aging occurs. Targeting aging has the potential to increase life expectancy more than preventing or treating disease, although rates vary by species and even by person, Northeast experts say.
Researchers and pharmaceutical companies continue to search for cures for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. But while medicine has helped reduce mortality, it has failed to address the full picture of aging.
Aging plays an important role in the development of many diseases that affect the organs of the body.
Preventive measures to treat aging at the molecular level may offer more advantages than reactive therapeutic approaches targeting single diseases or organs that do not extend lifespan, says Northeastern University Ramkumar Hariharan, chief scientist at the Experimental AI Institute, said.
Hariharan focuses on human longevity, advanced statistical data analysis, data visualization, and machine learning. He also has experience building AI applications in research aimed at using his large-scale genomic datasets in biomedicine.
“I think aging is the king of all diseases,” says Hariharan.
Even if scientists cured cancer, life expectancy would be increased by at most two to three years, Hariharan said. why? Because, like in the movies, even if you don’t get cancer, you still get other illnesses like car accidents, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.
That’s because “aging is the single biggest risk factor for developing either of these diseases,” Hariharan said. “If we could slow aging, life expectancy would increase by 30 to 35 years.”
So what is aging, other than one more day closer to your next birthday?
The chance of getting sick increases as we age and other functions, such as the body’s immune system, decline. In other words, the older you get, the more likely you are to get an infection.
According to scientific hypotheses, “aging is one of the greatest risk factors for developing any disease,” Hariharan says. “We should be able to prevent or reverse the onset of these diseases by slowing, stopping or ideally reversing aging.”
Hariharan is interested in prolonging health and cell lifespan (a period of time without drugs to prevent disease).
Humans may have a finite age of 120 or 130 years. After all, Jeanne Calment lived to be 122 years old, and she is considered the oldest. But what will it take for her to get there?Unfortunately, the answer is not yet clear.
This is where artificial intelligence can help.
Hariharan, with the help of Pramod Nagare, a senior data engineer who works in the Solutions Hub at Northeastern University’s Empirical AI Lab, has created a ‘tool’ for biologists studying longevity to input data and gain meaningful insights. I explained that I was creating a box.
The program, called the Artificial Intelligence Longevity Toolbox (AI-LOT for short), will help biologists understand data through AI-assisted programs, Nagare explained.
A prototype of the toolbox will be available to the public in about six months, and the team hopes to build an AI-LOT within three years.
“Biologists don’t have to look into the technical side of what’s going on behind the scenes,” says Nagare. “But at the same time, they have been able to learn more about the data through exploratory data analysis.”
Nagare and Hariharan are developing three main tools. The first uses data in predictive analytics, allowing researchers to see what happens next in patterns in the data. The second is a research hub on gerontology, where users can summarize key studies and ask questions about which drugs work best.
The third application is the development of new drugs. For example, with the help of AI, researchers can narrow down the list of the best molecular candidates for potential drugs from millions of lists. The tool can also suggest working molecules.
“Instead of completing sentences, you can complete the structure of the molecule,” Hariharan said.
Methods of measuring biological age are still being developed, such as using a thermometer for fever and a sphygmomanometer for blood pressure. The goal is to use the data at the molecular level.
Beth Trefeisen is a reporter for Northeastern Global News. Send an email to b.treffeisen@northeastern.edu. follow her on her twitter @beth_treffeisen.
