We are so excited to welcome TruDiagnostic to Rupa Health! We had a great conversation with Hannah Went, Director of Operations at TruDiagnostic, to learn more about the company and the tests they offer.
Introducing TruDiagnostic!
Hi, Hannah! I am excited to chat with you today. To get started, can you tell me a little about your background?
I attended the University of Kentucky and graduated with a degree in Biology. During that time, I had multiple research internships at the University of Kentucky, studying cell signaling and cell biology. After graduation, I worked for the International Peptide Society (IPS) as their Director of Content and Research.
I really started to get into the functional medicine space during my time at IPS. I am lucky enough to now be the Director of Operations here at TruDiagnostic. I have always had a passion for genetics and epigenetics.
That’s amazing! What is your favorite part about being in the functional medicine industry, particularly the epigenetics field?
I love how quickly the industry moves. There is always something new to learn.
I truly believe that methylation markers will be able to predict almost anything in the near future. This type of testing is anticipated to overtake traditional blood testing in the next 10-15 years. THAT will be considered precision medicine at its finest.
If you want to predict cancer, we absolutely can. We could even predict things such as athletic performance. Right now, this platform is in its infancy, but it can be trained to predict a lot of things if you have the covariate data on a large scale.
If there's one thing to take away from this talk, I think it’s that this epigenetic platform will change every area of medicine as a diagnostic. It can tell us a lot about different areas of medicine and fit a need that we don't have in a lot of diagnostics.
Amazing! This is definitely a rapidly evolving field. I cannot wait to see what kinds of things we can use genetics to predict in the future!
Can you tell me a little about TruDiagnostic’s background?
TruDiagnostic was founded in March 2020, right as the COVID pandemic hit. The first commercial testing began in July of that year. Since then, the company has launched more than 30 ongoing clinical trials, looking at a variety of interventions.
Our CLIA-certified lab focuses on DNA methylation. We are also looking at how COVID-19 affects health metrics and longevity.
You’ve already touched on this a little, but why is DNA methylation testing so important?
Understanding the aging process is crucial when it comes to reducing disease. Therefore, we knew we had to offer some type of quantitative way to capture this process. This molecular measurement can give us a much better idea of how we're aging. If we can treat this as a primary outcome, if we can treat aging, then we can reduce the risk of a lot of other chronic diseases.
The statistic I always like to mention when I introduce people to this topic is that, if everyone in the world were to be seven years younger biologically than chronologically — so if someone was 50 chronologically and had a biological age of 43 — if everyone in the world had that same delta, we would have 50% fewer people sick.
Overnight we would reduce disease by half. That’s an incredibly powerful statistic, which hopefully can illustrate to people just how important aging is.
Wow! I had no idea! That’s incredible.
Can you tell me a little more about the test you offer? How does it work?
We offer one test - TruAge! All of the reports we offer are included in the test. We even continue to offer new reports every 4-5 weeks to update users on their methylation status.
We use an array-based technology from Illumina to look at about 900,000 methylation markers on the DNA. The data we receive from the array is called a Beta-value. This is a number between 0 and 1 which reflects the level of methylation at that particular mark. That's a lot of data!
We then use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning via different algorithms to predict outcomes.
Fantastic! What are practitioners looking to treat/understand when they order the TruAge test?
Aging! It's important to note that aging is the number 1 risk factor for all chronic diseases and death. If there's one thing you could do in a lifestyle capacity to prevent the development of cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or most of these age-related diseases, it is to essentially not age. Like I said earlier, if everyone in the world were to be seven years younger biologically than their chronological age, the global disease burden would be reduced by 50%.
Every time I hear that number, I’m amazed - a 50% decrease in diseases! Wow!
What kinds of practitioners can order this test?
We mainly serve providers in the functional medicine space; however, anyone can offer this type of testing to their patients. You do not have to be a licensed provider to offer TruAge.
That’s great! I know that so many people will benefit from this test. I am so excited for you all to be joining Rupa’s platform!
What are you all working on right now? Is anything new and exciting coming soon?
We are working on several upcoming studies about interventions to address biological aging. This is particularly exciting because we will be able to give our providers even more information on what can really change these aging metrics.
In addition to that, we are always adding new reports about every 4-5 weeks.
Amazing! To close out, is there anything else you would like Rupa practitioners to know about TruDiagnostic?
If you are ever interested in performing a study together, let us know! In addition to offering TruAge, we also have a full clinical trial team that can work with you to make your clinical trial dreams come true!
Fantastic! We really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us and we look forward to growing our partnership with TruDiagnostic.
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