dominant role. Do you feel that at all in your relationship?

Ned David: Some people might have a relatively narrow definition of what it means to be a scientist. Like, at an academic institution, people are competing for grants and tenure. Thats just neither of us. Thats not our lives. What's funny is, both of us are competitive athletes, but I don't think I'm fundamentally a very competitive person. And neither is she. Were fundamentally interested in building things that last and are beautiful, like making medicines.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Do you ever get into scientific arguments? And if yes, who takes the upper hand?

Maria Konovalenko: Rather than arguments, we have discussions.

Ned David: Yeah, we have epistemological disagreements.

Maria Konovalenko: If there is a bottleneck, let's say in a discussion of some sort, more often than not, it stems from me missing a certain piece of the puzzle or a certain anecdote. And then Ned and I always reach a consensus in the end. We have ongoing intellectual discussions that are not necessarily scientific in nature.

Ned David: They tend to be epistemological. Like the debate about what is knowable. And how do you know that you know something? So one area I think we have an ongoing debate about is the probability of general AI and its impact on our species. We also have different views on the pluses and minuses of social media and how it impacts science.

Alex Zhavoronkov: And what about longevity science?

Ned David: Almost every day.

Maria Konovalenko: Yeah.

Ned David: In the last 48 hours, two interesting papers came out. Each of us found the papers independently. She actually posted about it on social media without discussing it with me. We didnt even talk about what it did or didnt mean.

Maria Konovalenko: And these arent disagreements.

Ned David: Her reaction to the paper on limb regeneration was that it was really beautiful; my reaction to it was that this is the very beginning of that enterprise and how now is the time for omics to try to break apart what's going on.

Maria Konovalenko: And I dont disagree with that at all.

Ned David: So it just means we took different things from it.

Alex Zhavoronkov: So you discuss papers every day? Thats heaven!

Maria Konovalenko: Its absolute heaven! We also come up with ideas for experiments and we generate new ideas.

Ned David: This morning over coffee we talked about doing omics in that Xenopus regeneration model.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Do you have any plans of publishing papers together?

Maria Konovalenko: No.

Ned David: Because we don't live in a critically paper-driven world. She's now a venture capitalist investing money; I'm a company builder and drug hunter. So that's kind of where our mind goes.

Alex Zhavoronkov: How do you spend most of your free time together?

Ned David: Either cooking, walking the dogs, or watching some TV shows.

Alex Zhavoronkov: What about activities that are related to longevity?

Maria Konovalenko: We used to run together but now our backs wouldn't allow for that.

Alex Zhavoronkov: You guys have a little bit of an age gap as well, right?

Maria Konovalenko: 18 years apart.

Alex Zhavoronkov: So statistically, if you look at male and female longevity, Ned is expected to die sooner than you. Are you concerned about that at all?

Maria Konovalenko: Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor have a very, very big difference in age. In an NPR interview, they were asked the same thing and the older spouse said if she dies, she dies.

Alex Zhavoronkov: So the next question is, would you consider doing something about it? Ned, any plans for longevity interventions?

Ned David: Usually Im very proactive but the only thing I'm doing right now is rapamycin.

Maria Konovalenko: We also exercise a lot.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Do you know of other couples like you, who are longevity-focused and successful?

Maria Konovalenko: Well, there is Kristen Fortney and Justin Rebo - both of them are in longevity.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Oh, it slipped my mind, Kristen is a dear friend. I will need to add them to my list and interview them for Valentines longevity article next year. Also, there is Morgan Levine and her husband Zachary Levine. I think both of them were at Yale and now are going to Altos Labs. Both are established scientists and Morgan made contributions to aging biomarkers but I think that they are not openly promoting longevity biotechnology. It may be a good idea to interview them one day.

Alex Zhavoronkov: What would you like the readers to know about a longevity couple? What makes you proud about being together and being in longevity?

Maria Konovalenko: I don't know if it makes me proud but every day I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world being married to Ned. Pride would be the wrong word. It's just being able to share my life and my time with a very like-minded person who I share a lot of values and interests with. That's kind of the coolest thing.

Ned David: Same.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Is there any additional incentive to do more work on longevity when youre in a relationship?

Ned David: I would say so. Actually, we do some things together from the longevity protocol. So every year we do a full-body MRI.

Maria Konovalenko: To catch any early cancer.

Alex Zhavoronkov: Very cool idea.

Maria Konovalenko: We also do a liquid biopsy test for the same reason, and we do those things absolutely together.

Ned David: In all probability, just given genetics and our athletics thing, the thing that will likely kill us is cancer. And so, if you can basically every six months do a cancer screen for the whole body, right? That's what we're doing.

Alex Zhavoronkov: One last question for the other scientists in longevity, what would your recommendation be to find each other, and should they find each other?

Ned David: I absolutely think that for single people that are studying science, being partnered with other scientists is something that will bring you tremendous joy and peace and simplicity in your life. When I reflect on times before Maria, the silly disagreements that one got into because non-scientists just care about other things in the world, right? And having to go back and endure those value systems just sounds like a horror show.

Longevity Valentines

There are other famous families in academia where each spouse is working on aging and can call each other Doctor, including the famous Gorbunova and Seluanov laboratory at Rochester and Kristen Fortney and Justin Rebo and I hope to see more as the industry expands and more credible people join the field and partner. I am looking forward to covering these wonderful families next year. It is also worthwhile to highlight the wonderful and highly successful longevity physicians who, to the best of my knowledge are still single: Dr. Evelyne Bischof, Dr. Christine Huang Yuan, and Dr. Dina Radenkovic. Many of these wonderful scientists usually convene at the ARDD conference transpiring annually at the University of Copenhagen. I hope that Ned and Maria longevity union will serve as an example and model for the many of us in the longevity community.

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Forever In Love And In Love With Forever: Introducing The World's First True Longevity Couple - Forbes