David Gobel

David Gobel

David Gobel (born 1952, Baltimore, Maryland) is an American philanthropist, entrepreneur, inventor, and futurist. He is co-founder and CEO of the Methuselah Foundation, and among the first people to publicly advance the idea of longevity escape velocity or actuarial escape velocity.

Career

Methuselah Foundation

Main article: Methuselah Foundation

David Gobel is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Methuselah Foundation, a medical charity based in Springfield, VA. To date, Methuselah has given more than $4 million to support research and development in regenerative medicine.[1]

With co-founder Aubrey de Grey, Gobel established Methuselah in 2003 in order to "shed light on the processes of aging and finds ways to extend healthy life."[2] That same year, he seed-funded the Methuselah Mouse Prize to encourage the development of new life extension therapies in mice, which are genetically similar to humans. So far, three Mouse Prizes have been awarded: one for breaking longevity records to Dr. Andrzej Bartke of Southern Illinois University; one for late-onset rejuvenation strategies to Dr. Stephen Spindler of the University of California; and one to Dr. Z. Dave Sharp for his work with the pharmaceutical rapamycin.[3]

Through Methuselah, Gobel and de Grey established research programs focused on advanced human bioremedial biology at Rice University and Arizona State University—the world's first use of environmental remediation techniques to be directed at reversing "pollution" in human cells.[4] They also established a Mitochondrial Research initiative at Cambridge University aimed at improving the error correction and repair capabilities of fundamental energy producing organelles in humans.[5]

Methuselah has also provided funding and strategic support to companies developing breakthrough technologies and clinical interventions in regenerative medicine. These companies include Organovo (NYSE: ONVO),[6] a pioneer in 3D tissue printing, and Silverstone Solutions,[7] a maker of kidney-matching software that has enabled hospitals and transplant organizations to more quickly and accurately pair patients with compatible donors. In 2013, Methuselah announced a new $500,000 partnership with Organovo to place 3D bioprinters in several U.S. university research labs as springboards for cutting-edge research.[8]

In 2013, Methuselah launched a second prize series, entitled New Organ,[9] to accelerate solutions to the global organ shortage.[10] The first prize in this series, the $1 million New Organ Liver Prize, "will award $1,000,000 to the first team that creates a bioengineered replacement for the native liver of a large mammal, enabling it to recover in the absence of native function and survive three months with a normal lifestyle." Future prizes under consideration include awards for the "heart, lung, and kidney."[11]

SENS Research Foundation

In 2007, under the auspices of the Methuselah Foundation, Gobel and Aubrey de Grey initiated a new rejuvenation research program entitled "Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence" (SENS) in order to help identify, repair and remove cell-level damage before it causes systemic harm. Under the continuing leadership of de Grey, SENS spun out from Methuselah as the independent SENS Research Foundation in 2009, and continues its work "to use regenerative medicine to repair the damage underlying the diseases of aging."[12]

Transportation Security Administration

As Chief Venture Strategist in the Office of Security Operations at TSA from 2002 to 2013, Gobel proposed, designed, and operated the Department of Homeland Security's first venture capital arm. He was responsible for multiple investments in cutting-edge security capabilities, including the VOXER iPhone app[13][14] and the world’s first hand-held mass spectrometer (aka 'Tricorder').[15]

He also conceived and co-designed the IdeaFactory, DHS’s innovation management system. Using "wisdom of crowds" principles and bottom-up techniques to bring the experience and intelligence of 170,000 employees to bear on critical problems of security, efficiency, and public service, IdeaFactory is featured on whitehouse.gov as an example of government innovation.[16]

During his tenure at TSA, Gobel helped design and develop numerous other programs, including TSA’s Red Cell counter-terrorism group, the Arena XXI transportation security system, the Virtual Continuity of Operations conops,[17] and TSA’s Information Technology Management Council.

Other Ventures

Gobel is co-founder of the Super Centenarian Research Foundation,[18] an organization partnered with multiple universities focused on the scientific study of the 65 individuals in the world known to be 110 years or older.

He developed corporate and technology strategy at Eyegaze,[19] a contractor and marketer of eye-tracking systems that enable quadriplegics to type and communicate with only their eyes.

From 1996 to 2002, Gobel was president of Obvious Software LLC, a venture project to design and build the world’s first fully independent artificial intelligence robotic online professional stock trading system. He also developed VastMind, a cloud-enabled parallel processing grid computing application to utilize wasted CPU cycles in broadband and LAN connected computers.

He co-founded Starbright in 1995, partnering with Steven Spielberg, Intel, Sprint, and Tandem Computers to design and create Starbright World, a broadband network that allows sick kids at thousands of homes and over 110 children's hospitals to "go out and play" in a rich virtual world where they can communicate with friends and family.[20] He is also co-inventor of World's, Inc., one of the internet’s earliest shared 3D virtual worlds using avatar-based communication.[21][22]

As co-founder and vice president of Knowledge Adventure, Inc. (1991–1994), Gobel invented "mouse movies" (now known as non-linear video) in which the movement of the user's mouse would link non-linearly to a database of video frames. At Knowledge Adventure, Gobel produced and directed 6 best-selling multimedia titles, including "3D Body Adventure," "Buzz Aldrin's Space Adventure," "Science Adventure," "America Adventure," "Bug Adventure," and "The Discoverers" by Daniel J. Boorstin.[23]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Engineering Away Lysosomal Junk: Medical Bioremediation", Bruce E. Rittmann and John Schloendorn. Rejuvenation Research. September 2007, 10(3): 359-366. doi:10.1089/rej.2007.0594.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ "Organovo and Methuselah Foundation Announce Funding of Bioprinting Research at Research Institutions", Wall Street Journal Market Watch, July 24, 2013.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ "Methuselah Foundation Announces $1 Million 'New Organ Liver Prize' at World Stem Cell Summit", Reuters, December 5, 2013.
  11. ↑
  12. ↑
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ "908 Devices Announces Completion of Successful Testing for M908" Fire Engineering, June 15, 2014.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑
  17. ↑
  18. ↑
  19. ↑
  20. ↑
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ "Metaverse Roadmap Foresight Framework"
  23. ↑

Articles

Interviews

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