CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, announced a partnership with Angelini Ventures. The collaboration aims to combine venture creation capabilities with breakthrough research from CeMM to accelerate the pace of healthcare transformation. The partnership will provide support to ideate and develop viable start-up companies emerging from their work and have access to an international network of investors, healthcare experts, and industry innovators. Laura de Rooij and André Rendeiro are two principal investigators at CeMM who lead their respective research groups. De Rooij’s lab focuses on deciphering the transcriptomic landscape and role of circulating endothelial cells in health and aging. Meanwhile, Rendeiro’s group studies how cells interact to generate complex physiology in the human body and how this changes over individuals’ lifespan and gives rise to disease. Angelini Industries is a multinational industrial group operating in 21 countries, committed to reducing its environmental impact and finding increasingly cutting-edge circular economy solutions.
CeMM & Angelini Ventures Collaborate to Support Healthy Lifespan Expansion
CeMM and Angelini Ventures have partnered to support CeMM Principal Investigators, Laura de Rooij and André Rendeiro, in critical lifespan expansion initiatives. They plan to leverage a novel academic/entrepreneurial dual-track program to achieve their goals. The research program will focus on healthy lifespan expansion, while parallel venture creation will be based on scientific and business insights developed by the team. Both aspects will be integrated, which is expected to create virtuous feedback cycles, promoting innovation through scientific research and venture creation goals.
Aging is a pressing societal challenge that demands a central stage in the public discourse on sustainability and the future of humanity. It is a multidimensional phenomenon that affects individuals and population levels of society, as well as the molecular, cellular, and organ levels of the human body. Italy, one of the world’s rapidly aging countries, illustrates the urgency of addressing the consequences of aging. In just over ten years, more than a third of the Italian population will be over 65 years of age. Expanding the lifespan in which individuals enjoy a healthy status is essential for economic, social, and cultural reasons, as it enables them to be independent and productive.
Collaborating on this critical issue, CeMM and Angelini Ventures aim to support de Rooij and Rendeiro in their pioneering research on healthy lifespan expansion. By leveraging their knowledge and expertise, both parties hope to promote a healthier and more productive aging experience. The collaboration will provide the opportunity to engage in venture creation and related business development activities, with the aim of bringing scientific research findings to the market. By integrating research and business, the partnership will allow for virtuous feedback cycles, propelling innovation through scientific research and bold venture creation goals.
In conclusion, this partnership will enable CeMM and Angelini Ventures to work together to address one of the most pressing societal challenges. By leveraging their knowledge, expertise, and resources, they hope to create innovative solutions that improve the quality of life for individuals in their later years.
Combining Cutting-Edge Research with Value Creation: CeMM & Angelini Ventures Join Forces to Support Lifespan Expansion
Laura de Rooij and André Rendeiro are set to benefit from the expertise of mentors and experts, as they embark on a journey to unlock the fundamental mechanisms of aging. The researchers, supported by CeMM (the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) and Angelini Ventures, will leverage the scientific leadership and biotech ventures in CeMM’s ecosystem of spinoffs. Angelini Ventures, on the other hand, will provide access to an international network of investors, healthcare experts, and industry innovators.
The collaboration is expected to generate virtuous feedback cycles, as the researchers work on expanding the healthy lifespan of individuals. The initiative aims to combine venture creation capabilities with breakthrough research to accelerate the pace of healthcare transformation. This type of collaboration, according to Paolo Di Giorgio, Chief Executive Officer of Angelini Ventures, is the connective tissue between innovation and entrepreneurship.
CeMM is pioneering a new training, research, and innovation method meant to foster a novel generation of professionals familiar with both the research and business worlds. The dual track of scientific research and business development is expected to create leaders able to inspire a new generation of scientists beyond the CeMM-Angelini network.
About the Principal Investigators
Laura de Rooij and André Rendeiro are Principal Investigators collaborating with CeMM and Angelini Ventures to expand healthy lifespan. Laura de Rooij’s expertise is in neuroscience, and she has investigated the brain’s aging mechanisms in human and animal models. André Rendeiro is a computational biologist, and his research focuses on aging mechanisms at the molecular and cellular levels.
