Biohacker Aaron Traywick Found Dead in DC Float Spa

The therapies have their critics. Last November, the US Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to be cautious of gene therapies not under appropriate regulatory oversight, which would include those from Ascendance. Tristan Roberts, a computer programmer who ran the digital side of the company and was voluntarily injected with its HIV gene therapy, reversed course and called Traywick a “scam artist” in February, according to Gizmodo.

Roberts took a different tone after learning of Traywick’s death from a family member, VICE reports. “Aaron was a passionate visionary. He seemingly never tired as he brought people together to work on some of the most imposing challenges facing humanity,” the outlet reports Roberts said in a statement. “While many in the biohacking scene disagreed with his methods, none of them doubted his intentions. He sought nothing short of a revolution in biomedicine; the democratization of science and the opening of the flood gates for global healing.”

Traywick apparently hadn’t been in touch with his colleagues at Ascendance over the past month, according to VICE. Reportedly, the CEO and his colleagues had differing ideas about how to distribute the gene therapies as well as the direction of the company. “We all lost touch with him. It was radio silence,” Andreas Stuermer, a researcher at the company, tells VICE. “It was more than four weeks ago."

Roberts tells News2Share Traywick was found in a flotation tank at the spa. The tanks are filled with saltwater kept at human body temperature and close like a clamshell to block out noise and allow deep meditation. “He was found face down,” Roberts says.