Juvenescence expands into Abu Dhabi

Juvenescence expands into Abu Dhabi, sets up in Masdar City and taps national genomic assets

Juvenescence has announced an expansion into Abu Dhabi, establishing operations in Masdar City and entering a collaboration with UAE partners that includes access to large-scale genomic and health data. The longevity-focused biotech also confirmed the appointment of Eileen Jennings-Brown as Chief Technology Officer as it advances its JuvAI platform alongside the geographic expansion. The company says the move builds on existing investment relationships in the region and positions Juvenescence to work with national infrastructure oriented toward prevention, precision and population-scale insight.

“The sector has shifted from ‘experimentation to execution’,” Jennings-Brown said, adding that “that shift has been enabled by more mature, and greater access to, technology, allowing AI to be embedded into day-to-day scientific work rather than treated as a separate exercise – there is now far clearer understanding across the sector that AI delivers impact when it informs real R&D decisions.”

Strategy and technology

Juvenescence has long framed its work as targeting fundamental mechanisms of aging rather than single diseases, and the company says its JuvAI platform is central to that strategy. Jennings-Brown told Longevity.Technology that “Juvenescence’s JuvAI platform is established and already supports targeted longevity research, and we have already seen the benefits that it has had on our pipeline. As we expand into the UAE, we’re focused on making sure our platform continues to support strong scientific decision-making as research activity grows.”

She argued population-scale genomic and health datasets change the analytical frame for AI in aging research: “Large-scale genomic and health datasets allow AI to look across populations and over time, rather than analysing biology in isolated snapshots,” she said. “Compared with traditional disease-specific datasets, this supports a more holistic view of aging biology, where multiple systems and pathways can be examined together. Population-scale and larger datasets (such as those emerging from the UAE) make it possible to consider how external conditions and environment shape biological signals. For AI, this enables stronger hypothesis generation around aging pathways and modifiers, rather than focusing narrowly on one disease or endpoint.”

Local ecosystem and practical implications

Masdar City has positioned itself as a hub for life sciences discovery, data and clinical translation. Marwan Mohamed, Business Development Manager – Life Sciences, Masdar City, said: “The company’s focus on AI-enabled drug discovery and targeting fundamental aging mechanisms aligns strongly with Masdar City’s role as a home for life sciences companies spanning discovery, data, and clinical translation. This collaboration reflects Abu Dhabi’s ambition to build a globally competitive biotechnology ecosystem, supported by world-class infrastructure, access to national genomic assets, and close collaboration with healthcare and regulatory stakeholders.”

• Operations established in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi.
• Access to large-scale genomic and health datasets as part of UAE collaboration; the Emirati Genome Project has reported 800,000+ whole genomes.
• Eileen Jennings-Brown named Chief Technology Officer to advance the JuvAI platform.
• Company focus areas include immune function, repair mechanisms and cardio-metabolic resilience.

Observers say the practical test will be evidence of translation: prospective performance, trial acceleration, improved stratification and regulator-grade data rather than promotional claims. The UAE expansion brings potential advantages—streamlined study initiation, defined regulatory pathways and access to diverse cohorts—but also raises governance and consent responsibilities that Juvenescence and local partners will need to navigate as they attempt to turn computational capability and national-scale data into validated geroscience interventions.