How valuable would a few more years of life be? What if it were possible to see biological problems forming before they appear and correct them before they cause damage?
Most people already live by this logic. Do you wait for your car to run out of gas before you fill it? No. We have developed advanced automotive future-predicting technology called a gas gauge so that our freeways are not cluttered with drivers on the side of the road cursing the fact that they have unknowingly run out of gas.
In human health, the equivalent of a gas gauge is a biomarker.
Biomarkers are measurable indicators that reflect future biological outcomes, including survival. Some biomarkers are far more informative than others. Understanding which ones matter and how to interpret them is essential for evaluating health long before symptoms appear.
The Limits of Traditional Scientific Thinking
One of the problems with the scientific community is that people often become compartmentalized as specialists in a particular field of research, so much so that they can get tunnel vision. In the 1990s, as the genomics revolution was unfolding, a new scientific method for advancing knowledge emerged. Historically, the systematic process of advancing our understanding of the world involved first formulating a hypothesis, then designing an experiment to test it, and finally gathering and interpreting data in the context of the original hypothesis to determine whether it remained valid. This is called the hypothesis testing method. However, the emergence of the genomics revolution changed the entire scientific method forever.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, new technologies for gene sequencing and gene expression were being developed, allowing scientists to measure thousands of genes simultaneously. This enabled us to comprehensively measure all genes at once.
This created a whole new scientific method called the hypothesis-generating method. In this method, the scientist has no preexisting hypothesis to test. The scientist basically says, “Let’s compare condition A versus condition B and see what we get”. Previously, it would have been much too wasteful to randomly generate data with no preexisting assumptions as to their purpose or utility. However, these new comprehensive technologies enabled scientists to generate large amounts of data relatively inexpensively. Under this model, it was OK if 99% of the data was normal or unchanged by the experimental conditions. The goal was to find those 1% changes that could really tell us what is wrong in persons with disease X.
These technologies were possible for genes and proteins because these types of molecules are linear sequences of pre-defined building blocks that are ultimately defined by our genetic code. However, these technologies did not apply to small-molecule chemistry because you cannot sequence a metabolite. The infinite space of metabolism is far more complex. For metabolomics (the comprehensive study of small molecules or metabolites), there is no map.
The Missing Tool in Biochemistry
For comprehensive biochemical research to be possible, a new type of technology was required, one capable of measuring thousands of biochemicals simultaneously. That technology did not exist, so Dr. Dayan Goodenowe created it out of necessity.
The underlying principle was simple but powerful: if the mass of a molecule can be measured with sufficient accuracy, its molecular composition can be determined without prior knowledge. This enables true non-targeted biochemical analysis.
The resulting invention, technically described as a method of complex sample analysis, relies on ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry, specifically ion cyclotron mass spectrometry. This made large-scale metabolomic measurement possible for the first time.
Why the Metabolome Matters
Another way to look at this is by considering the operational organization of human biochemistry as three main levels.
- The first is genetics, also known as the genotype. Our uniqueness is written in our genetic code.
- Next, we have proteomics, which refers to all the proteins that physically do the work in the body, such as enzymes, transporters, and receptors.
- The third level is the small molecules known as the metabolome, which are the building materials that enter our bodies from our food supply and that the body transforms into everything that makes you, you.
It is important to look at the metabolome when it comes to disease function. Metabolomics allows us to detect anomalies in the body’s systems quickly and, through inference, identify where a functional deficiency is occurring. It is at the metabolomics level that our human biochemistry reveals whether there is a healthy or disease prodrome.
Rethinking the Prodrome
Years of disease-focused research led to a critical realization: while prodromes of disease are well documented, prodromes of health also exist.
Exceptional longevity and cognitive function are not random. Individuals who remain healthy into advanced age do so for biochemical reasons. Just as disease follows a predictable trajectory, so does sustained health.
This reframes the classical definition of a prodrome. Rather than signaling disease alone, a prodrome can indicate the early biochemical state of health itself. When a biological reserve is preserved, disease cannot take hold. Disease represents the loss of health in a specific system.
This insight laid the foundation for a new approach to measurement, one focused on identifying reserve capacity and maintaining foundational biochemical systems.
From Technology to Application
The ProdromeScan™ and the BioMetrix™ BioScan were developed to translate these insights into practice. These blood tests bring together the most validated biochemical systems into a single, interpretable assessment.
Rather than attempting to measure everything at once, the ProdromeScan and the Bioscan focus on fundamentals first. By addressing health step by step, it becomes possible to move beyond prevention and toward long-term biological stability.
This technology opened the door to discoveries that would fundamentally change how health is evaluated, including the identification of one of the most overlooked molecules in human biology.
This technology enabled the discovery of critical biochemical systems involved in aging and cognitive health.
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