Eric Topol and Lee Hood — Two Scientific Luminaries on Longevity and Prevention
Discussing Super Agers, Drs. Eric Topol and Lee Hood connected breakthroughs in genomics, AI, and lifestyle science to the pursuit of longer, healthier lives.
Discussing Super Agers, Drs. Eric Topol and Lee Hood connected breakthroughs in genomics, AI, and lifestyle science to the pursuit of longer, healthier lives.
The pioneering work of Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell began with a mysterious mutant mouse known as “scurfy,” leading them to identify the FOXP3 gene and unlock how regulatory T cells prevent autoimmune disease — discoveries that now point to new treatments in cancer and autoimmunity.
Everybody poops, but not every day. An ISB-led research team examined the clinical, lifestyle, and multi-omic data of more than 1,400 healthy adults. How often people poop, they found, can have a large influence on one’s physiology and health.
New ISB research shows that different patient responses to statins can be explained by the variation in the human microbiome. The findings were published in the journal Med, and suggest that microbiome monitoring could be used to help optimize personalized statin treatments.
The strongest associations with weight loss success or failure – independent of BMI – are found in the genetic capacity of the gut microbiome. These new findings open the door to diagnostic tests that can identify people likely to lose weight with healthy lifestyle changes and those who might need more drastic interventions.
ISB’s research into the aging microbiome was featured in a story published by Anahad O’Connor for The New York Times titled “A Changing Gut Microbiome May Predict How Well You Age.” The research featured was published in Nature Metabolism by Drs. Tomasz Wilmanksi, Noa Rappaport, Sean Gibbons and Nathan Price.
The gut microbiome is an integral component of the body, but its importance in the human aging process is unclear. ISB researchers and their collaborators have identified distinct signatures in the gut microbiome that are associated with either healthy or unhealthy aging trajectories, which in turn predict survival in a population of older individuals.
ISB researchers and their collaborators are looking beyond the one-drug, one-solution approach that has thus far failed in Alzheimer’s disease research. Instead, they are focusing on other promising research avenues, such as the possible role of the gut microbiome in dementia.