Evolutionary Nutrigenomics

Genescient’s technology is firmly based on an acute understanding of the complexity of the genomic foundations of health. To this understanding, we add genomics 2.0 strategies to extract key information from that complexity. Elsewhere we have illustrated the use of our genomics 2.0 strategies for pharmaceutical development and the development of medical prognostic tools. But an evolutionary genomic approach also provides opportunities for clinical treatments that do not involve pharmaceuticals or diagnosis.

Genescient has developed an additional clinical technology that will be of interest to practicing physicians: Evolutionary Nutrigenomics.

We have elaborated on the evolutionary nutrigenomic strategy at length elsewhere [M.R. Rose, A.D. Long, L.D. Mueller, C.L. Rizza, K.C. Matsagas, L.F. Greer, and B. Villeponteau. 2009. Evolutionary nutrigenomics. In The Future of Aging (G.M. Fahy, M.D. West, L.S. Coles, & S.B. Harris, Eds., Springer, Berlin)]. Here we give a summary.

While commonly available nutrients are unlikely to be effective, large-scale combinations might supply enough “re-tuning” of our complex metabolic networks to provide resistance to the initial development of disease and other disorders. But developing such combinations of numerous nutrients would require an astronomically-large program of clinical patient trials. As an alternative, Genescient is developing compound nutrigenomic formulations based on the extensive use of both genomics and model-organism testing.

A key feature of our evolutionary nutrigenomic strategy is the use of reiterated cycles of genomic comparisons. We compare genomics between experimentally evolved model organisms, our exploration of GWAS and other patient databases, and thus identify substances that can act on the critical genes. Laboratory tests of these substances on our model organisms elicits those that work, and we follow with a detailed clinical evaluation of the surviving candidates. This gives us a firm understanding of practical ways to enhance human genomic defenses against diseases and aging.

Genescient further expects pharmaceutical candidate spin-offs from its evolutionary nutrigenomic testing program, and promising results have already been found.