Oxford vlog| Altos Labs talk on epigenetic clocks👩🏻‍🔬, Weston Library 📚, Ashmolean museum🎨

Come along with me to another busy week here :) Summary and reflections on the aging talk from a member of Altos Labs: Altos Labs, Inc., a biotech research company founded in 2022, focuses on developing life extension therapies aimed at slowing or even reversing the human aging process. Some approaches are focused cell therapies based on induced pluripotent stem cells. The company successfully raised $3 billion in January 2022, one of the best-funded biotech startups to date. Epigenetic clocks: biomarkers that measure changes in DNA methylation levels at specific sites, which are correlated with biological age. The GrimAge clock represents an improvement in identifying age-related decline in clinical phenotypes, suggesting its potential in advancing precision medicine. The newest version, DNAm GrimAge, is a composite biomarker based on seven DNA methylation-based estimators of plasma proteins and a DNA methylation-based estimator of smoking pack-years. Lifestyle factors like smoking and diet significantly influence epigenetic aging. The extrinsic epigenetic age acceleration (EEAA) is associated with factors like fish intake, moderate alcohol consumption, education, body mass index (BMI), and blood carotenoid levels – an indicator of fruit and vegetable consumption. Both EEAA and IEAA relate to metabolic syndrome indicators, further emphasising the connection between lifestyle choices and molecular aging rates.