Beyond
Biological Limits
e184 is a biotechnology and neurotechnology company working to overcome the limits of human biology.
Reproduction
Reproduction has not changed in four million years. Age, anatomy, and sex still determine who can become a parent. Medicine has extended the window incrementally. Technology has barely reached it.
The global fertility rate has halved in seventy years, from 4.84 to 2.23. Today, 71% of the global population already lives in countries below replacement fertility, and 198 of 204 countries are projected to fall below replacement by 2100.
Public discussion of this decline focuses almost entirely on social and economic causes. What receives almost no attention is the parallel collapse on the biological side, where the numbers are equally staggering.
Against this trajectory, biology becomes the one driver of fertility that technology can unlock.
unborn children missing from the world today due to biological causes.
children never born each year, 34 every minute.
one unborn child
for every 10 alive.
In vitro gametogenesis
women past menopause unable to conceive.
LGBTQ+ adults unable to have children genetically related to both partners.
women of reproductive age diagnosed as infertile.
e184 develops in vitro gametogenesis to generate functional gametes from somatic cells, restoring biological parenthood across age, sex, and anatomy.
Ectogenesis
women of reproductive age affected by tubal disease, uterine factors, or recurrent pregnancy loss.
babies born preterm each year, the leading cause of death in children under five.
survival below 21 weeks. More than half of survivors at 23 weeks face lifelong disabilities.
e184 develops ectogenesis to sustain gestation outside the human body, eliminating prematurity as a cause of death, and enabling biological parenthood independent of the ability to carry a pregnancy.
Genome
The human genome carries nearly four billion years of evolution, traced back to the first ancestral cell from which all life on Earth descends. Every ancestor since has added to it: the mutations that cause disease, the variants that contribute to aging, the viral remnants and broken genes of every species and generation that came before.
It is biology’s longest record of error, and modern medicine only treats its consequences. The code itself has remained untouched.
For the first time, we are no longer bound by this inheritance. The genetic code is becoming something we read, edit, and ultimately rewrite, refactoring accumulated error into a genome shaped by design rather than evolution.
Genome Engineering
Almost every person carries genetic risk for disease. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by inherited disorders, while billions more live with polygenic diseases. The same code that drives disease also sets the pace of aging. Genome editing removes pathogenic mutations and lowers inherited risk at its source.
A few people are born with rare protective variants: resistance to disease and genetic signatures associated with longer, healthier lifespans. Synthetic genomics makes it possible to install these deliberately, rather than leaving them to evolutionary chance.
The long-term objective is to refactor the genome, removing the deadweight of evolution and rewriting the code against the failure modes of aging. Not treating the consequences of inherited biology, but redesigning the source.
e184 works across the full spectrum of genome engineering in adults — editing pathogenic mutations, installing protective variants, and ultimately refactoring the genetic code.
Cognition
For most of human history, intelligence developed within the fixed biological limits of the brain. Artificial intelligence changes this for the first time.
A brain–computer interface turns AI from an external tool into an integral part of the mind, allowing it to evolve beyond its biological constraints.
Direct brain–AI connection today means surgery. Invasive interfaces reach only a handful of patients, and an implant will never scale to billions.
The bottleneck is the hardware. Reaching everyone requires an interface with no implants or surgery.
Brain–Computer Interface
Genetic potential for human intelligence has barely changed over the last several thousand years. Yet measured cognitive performance has risen dramatically within a single century. Global IQ scores increased by roughly 30 points, driven by literacy, education, and technology. Human cognition is shaped by its technological environment. The brain is not fixed.
Learning a new technology physically rewires the brain. Reading creates new links between visual and language systems. Abacus-trained children internalize calculation into visuospatial working memory and perform arithmetic without the physical device. The brain reorganizes itself around the tools it uses.
A brain–computer interface works the same way, but at a larger scale. Continuous interaction with a system that expands in capability allows the brain to build new pathways and forms of cognition that did not previously exist. As AI continues to advance, the mind grows with it, no longer bound by the biological substrate it emerged from. The expansion of human cognition becomes open-ended.
e184 develops a non-invasive brain–computer interface based on next-generation solid-state magnetometers, high-bandwidth sensors that detect neural activity without implants, creating a path to the native fusion of human and artificial intelligence.
Mission
Evolution has always decided how we reproduce, how our genome is written, and how we think. e184 is building the technologies required to take control of evolution and overcome the limits of human biology.
In vitro gametogenesis and ectogenesis support the full reproductive cycle from cell to birth outside the human body. Genome engineering prevents inherited disease, extends healthy lifespan, and ultimately refactors the genetic code itself. A non-invasive brain–computer interface enables direct brain–AI interaction and augments human cognition without surgery. Together, these programs span the full arc of human biology, from reproduction to the genome to cognition.
Where current medicine ends, women who cannot conceive or carry, babies born too early to survive, couples for whom biological parenthood is impossible, is where e184 begins. Reproduction should not be constrained by age, sex, anatomy, or the ability or willingness to carry a pregnancy.
Most causes of disease and aging are written into the genome, yet medicine still treats their downstream consequences. e184 develops genome engineering to edit pathogenic mutations, install protective variants, and redesign the biological foundations of human longevity. Genetic disease need not be inevitable. Aging need not be a fixed outcome.
Invasive brain–computer interfaces enable direct brain–AI integration, but surgery confines the technology to a tiny fraction of humanity. To reshape how humans interact with AI, brain–computer interfaces must be non-implantable and scale to billions. e184 is building that interface, bringing brain–AI symbiosis within reach of everyone.
We believe these technologies should be universally accessible.
Medical necessity is the starting point.
Biological freedom is the destination.
Principles
Hyperfocus
Reproduction. Genome. Cognition.
The three biological foundations of being human.
Full stack
Multiple scientific disciplines.
A single in-house research operation across biology, genomics, physics, bioinformatics, materials science, and engineering.
Long horizon
The work follows scientific timelines, not market urgency.
The science sets the pace.
Team
Kirill EvesFounder
Marianna KrellChief Operating Officer
Peter ZheginProgram Director
Aleksei MikhalchenkoCo-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, IVG
Anishur RahmanCo-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, BCI
Joseph OwenProgram Director, Ectogenesis
Pablo Hurtado GonzálezChief Operating Officer, IVG
Chao-Shun YangTeam Lead
Nuria Martí GutiérrezLead Embryologist
Scott BarishScientist
Minoo KarimiScientist
Dongkyeong KimScientist
Yingzhen PeiScientist
Sushma RamResearch Associate
Tassilo NeubauerBioinformatics Engineer
Sarah BoltonLab Operations Manager
Matthew von HippelScience Communications LeadCareers
We are hiring biologists, geneticists, physicists, bioinformaticians, materials scientists, and engineers who want to work on the questions that will define the next chapter in human biology.
If you spent your career being told that your most ambitious idea is interesting but unfundable, talk to us. That idea is probably the reason we exist.