Ken Raj, PhD

Ken is a Senior Scientific Group Leader at Public Health London and has worked extensively with Dr. Steve Horvath of UCLA, developing and interpreting genomic biomarkers of aging.

Their work is most famously known for the “epigenetic clock” mentioned above, which came about when Dr. Horvath led a team of 65 scientists into seven countries to record age-related changes to human DNA, compare their biological age to their chronological age and use the “clock” to predict each person’s life expectancy.

The tool has proven to be remarkably effective in predicting how long someone will live and is able to predict life expectancy with a margin of error of plus or minus three years. Higher biological age consistently predicted an earlier death, regardless of the person’s chronological age. Their study validated the use of DNA methylation as a biomarker for biological age and is becoming increasingly valuable for studying what causes aging and what can be done to slow the process.