Health is rapidly evolving. People are living longer, yet the list of ailments they are facing seems ever growing and with earlier onsets. Due largely to sedentary lifestyles, rapid changes in our collective diet, and environmental factors, the traditional healthcare industry is facing challenges in solving today’s health problems. Fortunately, digital health start-ups are emerging and utilizing modern technology as a tool to fill the void and solve the trials and tribulations of staying healthy in the modern era.
One such project is our own Titanovo, Inc. Titanovo has launched a campaign on Indiegogo (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/titanovo-conveniently-measure-your-telomeres) just this week which exists to give users a new tool in tracking their health and cell lifetime. Specifically, our team is offering Indiegogo supporters a telomere testing kit, which allows them to measure telomeres – the protective endcaps of chromosomes.
This is important because telomeres have been shown to decrease with age and poor health. They also can grow with good health and positive lifestyle choices. Users who take our saliva-based telomere test will also fill out a survey asking questions about their lifestyle, environment, and genealogical factors which may be influencing their telomere length. They then will receive their telomere length data as well as data which compares their telomere length to others within and outside of their demographic.
Users can then choose the best way to utilize this data to improve their own personal health.
However, our goals for this citizen science experiment are beyond simply offering users a convenient and affordable way to access an important health metric. We are also planning to offer researchers in the medical field access to this (anonymized) data. It is our hope that by having access to this data, researchers will be able to make important correlations about lifestyles, genealogy, and environmental factors. Our further goal is that these correlations will be used in developing a new generation of treatments for chronic ailments.
The growing popularity of digital health tools is evidence that people have a strong interest in staying healthy. While the digital age has led to an increase in sedentary living, we believe technology is the solution and not the problem.
By Corey McCarren, Chief Operating Officer, Titanovo, Inc.
