Science Behind

“Glycans are directly involved in the pathophysiology of every major disease… Additional knowledge from glycoscience will be needed to realize the goals of personalized medicine and to take advantage of the substantial investments in human genome and proteome research and its impact on human health.”

— US National Academies, 2012

What are glycans?

Glycans are sugar molecules that surround and modify proteins in your body. They respond to your lifestyle choices and indicate the inflammatory state of your immune system, which in turn determines to your biological age.

Glycans have a large influence on your unique biology and are regulated almost equally by our genes on one side and environment and lifestyle choices on the other.

How do Glycans affect health and ageing?

Glycans play a vital role in keeping us healthy but are also involved in most major diseases. As we age, the balance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory glycans in our body changes.

Various inflammatory effectors like excessive or unsuitable diet or fitness regimen, hormone changes, surrounding environment, ethnic background, etc. can cause an imbalance between pro and anti-inflammatory glycans. This leads to low-grade systemic inflammation, which can speed up the process of ageing and increase the risk for many diseases.

How does GlycanAge determine biological Age?

GlycanAge determines your biological age by looking at the state of your immune system and inflammation.

We analyse the glycans attached to the most common antibody in your blood, called Immunoglobulin G or IgG.

The type of glycans attached to IgG are able to change the function of IgG from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory and vice versa.

We need both functions for a strong immune system, but the balance between them will determine our general health status and consequentially our biological age.

Our Scientists & Advisors

Our Scientific Advisory Board includes scientists, researchers, doctors, and authors across the fields of glycobiology, immunology, longevity and molecular biology, including lead figures from the Human Glycome Project.

They lead labs, teach at world-renowned academic institutions, and have hundreds of publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The ongoing research allows us to not only provide the most accurate test of biological age, but also to keep adding to the insights we can deliver to you.

With over 100,000 participants worldwide, and 20 years of experience we are at the forefront of glycoscience globally.

Prof. Sc.D Gordan Lauc Molecular Biologist
Prof. Sc.D Ronald Schnaar Pharmacologist, Molecular Biologist
PhD. Bill Andrews Scientist, Biologist and Gerontologist
Prof. Sc.D Vlatka Zoldoš Epigeneticist
PhD. Marija Pezer Scientist, Molecular Biologist
Prof. Sc.D Dragan Primorac Physician, Geneticist, Forensic Scientist

Straight from the lab

Health

What Are Vaccines Doing to Our Bodies, and Could Sugars Make the Vaccines Better?

The emerging interest in modulating antibody effector activity against pathogens and developing strategies that can modulate antibody effector function in vivo are highly desirable. A major stumbling block in the design of such vaccines is a lack of technology to determine protein glycosylation sites. A considerable expansion in glycomics capabilities will be required to fully exploit protein glycosylation for the development of new vaccines.

By Tea Petrovic

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Health

The Sweet Secret of a Healthy Pregnancy

Scientists discovered that sugars attached to the immune cells may be the reason behind improvement of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis during pregnancy.

By Iwona Wójcik

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Health

An Old Cure for a New Cause – Weight Loss as an Anti-Ageing Strategy

Tired of anti-ageing advice that just does not work? Try a science-backed approach, powered by glycans

By Ana Cindrić

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Key Publications

Glycans Novel Biomarkers Glycans & Life Expenctancy Glycans & COVID 19 Glycans & Loss of Kidney Function Weight loss can reduce immune age Effects of Estrogen on GlycanAge Glycans & Interval training Competitive bodybuilding & immunosuppression Glycans & High Blood Pressure All Publications