Laura de Rooij: Deciphering the Transcriptomic Landscape and Role of Circulating Endothelial Cells in Health and Aging
Laura de Rooij joined CeMM as Principal Investigator in September 2022. Her lab’s primary focus is on deciphering the transcriptomic landscape and role of circulating endothelial cells in health and aging.
Prior to joining CeMM, de Rooij studied Biomedical Sciences at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She then moved to Canada to work at the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, where she studied the role of RNA binding proteins in leukemic stem cells via an in vivo two-step CRISPR-Cas9-mediated screening approach. For her post-doctoral studies, she worked under the mentorship of Prof. Carmeliet in the lab of Angiogenesis and Vascular Metabolism at VIB-KU Leuven in Belgium. Here, she contributed to numerous single-cell transcriptome atlases of endothelial cells generated from various tissues, preclinical models, and clinical patient material in health and disease.
De Rooij’s studies have shed new light on the degree of vessel subtype heterogeneity in different tissues, as well as the altered composition and rewired molecular circuitries of endothelial cell subtypes in disease. She discovered previously unknown vascular subtypes and functions, including endothelial cells with a lipid-processing phenotype and potential prognostic relevance in breast cancer, and endothelial cells with a putative pro-fibrotic function in COVID-19.
At CeMM, de Rooij’s lab continues to decipher the transcriptomic landscape and role of circulating endothelial cells in health and aging. Her research has the potential to uncover new insights into the aging process and lead to the development of novel therapies for age-related diseases.
André Rendeiro: Analyzing the Interactions Between Cells to Understand Disease
André Rendeiro is a Principal Investigator at CeMM, leading a group that studies how cells interact to generate complex physiology in the human body and how this changes over individuals’ lifespan, leading to disease. His group develops computational methods for the analysis of spatial data and its integration with various modalities of molecular, demographic, and clinical data to better understand disease processes.
Before joining CeMM, Rendeiro studied in Portugal, Austria, and Norway and earned his PhD in Molecular Medicine at CeMM in Vienna, where he developed methods for high-throughput cellular profiling and perturbation at single-cell resolution, applying them to leukemia. Between 2020 and 2022, he worked at the Institute for Precision Medicine and the Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, where he developed computational methods for the analysis of highly-multiplexed imaging that incorporate expression, morphology, micro-anatomy, and clinical covariates.
Rendeiro led the first tissue-level, single-cell resolution maps of lung pathology during COVID-19, and also contributed to the study of cancer, lung development, and disease, as well as COVID-19 immunology. His work has the potential to uncover new insights into the molecular mechanisms of disease and lead to the development of more effective treatments.
CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
The CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences is an international, independent, and interdisciplinary research institution for molecular medicine under the scientific direction of Giulio Superti-Furga. The center integrates basic research and clinical expertise to develop innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for precision medicine. Research at CeMM focuses on cancer, inflammation, metabolic and immune disorders, and rare diseases.
Angelini Ventures: Accelerating Disruptive Innovations in Health and Life Sciences
Angelini Ventures is the venture capital arm of Angelini Industries, an early-stage investment firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in digital health and life sciences. With a portfolio led by investment professionals and advisors in Europe, North America, and Asia, Angelini Ventures has deep domain expertise and leverages a global team, advisors, and strategic partners to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses into transformative category-leading companies. The group has committed to investing €300M across its portfolio.
Angelini Industries: A Global Multinational Industrial Group
Angelini Industries is a multinational industrial group with a long history dating back to 1919 when it was founded in Ancona, Italy, by Francesco Angelini. Today, the group has around 5,800 employees working across 21 countries, operating in the health, industrial technology, and consumer goods industries. Angelini Industries is an Italian leader in the industries in which it operates due to its commitment to growth, research and development, and deep knowledge of markets and business sectors.
The group is committed to reducing its environmental impact and finding cutting-edge circular economy solutions. Angelini Industries also prioritizes the health and safety of its workers, adopting the most advanced health and safety standards. The group ensures the highest quality by verifying the entire supply chain, from supplier certification to spot checks at the point of sale.
For over 100 years, the Angelini family has steered the development of Angelini Industries with an entrepreneurial style typical of Italian family businesses.
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