Can computer science help us live longer? It is a complex question that requires an understanding of our anticipated lifespan and how the health of our body at this moment compares to the average person our age, what some would call calculating our biological age. What computer science stands to help with is understanding how better to pinpoint that biological age and what factors may play into holding off the aging process. Guest Andy Lee, of NeuroInitiative and Vincere Biosciences, speaks with host Angelo Kastroulis about this hard problem of predicting our biological age and potentially reversing it.

Angelo begins with a discussion on some of the classical age models that have previously looked at the question of determining one’s biological age. He talks about classic papers by Horvath and Fahy that have changed the way scientists think about aging. He introduced the idea of epigenetics, or the study of the changes in living things that are caused by the medication of the way genes are expressed rather that the more classical mode of altering the genetic code itself. 

With his Guest Andy Lee, founding CTO of NeuroInitiative and COO of Vincere Biosciences, Angelo dives deeper into DNA methylation signatures and the patterns that we can look at to begin to determine someone’s biological age. Andy describes how computer science and neural networks are modernizing these determinations and what that means for improving our longevity.

The pair note the challenges posed by the sheer volume of genetic data and what advances in data science can make in our ability to push this area forward, including therapeutics for diseases such as Parkinson’s. They talk about how computer science is allowing us to have transformative information brought to us so that then we can intervene and act on it. 

About this Episode’s Guest

Andy Lee is Co-Founder, Director, and CTO of NeuroInitiative, where he is co-inventor on multiple granted and pending patents surrounding the SEED simulation platform, as well as COO at Vincere Biosciences, Inc., a Cambridge, MA, company developing disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson's disease. Previously, Andy was VP of Engineering at Black Knight through F500 acquisition, spin-out, and IPO. He has led teams of over 100 members and continues to actively code to create new data-driven solutions. You can find out more on Twitter (@Andy_D_Lee) and LinkedIn.

Citations

Fahy, GM, Brooke, RT, Watson, JP, et al. Reversal of epigenetic aging and immunosenescent trends in humans. Aging Cell. 2019; 18:e13028. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13028

Horvath S. (2013). DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types. Genome biology, 14(10), R115.https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2013-14-10-r115

Johnson, A.A., Shokhirev, M., and Shoshitaishvili, B. (August 2019). Revamping the Evolutionary Theories of Aging. Ageing Research Reviews. 55. Doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2019.100947.

The Matt Walker Podcast. https://sleepdiplomat.com/podcast

Further Reading

Handbook of Epigenetics, 2nd Edition

NeuroInitiative

Vincere Biosciences

Andy Lee on Twitter and LinkedIn

About the Host

Angelo Kastroulis is an award-winning technologist, inventor, entrepreneur, speaker, data scientist, and author best known for his high-performance computing and Health IT experience. He is the principal consultant, lead architect, and owner of Carrera Group, a consulting firm specializing in software modernization, event streaming (Kafka), big data, analytics (Spark, elastic Search, and Graph), and high-performance software development on many technical stacks (Java, .net, Scala, C++, and Rust). A Data Scientist at heart, trained at the Harvard Data Systems Lab, Angelo enjoys a research-driven approach to creating powerful, massively scalable applications and innovating new methods for superior performance. He loves to educate, discover, then see the knowledge through to practical implementation.

Host:Angelo Kastroulis

Executive Producer: Kerri Patterson; Producer: Leslie Jennings Rowley; Audio Engineer: Ryan Thompson; Communications Strategist: Albert Perrotta

Music: All Things Grow by Oliver Worth

© 2021, Carrrera Group

Host: Angelo Kastroulis

Executive Producer: Náture Kastroulis

Producer: Albert Perrotta

Communications Strategist: Albert Perrotta

Video/Audio Engineer: Ryan Thompson

Music: All Things Grow by Oliver Worth