By Leroy Hood from the Institute of Systems Biology in Seattle, WA

Nature Biotechnology 2017, vol 35, p747-756

Abstract: Personal data for 108 individuals were collected during a 9-month period, including whole genome sequences; clinical tests,metabolomes, proteomes, and microbiomes at three time points; and daily activity tracking. Using all of these data, we generateda correlation network that revealed communities of related analytes associated with physiology and disease. Connectivity withinanalyte communities enabled the identification of known and candidate biomarkers (e.g., gamma-glutamyltyrosine was denselyinterconnected with clinical analytes for cardiometabolic disease). We calculated polygenic scores from genome-wide associationstudies (GWAS) for 127 traits and diseases, and used these to discover molecular correlates of polygenic risk (e.g., genetic riskfor inflammatory bowel disease was negatively correlated with plasma cystine). Finally, behavioral coaching informed by personaldata helped participants to improve clinical biomarkers. Our results show that measurement of personal data clouds over time canimprove our understanding of health and disease, including early transitions to disease states.

My summary: I presented this article because I think it is going to open the door to a more scientific approach to health and wellness tracking and optimization. New generations of the population are get more interested and invested in optimizing their own health and wellness because they are seeing the payoffs it has on the quality of their life; whether it be personally or professionally. Now these authors have already established a spinoff company to conduct the work, Arivale, but I can envision many diagnostic and wellness tracking companies being created to monitor key biomarkers on a daily or weekly basis based on the results they find. The scientists were able to identify a handful of impactful biomarkers simply based on screening and tracking 100 individuals for 9 months. I can’t even imagine what they will find when they hit their 100,000 mark and track those individuals for years and being correlating all this data to disease development. This will truly be a herculean task. I will be keeping my eye out for future reports when new enrollment milestones are hit.