Although UK life expectancies have increased, healthy life expectancies have not increased at the same rate. Consequently, although we are living longer, we are spending more time in poor health. Men and women born in England in 2018-2020 can expect to live to 79.4 and 83.1 years, respectively, but will spend the last 16.3 and 19.3 years, respectively, in 'not good' health. Poor health in later life can have a devastating effect on an individual's quality of life, personal wellbeing, and independence, while overall ageing of the population places further pressure on already overstretched health and social care services. The UK spent 7.8% of its GDP on health and care provision (2018/19); this is projected to rise to close to or above 10% of GDP by 2030/31\. Based in the Milner Therapeutics Institute (Gurdon Institute), Shift is a biotech start-up on a mission to deliver the first drugs for safe cellular rejuvenation, enabling mitigation of chronic diseases in the sick and healthspan extension in the healthy. Situated at the leading-edge of biomedical science, Shift's proprietary Active Machine Learning platform enables us to untangle the cellular rejuvenation pathway and identify gene targets for safe rejuvenation. With Smart funding, we will validate the safety and efficacy of the first identified novel set of rejuvenation genes in vivo for the first time, conducting aged mouse studies. Our innovation directly supports the UK's healthcare mission to address the underlying biology of ageing highlighted within the UK Life Sciences Vision 2021 (HM Government, 2021). Our project is aligned with three priority areas of UK strength and opportunity highlighted in the UK Innovation Strategy 2021 (AI; Bioinformatics and genomics; and, Engineering Biology), and has the ambition to ultimately address 3 UN Sustainable Development Goals (3: Good Health and Well-being; 5: Gender Equality; and, 10: Reduced Inequalities).

We are living longer, but not necessarily enjoying good health in later life. Men and women born in England in 2018-2020 can expect to live to 79.4 and 83.1 years, respectively, but will spend the last 16.3 and 19.3 years, respectively, in 'not good' health. The ageing population is already placing huge pressures on the overstretched NHS and social care services. The UK spent 7.8% of its GDP on health and care provision (2018/19); this is projected to rise to close to or above 10% of GDP by 2030/31\. Based in the Milner Therapeutics Institute (Cambridge Biomedical Campus), Shift Bioscience is a biotech start-up cofounded by CEO Dr Daniel Ives (PhD University of Cambridge), CSO Dr Brendan Swain (PhD University of Cambridge), and CFO Steve Ives (serial Cambridge-based entrepreneur). Our ambition is to deliver the first drugs for safe cellular rejuvenation, ultimately preventing age-related functional decline, improving healthy life expectancy for patients, and reducing the ageing burden on health and care service providers. Situated at the leading-edge of biomedical science, Shift Bioscience has developed a patent-pending machine learning methodology that enables us to untangle the cellular rejuvenation pathway and identify gene targets for safe rejuvenation. With Smart funding, we will further develop and refine our game-changing platform technology, performing 3 experimental cycles to discover safe gene targets. Successful project outcomes will unlock clinical development of world-changing rejuvenation therapies by allowing us to negotiate Pharma partnerships. Our innovation aligns with three priority areas of UK strength and opportunity highlighted in UK Innovation Strategy 2021 (AI; Bioinformatics and genomics; and, Engineering Biology) and supports two Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund areas (developing leading-edge healthcare for the Ageing Society, exploiting AI and data), while directly supporting the UK's mission to address the underlying biology of ageing highlighted within the UK Life Sciences Vision 2021\.