Eric Topol and Lee Hood — Two Scientific Luminaries on Longevity and Prevention
Discussing Super Agers, Drs. Eric Topol and Lee Hood connected breakthroughs in genomics, AI, and lifestyle science to the pursuit of longer, healthier lives.
Lab Overview
Hood Lab
The Hood Lab, led by Dr. Lee Hood, is integrating biology, technology and computational science to enable a predictive, personalized, preventive and participatory (P4) approach to medicine.
Health Research
Image of a metabolic pathway from lead author Dr. Noa Rappaport’s Longevity Consortium paper published in Communications Biology. Original figure credit: Dr. Priyanka Baloni.
Topic: Healthspan and Longevity
Exploring Longevity, Healthy Aging and Age-Related Disease
By 2034, U.S. adults 65 and over are expected to outnumber children, making it critically important to better understand the molecular factors underpinning longevity, healthy aging, and age-related disease. The NIH’s Longevity Consortium – in which the Hood Lab’s Noa Rappaport co-leads three projects – aims to improve our understanding of these factors and identify possible pathways for drugs or other treatments.
Image credit: NIH All of Us from their sharable resources archive.
Topic: Health Equity
All of Us – More Inclusive Research for Better Treatment
The NIH is leading an effort – All of Us – to correct long-standing disparities in biomedical research. With NIH support, ISB’s Hood and Hadlock labs are analyzing All of Us data from 800,000 enrollees on the effect of genetic variants, which may vary based on disease risk and other factors.
Dr. Leroy Hood in his office with Dr. Cory Funk. Photo credit: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures.
Topic: Brain Health
A New Explanation for Alzheimer’s – Excess Brain Cholesterol
Billions of dollars have been spent on drugs that target amyloid plaque – long believed to be the cause of Alzheimer’s – with virtually no success. Research by the Hood Lab’s Cory Funk suggests an alternative that may lead to personalized treatments: that Alzheimer’s is the result of the aging brain’s inability to offload cholesterol, which accelerates the death of the brain’s nerve cells.
3D illustration of neurons, Getty Images/Unsplash+.
Topic: Brain Health
Does the HSV-1 Herpes Virus Contribute to Alzheimer’s Progression?
In the U.S., HSV-1 (herpes simplex virus) is among the most common viral infections. It is latent – never disappearing from the body – not treatable, and many people do not know they have it. To inform potential treatments, the Hood Lab’s Cory Funk, with the UW, is exploring whether HSV-1 is a factor in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s.
Researcher working at a computer in the mass spec lab at ISB. Photo credit: Steve Utaski / Remedy Pictures.
Topic: Advancing Health
Translating Research to Clinical Care – The First Mile Problem
Accessing the vast multitude of biomedical and scientific data is a bottleneck, slowing the translation of research into care. The Hood Lab’s Gwênlyn Glusman, with the Thorsson-Shmulevich Lab, is fixing this “first-mile” problem by integrating data troves into the Biomedical Data Translator. The Translator enables researchers to access and query this knowledge, extracting information urgently needed to improve clinical care.
Mother and baby. Photo credit: Unsplash.
Topic: Maternal and Infant Health
Understanding Obstetric Disorders that Affect Lifetime Health
In the U.S., preterm birth (10 percent of births), preeclampsia (affecting 1 in 25 pregnancies), and low birth weight (9 percent of births) are often concurrent obstetric disorders affecting maternal, infant, and lifetime health. With funding from the NIH, Dr. Jenn Hadlock, Dr. Lee Hood, and former Hood Lab member Dr. Sam Piekos are researching the molecular basis of obstetric disorders to improve maternal-fetal clinical care and lifetime health.
A cake with many candles. Photo credit: Caterina Berger, Unsplash, recolored by ISB.
Topic: Healthspan and Longevity
What We Can Learn From Exceptionally Long Lived People
Centenarians – one in 5,000 U.S. people who live to 100 or over – have a lower incidence of age-related diseases, in part from protective molecular factors. To discover therapeutic targets and interventions to promote healthy aging for everyone, the Hood Lab’s Noa Rappaport, with Sage Bionetworks and other researchers supported by the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, are working to understand these factors.
Dr. Noa Rappaport working with Dr. Tomasz Wilmanski at ISB. Photo credit: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures.
Topic: Healthspan and Longevity
Investigating Osteoporosis and Fractures in Older Men
Little was known about male osteoporosis (bone weakening) and fractures, so in 2000 the NIH enrolled 6,000 men over 65 in a study – which remains active today – finding that men like women experience significant bone loss with aging, leading to increased risk of fractures and consequent health issues. The Hood Lab’s Noa Rappaport is working with study collaborators to understand the predictive molecular basis for this finding.
