Tony Wyss-Coray Is Measuring Biological Age One Organ at a Time

Tony Wyss-Coray, a Swiss neurology professor and director of the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Stanford University, has found a way to measure a person's "biological age." This biological age is believed to more accurately reflect how a body is aging compared to chronological age. Wyss-Coray's tests analyze specific protein levels in the blood, which can indicate the biological ages of various organs in the body, such as the brain.

The higher the biological age of an organ, the greater the risk of disease and overall mortality for that organ. The company he co-founded, Vero Bioscience, is currently conducting clinical trials to verify the accuracy of these tests. Wyss-Coray believes these tests can help optimize health based on personalized data, potentially extending health span and aiding in the development of longevity drugs and interventions.

Wyss-Coray is also dedicated to studying the aging brain, tracing his interest back to his PhD in immunology. He discovered that the brain and other organs are interconnected with the rest of the body, leading him to investigate the connections between them to better understand and potentially halt aging and disease. In 2007, he published a paper on the differences in blood protein levels between Alzheimer's patients and healthy individuals, revealing that these differences could detect the disease.

Since then, Wyss-Coray's research has shed light on the significant role of proteins, immune signals, and other factors in the blood, particularly in relation to aging and disease. His lab demonstrated that infusing older mice with younger blood plasma improved cognitive function, while blood plasma from older mice accelerated aging in younger animals.

Another company he co-founded, Alkahest, is investigating the potential of human blood plasma to treat diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.