How Old Is Your Dog, Really??

Issue #73

June 11th, 2024

Quick Hits:

🐶 From Burberry to Valentino, dogs are the new fashion icons

🦌 Just two dogs running & playing together, wait what…

🚗 Dogs are the best!!!!

🦜 An animal ambush is the start of a new relationship

🐱 If you live in England, microchip your cat or face a hefty £500 fine

🐬 Nothing to see, just a dolphin and dog playin’ together

This week we caught up with Andria Beal, the CEO & founder of EpiPaws.

You are the founder of Epipaws, an epigenetic biomarker company for pets. Can you explain what that is for those who may not know?

My favorite topic! Epigenetics is the study of molecules and mechanisms that interact with the DNA sequence and affect the expression of genes without changing the underlying DNA sequence. The best analogy I can come up with is if the DNA sequence is like a cookbook (set of instructions) then epigenetics is a pencil editing this book. It’s important to note that I said pencil and not pen… these markers can be added and subtracted depending on the environment.

So at EpiPaws, we are currently focused on this one epigenetic molecule called DNA methylation. It’s a little molecule (a methyl group) that attaches to the outside of the DNA and helps turn genes on and off. These markers change with age and in response to the environment (food, exercise, temperature, etc). We’re learning how to read and interpret the patterns as they relate to age and current health status.

Our first product is the Pet Age Test, an age estimation test for dogs and cats that estimates age within a year of accuracy from a mouth swab of DNA. The age of a pet helps with knowing what kind of nutrition they need, what kind of exercise they should be getting, supplements, and what kinds of health risk factors to monitor for.

Our ongoing research is focused on the current health status of the pet. With these markers, we can measure the aging rate, and how quickly the animal is aging. So we’ve all seen people who don’t look their age, whether they look younger or older than their age.

This is a similar concept. We can look at these epigenetic markers and say they look younger or older than we expect for their age and these markers relate back to different health aspects, like heart health, liver health, kidney, etc. Our citizen science program is currently accepting pets to submit mouth swab samples to help with our research and is free to participate.

How did you get into this space?

I decided as an undergraduate student to be a scientist, I thought DNA was the coolest thing and I started my studies in population genetics. During my master’s I studied RNA and gene expression. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my degree so I decided to get my PhD and found an opportunity to study a whole new layer of the genome, the epigenome which was also a whole new frontier of discoveries to be made.

During my PhD, I was studying epigenetics in sharks and dolphins. I was developing tools for conservation biologists. I created an age estimation test for dolphins and I saw how powerful it was to be able to estimate age in wild populations. I wanted to make age estimation tests for all animals. When I looked at doing one for dogs and cats, I realized there was a really big market and need for this test in the US. Seeing that there weren’t any companies bringing any epigenetic biomarkers to the pet space, I thought I’d give it a try!

That’s how I came into doing epigenetic biomarkers in pets and decided to start EpiPaws.

The average life expectancy for dogs is 10-13 years, just like human life expectancy has gone up using science, can the same happen for dogs in the next 20 years?

Absolutely! One of the challenges we have with caring for our animals is that our animals can’t talk. In humans, we can voice when we’re feeling fatigued or unwell and then we start digging into why that is at an early stage of a disease process. This helps us to catch things early and intervene. With animals, we often catch diseases at a later stage because we have to wait until there is a big problem and it shows up by changing blood chemistries or showing up in a scan.

New technology, including epigenetic biomarkers but not limited to this, will help us better understand our pet’s current health status at any given point and help us personalize our pet’s care so that our animals live happy and healthier lives which will result in longer lifespans.

Other than age are there other things that an epigenetic test can tell us like how much exercise a dog needs or what is the right type of food, etc… How accurate are these tests right now?

As of now, there are no simple tests that can provide these answers. At EpiPaws, we’re developing new health monitoring tests based on DNA methylation that will help us be able to answer these questions. This epigenetic molecule (i.e. DNA methylation) changes in response to the environment and adapts an animal to what it encounters… this includes the food it eats and exercise.

Our health monitoring test looks at aging rates and changes in this epigenetic molecule that could indicate progression toward disease. Simply thinking about aging rates, we can test to see if the aging rate is faster or slower on different diets to help us identify what diet is best for a particular animal. And the same can be done with differing amounts of exercise.

Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving field. What are some things that get you excited about the future of the industry?

I think some of the most exciting things to come are early disease detection biomarkers. Age is the number one predictor of disease development, and we know that one of the major changes that occurs with aging is changes to epigenetic markers and in particular DNA methylation. This makes epigenetic markers a great candidate for identifying really early-stage markers of different diseases which could allow for early interventions to take place and possibly allow us to avoid disease development in the first place.

The microbiome is the hottest thing in health right now for both humans and pets, why has there been such a pig bush to invest in the gut, is that something you are actively doing as well?

Each organism is a mini ecosystem. We have a very close relationship with the microbes that live on us and within us. These microbes interact with other cells in the body and there is something we call cross-talk that occurs. What this means, is that the gut microbiome (GM) can have a direct effect on the health of the organism because of this interaction that occurs.

Researchers studying GM in healthy dogs found that the biggest factor connected to changes in the GM was age. Age is the number one predictor of disease development and it’s important for us to study all the pieces that might contribute to this phenomenon. We’re very excited to add GM to our datasets someday. It’s a great collaboration because our biomarkers can help microbiologists understand what difference in GM means and vice versa, the GM can help us make sense of why one animal is aging quicker than another.

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You are currently fundraising, how much have you raised in the past, and how would you describe your fundraising experience thus far?

Yes, we are currently doing a pre-seed fundraise. Last year we did an angel round and raised $125K. This year we’re looking to raise $500K. Fundraising is hard work, especially now that I’m talking with angel networks. It’s several conversations and then due diligence which is basically a bunch of paperwork.

Your background is science and not business, what are some things you are learning as the business scales that perhaps someone else with a similar background to yours would find helpful?

The most helpful things along my journey have been the incubators and accelerators that I’ve been involved in. They have helped with all the business stuff that I’m unfamiliar with. That and networking with other founders. The best advice always comes from someone who walked in your shoes and created a company from the ground up.

What has been the strategy for acquiring new users and how difficult is it not only explain to new customers what this does but also the importance of it

For our current product that is in the market, The Pet Age Test, this really has a niche customer- someone with a pet and they don’t know or trust what they’ve been told about their age.

This test has been easy to explain to our customers, if they have this pain point of not knowing their pet’s age, they get what it is.

On the other hand, epigenetics and the health testing we are developing can be more tricky to explain. However, I’m finding that everyone understands monitoring health and trying to catch disease early. I think as long as we root our explanations of this new generation of health monitoring tests to this, the general pet owner will understand what it is and why it’s important for their pet’s health.

You reached the end, you deserve a treat 🍖

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Finally, Why are teddy bears never hungry?

They are always stuffed.

See you Thursday!