At its core, our mission is to make computation a practical tool for scientists so they can turn data into discovery and discovery into impact, and build the confidence to keep moving forward without us.
Last week, we attended WIRED Health 2025 in Boston. It was free, it was in a beautiful space, and it was packed with people pushing on some of the hardest problems in health and biotech. Here are the moments that stayed with me and how they connect to the work we are starting at StarfleetBio.
The World’s First Personalized CRISPR-Based Therapy
David Liu shared a story that felt historic. In 2025, a baby with a mutation in the CPS1 gene could not clear ammonia from the liver. Without a solution, the baby would not have survived.
The team turned to base editing, which does not cut DNA but modifies a single letter. They targeted precursor cells so the corrected code could multiply through the body.
From design to treatment in seven months. What usually takes five years was compressed into less than one.
The science was powerful, but what struck me most was the speed and collaboration. This is what it looks like when the right tools and urgency come together. It is also why StarfleetBio exists: to help teams have the data and computational infrastructure ready to move that quickly when it counts.
MIT neuroscientist Ed Boyden gave one of my favorite talks. His group used baby diaper fibers to gently expand brain tissue so they could reduce the density of the neurons to see them more clearly. They also borrowed a protein from algae that makes neurons respond to light, so they could turn them on and off one by one.
Sometimes breakthroughs come from the least expected places.
It was clever and it worked. For me, it was a reminder that breakthroughs often come from unexpected tools. At StarfleetBio, we see the same pattern. Sometimes it is not about bigger models or more compute. It is about looking sideways and using what you already have in a new way.
Redefining AgeTech
Myechia Minter-Jordan, CEO of AARP, cleared up something we had wrong. AARP is not just for seniors. Membership starts at 18. Even WIRED’s CEO Brian Barrett looked surprised.
Longevity is not a senior issue. It is an everyone issue.
It shifted how I think about AgeTech. Healthy longevity is not only about adding years to life but about adding healthy life to those years. That idea, often called “healthspan,” focuses on how long someone stays healthy, not just how long they live. If new tools are designed without considering whether older adults can realistically use them, the innovation loses its purpose. The same is true for computation. At StarfleetBio, we care about making sure scientific advances and computational tools translate into the real world, not just remain in a lab or clinic. For us, this connected directly to our focus on age-related disease, where better tools can extend both healthspan and quality of life.
Harvard genetisist George Church and CEO Noor Siddiqui talked about Orchid, a company which uses whole genome sequencing of embryos during IVF to give parents more information about which embryos to implant.
Sequencing costs are down, accuracy is high, and probabilities of health outcomes can be calculated. But it raised ethical questions for me. The easiest way to cure genetic disease is not to create it, was Bill Van Etten’s take-away, but… For me, I see the potential of a slippery slope about what counts as disease and who makes that call.
At StarfleetBio, we are reminded that science is objective but most humans are not. We can analyze and predict, but we also need to help teams think critically about how predictions are used.
Bill Van Etten just yelled “Khaaaaaaaan!!!” in the background - iykyk.
Ultrasound as a Cancer Therapy
Mary Lou Jepsen, chariman and founder of Openwater, shared an approach I had not heard before: using focused ultrasound to eliminate cancer cells. In her company’s preclinical work, sound waves at specific frequencies damaged tumor cells while leaving healthy ones intact. In mice, tumors slowed after a single treatment.
Ultrasound is already safe, affordable, and widely available. If it can be tuned precisely, it could add to the arsenal against cancers with too few options.
From StarfleetBio’s perspective, this is where computation becomes critical: modeling, parameter optimization, and integrating patient data will make the difference between a clever lab result and a therapy that reaches patients.
Early Cancer Detection
Helmy Eltoukhy, CEO of Guardant Health, talked about liquid biopsies that employ DNA sequencing, epigenetics, and biomarker blood test diagnostics that replace invasive biopsies or expensive scans with a simple blood draw to track remission or catch cancer early. In a handful of cancers, this diagnostic is already better than a biopsy, and through a simple software update, can detect many more forms of cancer.
Early detection is a data challenge as much as a biological one.
It sounded bold, but the data looked promising. Unlike the hype around Theranos, this has real science behind it. For us, it tied directly back to StarfleetBio’s mission. Making sense of noisy, complex data is the bridge to making early detection real.
Cancer Vaccines with mRNA
Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, described applying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine technology to cancer. The concept is simple but powerful. Sequence a tumor, find the unique antigens, and create mRNA sequences that teaches the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells, killing them. If the cancer comes back, the immune system remembers.
Every patient, every tumor, every dataset is unique.
For StarfleetBio, this is the kind of problem we were built for. Turning raw data into actionable therapy is where computation and biology meet.
Rethinking Pain
Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent from CNN, closed the day with a talk on pain. He reminded us that the brain itself cannot feel pain, yet every sensation of pain is created there.
It made me think of NIH’s HEAL program, which is funding research for everything from molecular pathways to acupuncture with new urgency. Gupta spoke about his new book “It Doesn’t Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life,” reframes how I think about pain. He talked about how the brain creates pain and offers science-backed ways to manage, reduce, and sometimes even eliminate it, without relying only on drugs or surgery.
For us, this tied back to StarfleetBio’s mission. Pain is subjective and objective measurements are elusive. Helping researchers build computational frameworks to study something so hard to measure feels exactly like the kind of challenge we should take on.
Final Reflections
Thank you to Wired for inviting us to attend this inspiring event. We will keep showing up, learning, and building alongside this community. If you are working at the edge of rare or age-related disease, reach out. We are always looking to learn, collaborate, and accelerate science where it is needed most.
About StarfleetBio
At StarfleetBio, our mission is to accelerate breakthroughs in rare and age-related diseases by integrating cutting-edge computational science with deep biological expertise. We empower researchers, clinicians, and innovators with data-driven insights, precision analytics, and collaborative problem-solving to unlock new paths in diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of underserved conditions. Our work bridges biology and technology to improve lives where need is greatest and solutions are most elusive.
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