Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Elysium Health, University of Oxford Partner for Childhood Growth, Neurodevelopment Study

NEW YORK - Aging research company Elysium Health said on Wednesday that it will analyze the DNA methylation patterns of 2,500 umbilical cord blood samples from the Interbio-21st study as part of a new research collaboration with the University of Oxford.

According to New York-based Elysium Health, the goal is to develop "novel, noninvasive, and accessible measures to help assess the risk of growth and neurodevelopment delay in early childhood."

"[R]esearch has shown that human aging does not begin in our 20s or 30s, but rather in the womb," said Elysium Health CEO Eric Marcotulli in a statement. "Thus, it is not surprising that technologies that have been traditionally utilized to measure aging later in life might likewise be used to assess growth and neurodevelopmental potential at birth." Last April, Elysium Health acquired the exclusive rights to DNA methylation biomarkers of aging and cellular senescence from Yale University.

Conducted in high-, middle-, and low-income countries, the Interbio-21st study is an extension of the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project (Intergrowth-21st), led by the University of Oxford, to establish international standards for monitoring early human growth and development, Elysium Health said.

"Our hypotheses are driven by the concept that improvements in the phenotypic characterization of complex perinatal syndromes through the integration of clinical and laboratory data should facilitate the development of targeted screening and preventive strategies, as well as interventions in the periconceptual period, pregnancy, and infancy," said Stephen Kennedy, director of the University of Oxford's Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute, who co-leads the Intergrowth-21st project, in a statement. Kennedy also sits on Elysium Health's scientific advisory board.

The new collaboration adds to Elysium Health's ongoing partnership with the University of Oxford, including exclusive licensing of IP and research studies.

The Scan

Harvard Team Report One-Time Base Editing Treatment for Motor Neuron Disease in Mice

A base-editing approach restored SMN levels and improved motor function in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy, a new Science paper reports.

International Team Examines History of North American Horses

Genetic and other analyses presented in Science find that horses spread to the northern Rockies and Great Plains by the first half of the 17th century.

New Study Examines Genetic Dominance Within UK Biobank

Researchers analyze instances of genetic dominance within UK Biobank data, as they report in Science.

Cell Signaling Pathway Identified as Metastasis Suppressor

A new study in Nature homes in on the STING pathway as a suppressor of metastasis in a mouse model of lung cancer.