The SomaLogic Blog

With pregnancy comes not just new life, but also the collection of huge amounts of data and numerous doctor visits to ensure the health of the mother and child. The pregnant body undergoes myriad biological changes that can give rise to problems that yield a bad result that all involved want to avoid.

Depending on your preferred authority, “middle age” begins at 40 or 45, and ends 20 years later at the beginning of “old age.” These years are a time of transition across the population, particularly in physical status. But what if an individual’s proteins offer a different take on the meaning of middle age (and even old age)?

Poor guy. Since he was little, we knew he had the lungs of a whale. His cries reaffirmed this talent, echoing down the halls. He wants to go home, NOW!

You’ve heard of insulin, right? You probably know that it helps regulate blood sugar, that its levels rise and fall depending on what and when you eat, and that a lot of diabetics have to inject themselves with it. But did you know that insulin is a protein?

Do you know how many different hats you wear in a day? Think about all the different roles you may take on during the course of the day – parent, significant other, boss, employee, cook, cleaner, accountant, household zookeeper, negotiator, etc.

Another forgetful moment…Keys found in fridge…Was it just due to it being Monday, to a poor night’s sleep or could it be something more alarming? Events such as these can raise the hairs on most people’s necks. If it turns out to be something worse than just sleep-deprivation, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the person and loved ones may be in for rough and expensive ride lasting decades as the afflicted brain – and its memories and functions – is erased.

Does a photograph provides the most realistic picture of you? It does not. A painting of you represented by thousands of small dots (an art style known as pointillism) would be the most realistic – especially from a health perspective. Why?

I would like to introduce you to you, but not the person you see in the mirror. No, I want to introduce you to “proteo-you,” the version of you made up of proteins. Meeting proteo-you could lead to a healthier you.

How well we age and what we will ultimately look like in our later years (if we get there) is, to a degree, within in our control.

A 2014 study estimated that about 5% of those who went to a doctor were misdiagnosed (Rettner, 2014). If the underlying condition was serious, misdiagnosis jumped to 20% (Bernstein, 2017). Yikes!