Shift Bioscience has a target-discovery platform and multiple experimental programmes. Its current public pages identify SB000, a single-factor reprogramming approach, and SB101, a target for gene knockdown in fibrosis. A single stage label for the organisation hides that distinction; the preclinical label here reflects the reported SB101 animal work.
SB000 is described in a June 2025 preprint. The authors report changes in several molecular measures of age in human fibroblasts while examining retention of cell identity and pluripotency. SB101 has a different intervention: small interfering RNA reduces expression of a target associated with fibrosis. The company reports liver and heart findings in mice, but the public product page does not supply the complete dataset.
The programme therefore needs two reading tracks. Readers can inspect a public laboratory manuscript for SB000. They need more methods and quantitative results to assess the company's SB101 animal claims at the same level.
- CLOCKWORK prioritises changesA virtual-cell model and an ageing measure guide hypotheses.
- Test a defined perturbationSB000 and the SB101 siRNA route are distinct programmes.
- Keep endpoints separateMolecular-age readouts and fibrosis outcomes answer different questions.
A predicted target needs reproducible effects in the biological system being studied. Sources for this account.
The mechanism
CLOCKWORK pairs a single-cell ageing measure, AC4, with a virtual-cell model trained on perturbation data. The intended use is to predict which changes in gene activity deserve laboratory testing. A predicted rejuvenating target must still produce a reproducible effect in the intended biological system.
SB000 was selected using a platform aimed at age-associated readouts. The preprint reports molecular rejuvenation without the same induction of pluripotency seen with conventional factors. That observation addresses one source of risk in reprogramming. It does not exhaust the questions about uncontrolled growth, tissue effects or longer-term function.
SB101 uses siRNA, which guides cellular machinery to reduce a specific RNA and therefore its protein output. The company describes a liver-fibrosis development route. Fibrosis outcomes can supply a concrete disease endpoint, while changes in an ageing clock answer a separate measurement question. The two results should remain separately visible.
Human evidence
Human fibroblasts are the principal model in the SB000 preprint. No clinical participant results for SB000 or SB101 were verified for this dossier.
Shift's public page says planned SB000 studies will examine remaining lifespan and hearing loss in aged mice. Those statements are proposed experiments. The checked material did not report completed findings for those tests.
Studies and experimental evidence
A single factor for safer cellular rejuvenation
- Design
- Laboratory genetic-perturbation experiments; preprint
- Population or model
- Human fibroblasts and associated cellular assays
- Sample size
- Varies by assay; no single clinical sample
- Comparison
- Control cells and conventional reprogramming factors
- Duration
- Assay-specific
- Outcome
- Epigenetic and transcriptomic age, identity and pluripotency measures
Authors report multiple molecular-age changes with preserved identity measures
Preprint; cellular assays do not establish long-term organismal safety or lifespan benefit
Funding and interests: Shift Bioscience and Innovate UK declared in preprint
SB101 antifibrotic development disclosure
- Design
- Company report of cell and mouse experiments
- Population or model
- Multiple cell types; mouse liver and heart fibrosis models
- Sample size
- Not supplied on checked public page
- Comparison
- Complete controls not supplied on checked public page
- Duration
- Not supplied on checked public page
- Outcome
- Fibrosis and cellular clock measurements
Company reports fibrosis amelioration and clock changes
Complete methods, effect sizes and safety results unavailable in this disclosure
Funding and interests: Shift Bioscience programme
Development history
SB000 preprint posted
Laboratory manuscript reports single-factor molecular rejuvenation experiments.
Virtual-cell metric work announced
Shift describes work on calibrating how genetic-perturbation prediction models are evaluated.
Unresolved questions
- Which SB000 molecular changes correspond to durable improvement in cell function?
- What do the planned mouse lifespan and hearing studies find?
- Will the public SB101 evidence include full group sizes, controls and adverse findings?
- How accurately does the virtual-cell model predict interventions outside the training data?
- Can siRNA delivery achieve the intended tissue effect without unacceptable off-target effects?
Shift describes animal work on SB000 as forthcoming, without a date. A full report of SB101's animal findings and a named development plan would clarify its progress. The public record does not establish a scheduled human study.
Sources
- Paper · 6 Jun 2025A single factor for safer cellular rejuvenation
Preprint, not verified as peer-reviewed publication; developer authorship and funding.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 - Company disclosure · Date not statedShift Bioscience product portfolio: SB101 and SB000
Distinguishes the two programmes; some animal findings require a fuller report.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 - Company disclosure · Date not statedShift Bioscience CLOCKWORK platform
Documented intended model role; proprietary training data.
Checked 4 Oct 2026 - Company disclosure · 11 Nov 2025Shift Bioscience research news
Dated description of model-evaluation research; does not establish a clinical result.
Checked 4 Oct 2026
Dr T Smith, organic chemist and science educator. Review date: 4 Oct 2026. Report a correction.