#34 Biomarkers of aging: How close are we, really? - A conversation with Sara Hägg

Sara Hägg, PhD is an associate professor at Karolinska Institutet, where she leads the Molecular Epidemiology of Aging Group. Her work focuses on human biomarkers of aging - especially biological age “clocks” built from epigenetic, proteomic, and metabolomic data - and on turning Nordic registry resources into clinically useful aging measures.

In this episode:

* What biological/epigenetic age clocks actually measure (and what they don’t)

* Accuracy, error bars, and why clocks aren’t clinic-ready yet

* Epigenetic vs. proteomic vs. metabolomic clocks - strengths and trade-offs

* Organ-specific clocks (liver, ovary, kidney) and what they reveal

* Why uncertainty spikes at life transitions; menopause as a natural “stress test”

* PC (principal-component) clocks and noise reduction

* Nordic registry & Swedish Twin Registry advantages; UK Biobank use

* Direct-to-consumer tests: interpreting results and common pitfalls

* AI’s role in building/validating clocks and handling uncertainty

* What would move the field fastest (data, standards, trials) and where Sweden stands

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LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

03:27 Why Sweden lags behind in longevity science

08:04 Nordic registry & Swedish twin registry advantages; UK Biobank use

10:05 What is biological age?

16:33 The rise of epigenetic clocks

24:22 The importance of aging clocks

32:04 Beyond methylation: proteomic and metabolomic clocks

35:12 Organ clocks

39:37 Do aging clocks generalize?

54:37 The cost of aging clocks

01:03:18 Uncertainty and AI

01:17:10 Solving aging - where do we stand?

01:28:10 Book recommendations

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