Infectious Disease Research
Electron micrograph of influenza virus. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, recolored by ISB.
Topic: Influenza and Lung Infections
New Therapies for Severe Influenza
Secondary bacterial infections are a major cause of severe illness and death from influenza. People over 65, children under 5, and people with certain chronic conditions are especially at risk of serious illness. Kathie Walters of the Hood Lab works with researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to identify targets for potential new therapies for severe influenza-bacteria co-infections.
Syringe with needle and vaccine. Photo credit: Allison Saeng, Unsplash, recolored by ISB.
Topic: Influenza and Lung Infections
Improving Influenza Virus Vaccinations
The Centers for Disease Control recommends an annual flu shot, the composition of which is updated each flu season, for everyone over 6 months. Kathie Walters of the Hood Lab is a long-time collaborator with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and is working to ensure that vaccines against influenza viruses are as effective as possible.
A 3D-generated image of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Image credit: CDC, recolored by ISB.
Topic: Influenza and Lung Infections
New Therapies for Bacterial and Other Lung Infections
Pneumonia from an infection by the bacteria Francisella tularensis (tularemia pneumonia) from a tick or deer fly bite, if left untreated, has a mortality rate of up to 60 percent. With funding from the NIH, the Hood Lab’s Kathie Walters and Harborview Medical Center are studying how these bacteria evade lung defenses to identify targets for Francisella vaccine development, which may help understand other lung infections.
Drs. Inyoul Lee and Kelsey Scherler at ISB. Photo credit: Steve Utaski / Remedy Pictures.
Topic: COVID and Long COVID
Enhanced COVID-19 Diagnostic Test
COVID-19 remains a serious health issue. In 2023, it was the 10th leading cause of U.S. deaths. Kai Wang and Inyoul Lee of the Hood Lab, with NIH support, are assessing the validity of a new diagnostic test developed by The Ohio State University. The test uses saliva or blood rather than invasive nasal swabs and can provide more detailed diagnostic information.
Chronic Illness Research
Senior Research Engineer Christopher Lausted working in the lab at ISB. Photo credit: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures.
Topic: Type 1 Diabetes
Researching Type 1 Diabetes to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment
Early detection of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is crucial for reducing the risk of potentially life-threatening complications. The Hood Lab’s Christopher Lausted with the University of Utah is developing a new type of blood test for T1D that analyzes individual blood particles called extracellular vesicles that promises to improve early diagnosis and accelerate research for improved treatment.
Combat helmets. Photo credit: Unsplash.
Topic: Neurological Disorders
Understanding mTBI – the Signature Injury of Combat Veterans
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) – in large part from repeated exposure to high explosive blasts – is considered the signature injury of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans and can lead to lifetime neurological problems. To improve prediction, prevention, and treatment of mTBI, the Defense Department is supporting research by the Hood Lab’s Inyoul Lee and Kai Wang and the Puget Sound VA Health Care System.
Close-up of blood samples. Photo credit: Robin Layton.
Topic: Neurological Disorders
Improving Diagnosis and Prognosis of PTSD
Physiological assessments to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have significant uncertainty, and there is no way to predict who might experience it. With an estimated 11-20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans experiencing PTSD, there is an urgent need to improve diagnosis and prognosis, the goal of research by the Hood Lab’s Inyoul Lee and Kai Wang with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Black and white close-up image of a human eye. Photo credit: Unsplash.
Topic: Neurological Disorders
Moving to Precision Psychiatry for PTSD
An estimated 11-20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with only one-third of them successfully treated. A key contributor to this low success rate is the variability in PTSD. To move away from one-size-fits-all therapies to more precise and effective psychiatric treatments, the Hood Lab’s Inyoul Lee and Kai Wang, with Defense Department support, are helping identify PTSD sub-types.
Latest Hood Lab News
The Science Behind the Nobel Prize
The pioneering work of Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell began with a mysterious mutant mouse known as “scurfy,” leading them to identify the FOXP3 gene and unlock how regulatory T cells prevent autoimmune disease — discoveries that now point to new treatments in cancer and autoimmunity.
ISB’s Dr. Mary Brunkow Wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The prize recognizes foundational discoveries about regulatory T cells and the FOXP3 gene that redefined immune tolerance and opened avenues to treat autoimmune disease, enable transplantation, and advance immuno-oncology. ISB celebrates Dr. Brunkow’s leadership and collaborative science.
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