Jan 26, 2019
Imagine an all-encompassing platform that allows you to keep track of all your blood, stool, saliva, and urine testing results, along with self-quantified data from wearables, and even pulls in all health testing you've done in the past as part of a single dashboard.
And imagine that platform could then use highly advanced artificial intelligence to tell you exactly how to eat, how to supplement, how to exercise and much more.
All from the comfort of your home, without needing to drive to an expensive lab for multiple blood draws or fill out confusing paperwork. That's exactly what the brand new company Onegevity Health has the money, technology and data to do, and so I decided it was high time I sat down with their two chief scientists to learn exactly how this process works. I've already sent in my own stool using their Gut/bio shotgun stool sequencing test that we discuss in this episode.
My guests are Dr. Joel Dudley and Dr. Chris Mason.
These guys are highly qualified and wicked smart.
Dr. Dudley is currently Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Endowed Chair of Biomedical Data Science, and founding Director of the Institute for Next Generation Healthcare at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Prior to Mount Sinai, he held positions as Co-founder and Director of Informatics at NuMedii, Inc. and Consulting Professor of Systems Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.
His work, published in >120 peer-review publications, is focused at the nexus digital health, artificial intelligence (AI), scientific wellness, and healthcare delivery. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, MIT Technology Review, CNBC, and other popular media outlets. He was named in 2014 as one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company magazine. He is co-author of the book Exploring Personal Genomics from Oxford University Press. Dr. Dudley received a BS in Microbiology from Arizona State University and an MS and PhD in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Christopher Mason is currently an Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, with appointments at the Tri-Institutional Program in Computational Biology and Medicine between Cornell, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, and the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute. He is also Director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, which bridges prediction methods in finance with genomics. His work spanning >140 peer-reviewed publications has been featured on the cover of Science, Nature, and Cell journals as well as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, and other major media outlets.
Dr. Mason was featured as a speaker at TEDMED and he was recognized in 2014 as one of the “Brilliant Ten” by Popular Science magazine. He completed his dual B.S. in Genetics and Biochemistry (2001) from University of Wisconsin-Madison, his Ph.D. in Genetics (2006) from Yale University, and then completed post-doctoral training in clinical genetics (2009) at Yale Medical School while jointly a post-doctoral Fellow of Genomics, Ethics, and Law at Yale Law School (2009).
During the show, you'll discover:
-What Onegevity is, and what it does...9:45
- "Health intelligence" company
- History of the company
- Frustration with how long it takes research to reach the consumer
- 17 years to reach just the clinic; many years after that to reach the consumer
- How is it different from other biome testing companies
- Shotgun sequencing vs. 16S
- Translate the results along with actionable steps to take
- Recreational health information vs. health management companies
- Vertically integrated with Thorne, who develops the actual solutions
- Starting over in some ways in the realm of microbiome testing
-What is metatranscriptome analysis?...18:00
- "Meta" = Across all species
- DNA + RNA analysis
- Challenges with RNA analysis - some clinicians consider it useless
- Only top few % of species generate RNA in the sample
- Comparable in price to shotgun sequencing
-The actual testing process at Onegevity...20:45
- Very small stool sample required, as compared to other tests
- 6 gigabytes of data after sequencing DNA
- Each fragment compared to all known species on earth
- Interactive report on the web; suggestions on what food and supplements to order
- Network modeling:
- How are changes in the microbiome propagating to the blood
- More comprehensive than guessing based on correlations
- What is measured in the blood?
- TBD based on the individual's health
-How Joel and Chris overcome challenges and skepticism in their testing processes...28:20
- How can you measure the whole gut with a stool sample? (Spatial microbiome testing)
- Not necessary, even harmful, to sample from other areas of the gut
-The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the testing process at Onegevity...36:40
- Predicts diseases/conditions based on the shotgun sequencing
- Recommend foods and supplements to consume
- Each company has its own variables, testing protocols, etc.; results in differing test results
- Database continues to grow with each test; data becomes more reliable
- Data is not for sale to outside parties; will partner under the right conditions
-How do you go from stool, to shotgun sequencing, to "don't eat green beans?"...40:35
- Internal trial; shocking results
- Can determine the efficacy of the test at certain benchmarks; 15 day, 30 day, etc.
- Very positive feedback from those who were tested
- Does Thorne produce a special probiotic that seeds the gut?
-How comprehensive are the dietary recommendations after a Onegevity test?...48:52
- Not simply a particular diet, i.e. Mediterranean, Ketogenic, etc.
- Can make specific food, meal recommendations
- Possibly partner with food delivery services to provide customized options
- Very close to being perfectly genetically tailored in both microbiome and saliva tests
-How customer data is protected if Joel and Chris choose to partner with a pharmaceutical company...55:20
- Customers are opted out by default; can choose to opt in.
- Potential to benefit monetarily by opting in
-What the Onegevity platform looks like from a user standpoint...1:01:55
-And much more!
Resources from this episode:
-Click here to visit OnegevityHealth.com for the testing we discuss in this episode. Use discount code BEN20 to receive $20 off your own test.
-Book: Exploring Personal Genomics by Joel Dudley
Episode Sponsors:
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