Methodology
How your Longevity Essential Analysis is built.
Here is exactly how your DNA becomes a few clear, practical changes. The evidence we read against, the steps we follow, and the limits we stay honest about, all in plain language. Your genome is not a place for hidden machinery.
Pipeline
Six steps, from your DNA file to your plan.
No black box. We run every one of these steps, in this order, for every analysis. The step names are technical because the work is; what you read at the end is not.
- 01
Quality control
First, we make sure your DNA file is trustworthy. We check that it read cleanly and consistently across the genome, the kind of routine integrity tests a lab runs before anyone draws a conclusion. A file that fails is flagged and re-requested, never read against shaky data.
- 02
Strand harmonisation
Next, we make sure files from different companies speak the same language. 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and others can record the same spot in your DNA in two different ways. We line them all up to one standard reference so the same variant is always recognised as the same variant.
- 03
Imputation
Then we fill careful gaps. Your DNA file reads only certain spots; sometimes an area you've chosen needs a nearby spot that wasn't directly measured. We can infer it from large population data, but only the high-confidence calls, and anything inferred is clearly labelled as such, never passed off as directly read.
- 04
Interpretation
Now a scientist reads the variants that matter, one by one, against the current research, not a lookup table. Where ACMG criteria are published for a variant, we cite them honestly, we do not, however, issue our own ACMG classifications; that is the work of clinical labs. And where a finding depends on your ancestry, we say so: a score built in one population is not quietly applied to another.
- 05
Drafting
Your analysis is then written, in plain prose, by the same scientist who read your DNA. Nothing is stitched together from stock paragraphs. The person who understands your findings is the person who explains them to you.
- 06
Review
Finally, everything is read once more, and anything worth taking to a doctor is checked again against its source before it goes out. Your analysis is signed by the scientist who wrote it. When a question really needs a clinical answer, we point you to Helixir Health, the sister practice with bloodwork, an advanced biomarker panel, and a physician-signed report.
Evidence
What we read against.
Variant classification standards (consulted, not issued)
ACMG / AMP
The medical-genetics rulebook for how serious a DNA change is. Its 2015 standards define how clinical labs grade variants, Pathogenic, Likely Pathogenic, Uncertain Significance, Likely Benign, Benign. We read against these criteria for our own carefulness, but we do not issue our own ACMG classifications: that is the work of clinical-grade labs and the WGS reading offered by Helixir Health.
Variant–condition database
ClinVar
The public record, kept by the US National Institutes of Health, of which DNA changes have been linked to which conditions. It's the first place we check, and we always confirm what it says against the original studies behind it.
Pharmacogenomic guidelines
PharmGKB / CPIC
The expert guidance on how your genes can affect the way you respond to medications, used for the pharmacology area. PharmGKB gathers the evidence; CPIC turns it into clear prescribing guidance. We follow only the well-supported recommendations and name the studies they rest on.
Primary evidence
PubMed / peer-reviewed literature
The published research itself, the foundation under everything above. We don't write a single finding without naming the papers it comes from, and every citation is listed at the back of your analysis.
Population reference
1000 Genomes · gnomAD
Large catalogues of how common each DNA variant is across the world's populations. A variant means something different when it's rare than when it's common, so we always read yours with that context, never in isolation.
Honestly
What this assessment cannot do.
A good analysis is defined as much by what it refuses to claim as by what it tells you. Here are the four lines we won’t cross, and why.
Genotype, not sequencing
A consumer DNA file reads only about one million of your three billion DNA positions, the well-studied ones. Rare variants and most of your DNA simply aren't in it. To read the rest, Helixir Health is the door.
Polygenic scores are directional
Some traits are shaped by thousands of tiny genetic effects added together. We can read which way yours lean, but not predict your future. So we use these scores as direction and context, never as a personal forecast.
Penetrance is not destiny
Carrying a variant, even a serious one, doesn't mean you'll develop the condition. Your other genes, your environment, and plain chance all weigh in. We write findings with that nuance kept in, not stripped out.
The literature moves
Your analysis reflects what the science says on the day it's written, and the science changes. If a variant we wrote about is later reclassified, you're welcome to write to us and we'll send an updated note.
Beyond a genotype
When the data needs to read deeper.
Some of the most important questions, rare variants, larger changes in your DNA, the fine pharmacology detail, can only be answered by reading the whole genome, not the slice a consumer file holds. That deeper reading is offered through the sister practice, paired with bloodwork and a physician’s signature.
Under method
A Longevity Essential Analysis you can audit, page by page.
Every line in your analysis comes with the variants behind it, the studies they were drawn from, and the date they were last read. Open it, follow it, question it.