I build tools to radically accelerate the engineering of biology
I am the CEO and co-founder of Olden Labs. We use phenomics, AI and automation to accelerate animal studies - a key bottleneck that contributes to 9 of 10 drugs failing in humans.
Previously, at Harvard, ETH Zurich and Imperial College, I developed foundational tools for genetic engineering and gene delivery with a particular focus on aging research.
Built:
-Automated phenotyping: 100x increased data density, 3-30x cost reduction of animal studies
-Whole-body gene delivery: 80% coverage across all major organs
-Aging gene therapy: 140% lifespan extension in progeria models
Why?
Because biotech has the potential to solve some of the biggest civilizational challenges facing humanity.
But only if we solve the technological bottlenecks that make studies expensive and slow.
I focus on the most impactful of these.
About
I started genetic engineering at 16.
To build the tech to engineer longevity, I've worked in 11 labs across Estonia, UK, Switzerland and USA. These include:
PhD (Harvard) - Wagers lab, Vandenberghe lab and Church lab – gene therapy & aging
MSc (ETH Zürich) - Fussenegger lab – mammalian synthetic biology
BSc (Imperial College) - Ellis lab - synthetic biology
High school (Tallinn) - TTU genetic engineering lab - genetic engineering
In 2023, I founded Olden Labs to build automated systems that make animal research faster, cheaper, and more humane.
My work has directly led to founding of four other companies: Puraffinity (nanocellulose water purification), Modern Synthesis (animal-free leather), Alchemy Bio (AI data discovery) and Covalent Bio (bio data standardization).
Among the 14 awards I've received for my work are the Forbes Memorial Medal and Willi Studer Prize for the best graduate at Imperial and ETH Zurich respectively.
I'm also a fellow at Foresight Institute & Longevity Biotech Fellowship where I research existential threats and longevity bottlenecks.
My focus is on phenomics, genetic engineering and longevity. Some deep dives on these topics here:
Conversation with Ben Arya - Genetic engineering, whole-body gene delivery and animal research automation
Conversation with Jaan Tallinn - AGI, existential threats, longevity and bioengineering
Longevity Technology - Olden launch story
Origin story below.
Projects
Olden Labs - Automating animal research
At Olden, we are building the first automated animal research lab.
While the rest of biology is becoming digitized, animal research is still conducted almost fully manually. As a result, studies cost >$100,000, take months to years, yield sparse data and are poorly reproducible - a major bottleneck in drug discovery and foundational research.
We developed Smart Lids - automated phenotyping systems that use computer vision & AI to measure 20+ health metrics continuously at 100× data density and 20× lower cost compared to traditional methods.
Smart Lids are now used by hundreds of researchers across 5 continents and growing.
Company: Oldenlabs.com
Paper: Smart Lids for deep multi-animal phenotyping in standard home cages
Smart lids phenomics data - taken from user interface at Oldenlabs.com
DAEUS - Whole-body gene delivery
Delivery of DNA to target cells is the fundamental pre-requisite to genetic engineering.
While delivery vectors that target localized tissues or whole organs have been built, systems that can deliver DNA broadly and controllably to all tissues of the body have never been developed.
DAEUS is a gene delivery system that enables delivery to 80% of the body mass of adult animals. It combines multiple gene delivery vectors with mathematical modelling to achieve nearly 100% gene transfer to the brain, muscle, heart, liver and other key tissues (although not all). This is a foundational technology necessary to rapidly engineer adult animals – and in the future, humans.
Paper: in submission.
Mouse with Green Fluorescent Protein DNA delivered across the whole body using DAEUS. Image: light sheet lattice microscopy by Yu Wang at Scripps Institute
Gene therapy for Wolfram Syndrome II - an accelerated aging disease
Cisd2 is a pro-longevity gene. Reduction of Cisd2 reduces lifespan and increase of Cisd2 increase increases lifespan in mice and possibly in humans. It is one of the only two genes known to alter the rate of aging.
Loss of Cisd2 leads to Wolfram Syndrome II - a rare genetic disease that accelerates aging and causes death by mid-30s. There are no effective treatments for Wolfram Syndrome II.
Using DAEUS, we developed a gene therapy that prevents and treats Wolfram Syndrome II, extending healthy lifespan by 140%.
Paper: in submission.
Wolfram Syndrome II mice before and after whole body Cisd2 gene therapy.
K. rhaeticus iGEM - Engineered living biomaterials
A key goal of synthetic biology is developing the ability to engineer macro-scale structures. Think growing your everyday objects directly rather than manufacturing them. This requires a biological platform that produces strong durable materials while being amenable for guided growth.
In my undergrad, I discovered a new bacterial species capable of doing that - Komagataeibacter rhaeticus iGEM. It produces an ultrapure and strong form of cellulose – nanocellulose. Along with the Imperial iGEM team, we engineered it into a new chassis for living biomaterial manufacturing platform by sequencing its genome and developing genetic engineering tools that enabled us to control its growth. This work has led to over 60 follow-on papers and two companies (founded by Henrik Hagemann and Ben Reeve from our iGEM team).
Companies: Modern Synthesis & Puraffinity
K. rhaeticus cells engineered to produce a red fluorescent protein
inside a sheet of nanocellulose
Why these tools matter
Most biology research is bottlenecked by iteration speed and cost.
We can sequence entire genomes, but we can't easily measure what those genes do in living organisms.
We can design gene therapies, but we can't deliver them to most tissues in the body.
These limitations make studies expensive (>$100K), slow (months to years), and low-resolution.
Building better measurement and delivery systems changes the economics of biological discovery.
These are the bottlenecks I'm focused on removing.
Previously, I developed a new way to engineer blood stem cells more efficiently, built a new AAV purification system to improve AAV manufacturing, mapped the bottlenecks of aging research, developed light-controllable implanted therapeutic cells, worked on ancient DNA, bacterial protein production optimization and more.
Details below.
Papers
Delalic.S, Kaca, M., Alimsijah, P., Weber, N., .... Florea, M. (2026) Smart Lids for deep multi-animal phenotyping in standard home cages. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1696654
Florea, M, et al. (2023) Longevity Bottlenecks. BiorXiv. doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.18.553936
Florea, M*, Nicolau, F*., et al. (2023) High efficiency purification of divergent AAV serotypes using AAVX affinity chromatography. Mol. Ther. Methods 10.1016/j.omtm.2022.12.009
Florea, M. (2017) Aging and immortality in unicellular species. Mech. of Aging and Development (167), p5-15
Florea, M., et al. (2016) Engineering control of bacterial cellulose production using a genetic toolkit and a new cellulose-producing strain. PNAS 113 (24), E3431-40
Full list below
