In today’s episode, Chris is joined by Dr. Matthew "Oki" O'Connor, CEO for Scientific Affairs at Cyclarity Therapeutics, a company focused on eliminating arterial plaque, a prevalent issue in old age. Dr. O'Connor shares his insights on the causes and effects of atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death worldwide, and how aging contributes to plaque build-up. The podcast emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift in addressing cardiovascular disease and highlights the importance of new approaches to repair vessels throughout the body and brain. Together, Chris and Dr. O’Connor begin by discussing atherosclerosis, its significant impact on cardiovascular disease, and the need to understand the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying aging and diseases related to aging. They also cover the limitations of current clinical treatments for atherosclerosis and the importance of a paradigm shift towards new approaches that can repair vessels throughout the body and brain. Dr. O’Connor then goes on to describe Cyclarity’s unique drug, a cyclodextrin, explaining how it could be a promising solution to the harmful effects of atherosclerosis. The podcast also explores the potential of combination therapy with traditional lipid-lowering drugs to address multiple aspects of atherosclerosis. Join Chris and Dr. O’Connor here today to gain a greater understanding of the remarkable work undertaken by Cyclarity Therapeutics, the impact of aging on cardiovascular health, the need for new approaches to address atherosclerosis, and the unique drug therapy combination that may offer a promising solution, revolutionizing its treatment in the process. The Finer Details: Cyclarity Therapeutics and the work they undertake Atherosclerosis Cardiovascular dysfunctionThe build-up of arterial plaqueThe implications of aging-related targetsThe need for a paradigm shift towards looking at new approaches to repair vessels The limitations of current clinical treatments for atherosclerosisThe limitations in the standard of care for LDL and HDL cholesterolUnderstanding the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying aging and the diseases of aging.The need for new treatmentsThe cyclodextrin drug and how it worksThe need for combination therapies that will target multiple aspects of atherosclerosisCyclarity Therapeutics’ trials Quotes: "Cardiovascular dysfunction, depending on which metastudy you believe, between 30 and 50% of all death on the planet is caused by the build-up of plaque in the arteries." "Atherosclerosis is the thickening of the arteries, which means in the vessel wall, you have a build up of material called plaque, which starts out as a fatty streak in the wall of a blood vessel." "There's no way to avoid the concept or the idea that a basic molecular mechanism, a biochemical mechanism of aging is going to impact many, if not all, cells and tissue systems." "By the time that you're doing vascular surgery on somebody, you've kind of lost the game. You clearly missed an opportunity to prevent a bad thing from happening in the first place." "We really need a paradigm shift to look at new approaches to addressing cardiovascular disease." "I think the average non-specialist just thinks of cholesterol as this, like, weird molecule that's in your body for some reason, but is totally bad." "Those lipid lowering drugs do actually save lives and keep atherosclerosis from getting worse faster. But we are trying to invent a better way to do it, a more elegant way to get rid of only the most toxic forms of cholesterol so that your arteries can repair themselves the way that they're engineered to." "I imagine that our treatment, at least at first, will be paired with the standard of care, which...