Fedor Galkin, Project Manager at Insilico Medicine, Inc., discusses his work studying the microbiome, human genotypes, and aging/longevity.

Galkin graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in Bioengineering & Bioinformatics. His work focuses on human microbiome aging clocks based on deep learning. Interestingly, the microbiome can serve as an incredibly accurate biological clock, able to predict the age of many people within just years.

Galkin discusses the earliest microbiome aging clocks and recent advances, and the technology that is behind them. Some of these technologies can make assessments based on an individual’s blood biochemistry and gene expression levels, etc., but as he states there has never before been a clock that predicts age based on gut microbes. Galkin discusses their work in detail, discussing how they select and look at the microbes.

Galkin explains the correlations and organization in the microbes, and how with age, things fluctuate. He details how they observe the changes that show age, and how certain conditions, such as diabetes will make the gut microbes appear as a much older person. Continuing, the bioengineering expert talks about nutrients, and how supplements, etc. can impact the biological systems. And he explains how their work on the species level is ongoing, but that they hope to delve deeper into the functional and genetic level as well, in their continued study of the human microbiome.

In this podcast:

What is a microbiome aging clock?
How nutrients play a role in the gut microbiome
The role of supplements in biological health

Fedor Galkin: Thanks to Future Tech Podcast for reaching out! We have discussed Insilico Medicine, Inc. microflora aging clock. I was a bit nervous while recording this podcast and mixed some things up. Eg combining “et alia” and “and others” into “et ales”, or calling “Bacteroidetes” phylum “Bacteroides”.

Here are some articles I had in mind, while discussing human microflora with Future Tech Podcast:

– PMC2702274 — Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes age fluctuation;
– PMID:26590418 — why there’s no such thing as universally best diet, and what bacteria have to do with that, by Eran Segal.
– PMC6355990 — how nutrient source affects microbes differently, also check Teichmann and Cockburn’s work on SCFA
– PMC4879732 — how bacteria co-abundance groups change with age;
– PMC4848870 — discussion on functional/taxonomic core from HMP data

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