ISB News

Revolutionizing Healthcare: Exploring the Age of Scientific Wellness for Optimal Health and Disease Prevention

In their new book, “The Age of Scientific Wellness: Why the Future of Medicine is Personalized, Predictive, Data-Rich, and In Your Hands,” Drs. Lee Hood and Nathan Price introduce a new way of thinking about healthcare – a focus on preventing diseases and optimizing overall wellness.

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New Alzheimer’s drugs are costly and controversial. Are we going about this all wrong?

There is tremendous market and media frenzy around new Alzheimer’s disease drugs, but their efficacy is contested while the potential of prevention is untapped and underreported, Drs. Lee Hood and Nathan Price wrote in an opinion piece published by the Los Angeles Times.

The Aging Microbiome

Gut Microbiome Implicated in Healthy Aging and Longevity

The gut microbiome is an integral component of the body, but its importance in the human aging process is unclear. ISB researchers and their collaborators have identified distinct signatures in the gut microbiome that are associated with either healthy or unhealthy aging trajectories, which in turn predict survival in a population of older individuals.

Illustration depicting an individual's genetic risk for disease being "reflected."

ISB Researchers Show Genetic Risk for Disease Often Reflected in Our Blood

Diseases develop gradually over years, sometimes decades, before symptoms appear, and are due to malfunctioning physiological processes brought about by our genes and environment. In research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), ISB researchers have shown how an individual’s genetic risk for disease is often reflected in their blood.

ISB’s Dr. Nathan Price Inducted into AIMBE’s College of Fellows 

Dr. Nathan Price has been inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s (AIMBE) College of Fellows. Price was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for his contributions deriving medical and biological insights from large-scale data analysis and network modeling, and translating those insights to society.

How Old Are You? Your Body Might Disagree With That Answer

Researchers at ISB harnessed deep molecular and physiological information to determine an individual’s biological age, which they found was reflective of overall health compared to chronological age. The findings were published in the Journals of Gerontology: Series A.

Using Blood to Predict Gut Microbiome Diversity

Predicting the alpha diversity of an individual’s gut microbiome is possible by examining metabolites in the blood. The robust relationship between host metabolome and gut microbiome diversity opens the door for a fast, cheap and reliable blood test to identify individuals with low gut diversity.

Dr. Mary Kay Ross

ISB, BHRI Collaborate to Better Understand Significant Brain Impairment

ISB has entered into a scientific partnership with the Brain Health & Research Institute (BHRI), which opens its doors on September 3 in Seattle. BHRI was created by brain health expert Dr. Mary Kay Ross, and is dedicated to the evaluation, prevention, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

The Science of Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a biological necessity for survival. Traditionally, however, our knowledge about pregnancy and pregnant women have lagged. Dr. Alison Paquette, a research scientist in ISB’s Hood-Price Lab, hosted a video question-and-answer session where she discussed pregnancy, the placenta, preterm birth, and much more.

Nathan Price

Dr. Nathan Price Named NAM Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced ISB’s Dr. Nathan Price as a 2019 Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar. NAM’s Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Program provides a platform for a new generation of leaders to collaborate with the NAM and its members across generations and fields of expertise.

Lee Hood at Visions of the Future

‘Visions of the Future’ Symposium Honors Dr. Lee Hood on his 80th Birthday

An impressive lineup of renowned researchers gathered at ISB recently for a one-day symposium, titled “Visions of the Future,” to honor ISB co-founder Dr. Lee Hood on his 80th birthday. Presenters included Drs. Irv Weissman, Ralph Snyderman, Ellen Rothenberg, Roger Perlmutter, Jim Heath, Trey Ideker, and more.

ISB Artwork Featured On Cover of Nature Biotechnology

Institute for Systems Biology and Arivale “Pioneer 100 Study” is featured on the cover of August’s Nature Biotechnology. The artwork was created by ISB’s Associate Director of Communications Allison Kudla in collaboration with contributing author John C. Earls, software engineer in Hood/Price Lab.

Pioneer 100 Study

Institute for Systems Biology and Arivale “Pioneer 100 Study” Establishes Foundation for New Industry of Scientific Wellness

Institute for Systems Biology and Arivale “Pioneer 100 Study” Establishes Foundation for New Industry of Scientific Wellness. Personal, dense, dynamic data clouds enable novel insights into mechanisms of wellness and disease, new approaches to biomarker discovery, and the empowerment of individuals to enhance their own health.

Scientific Wellness Meets Personalized Nutrition

Dr. Lee Hood, ISB president, and Nathan Price, ISB associate director, have joined the scientific advisory board of the newly launched Habit, which will begin to offer personalized nutrition plans based on your biology. From a recent Fast Company article: Neil Grimmer’s new startup, called Habit, aims to help others achieve their goals, whether it’s to lose weight or sleep more soundly. The company, which is launching in January, offers…

ISB Researcher Receives HDSA Fellowship

Congratulations to Dani Bergey (Price Lab) on receiving a Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) Donald A. King Summer Research Fellowship. “This is going to be a great step for her as she prepares to apply for graduate school next year,” said Nathan Price.

Science, Tech, Design & Food Converge at reThinkFood Conference

ISB Associate Director Dr. Nathan Price participated in the panel discussion “Revolutions in Healthcare: Impacts on the Future of the Food Industry” during the reThinkFood conference at The Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. The panelists each gave a short talk about his/her respective interests and then sat down to a discussion. It was an interesting intersection of perspectives from Kevin Slavin (MIT Media Lab), Molly Maloof (Physician Entrepreneur),…

Baliga Lab: A Global Map To Fight Tuberculosis

3 Bullets: The disease progression of tuberculosis is extremely complex and it’s poorly understood. ISB and Seattle BioMed researchers have made an important step by developing a comprehensive map of gene regulation in tuberculosis. A resulting open-access web portal offers any scientist the ability to mine the collected data. By ISBUSA Tuberculosis (TB) remains a top global health threat due to its remarkable complexity in disease progression. To help understand…

NIH-Led Effort – Including ISB – Launches Big Data Portal for Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery

The National Institutes of Health announced the launch of a new Alzheimer’s Big Data portal, which includes the first wave of data for use by the research community. This portal is the result of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) program, which focuses on facilitating collaboration among government agencies, academia and industry in order to translate research more quickly to therapies. The launch of the AMP Alzeheimers Disease Knowledge Portal is…