Cyclarity Therapeutics: Revolutionizing Age-Related Disease Treatment through Unique Drug Design
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF May 19, 2025
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Cyclarity Therapeutics: Revolutionizing Age-Related Disease Treatment through Unique Drug Design
Speaker: Dr. Matthew O'Connor
Is this your first time visiting us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday, our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
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Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
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Message from our President
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Welcome Members, fellow Rotarians, friends, and guests. Thanks for joining our weekly meeting!
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
Printer Problem
Mom: Having trouble with your computer, son?
Son: My PC says it can't see my printer.
Mom: I'm not surprised. Look how messy your room is.
INSPIRATION
Here's a nice reminder of how "worth" works. If you know someone who feels "worthless," what might you say today to encourage that person?
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Why the Pencil is Perfect | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED Series
Why are pencils shaped like hexagons, and how did they get their iconic yellow color? Pencil shop owner Caroline Weaver takes us inside the fascinating history of the pencil.
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PROGRAM: Cyclarity Therapeutics: Revolutionizing Age-Related Disease Treatment through Unique Drug Design
SPEAKER: Dr. Matthew O'Connor
We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.
Our speaker this week, Dr. Matthew O'Connor, was awarded his master’s degree in neuroscience from Northwestern Medical in 1999 and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Baylor College of Medicine in 2005. His doctoral and postdoctoral research includes work at Baylor College of Medicine and UC Berkeley on telomeres and muscle stem cells in aging. He is the former VP of Research at SENS Research Foundation (now Lifespan Research Institute), where he oversaw a broad swath of research projects spanning many aspects of rejuvenation biotechnology, from which he authored many papers and patents. Dr. O'Connor co-founded Cyclarity Therapeutics in 2019 to develop drugs targeting molecular toxins that accumulate with age in various cells and tissues. Their first drug product targets oxidized cholesterol in cardiovascular disease.
Cyclarity Therapeutics is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical startup committed to developing drugs to prevent and treat age-related diseases by addressing root causes - the buildup of toxic molecules that accumulate in the body over time. Their current target is atherosclerosis, the culprit behind most cardiovascular disease and stroke deaths worldwide. The company's first product, UDP-003, is a novel therapeutic which is able to bind and extract oxidized cholesterol from cells and tissues to restore their function. This therapeutic has the potential to not only prevent the accumulation of atherosclerotic plaque, but also to reduce plaque which has already accumulated - an ability never before achieved with drug treatment. It also has applications in a range of additional age-related conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, age-related macular degeneration, and liver disease. Cyclarity recently launched its first-in-human Phase 1 Clinical Trial in Australia.
Cyclarity has also developed a computational platform for the design of specialized molecules to bind any target of interest. This platform was used to design UDP-003. The company incorporates AI and ML with the goal of automating the process of designing molecules for a range of uses, including anesthesia reversal in surgery, nanoplastic removal, and nutritional modifications for food products. The goal is to use this technology to design molecules to help people across various industries, from medicine to food to the environment, and beyond.
Members and guests, please welcome Dr. Matthew O'Connor!
To learn more, go to:
https://cyclaritytx.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyclarity/
https://m.facebook.com/Cyclarity/
To learn more about the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley, go to:
http://rotary.cool
Our Three Podcast Series
Our main program speakers are available as podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week, they are available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
Or you can click below for this week’s speaker:
The Weekly Rotarian
Inspiring Solutions
And our original podcast, featuring some of the best of our previous speakers, is still available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Development Success Stories
Our third podcast features success stories about economic development from around the world. It is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or you can click below.
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
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