Episode 124: Finding Your Oldest Organ Before Disease Finds You with Paul Coletta from Vero Bioscience

About this episode

What if your biological age is hiding the one organ that matters most? In this episode of The DNA of Things, Dr. Jeremy Koenig sits down with Paul Coletta, Co-Founder and CEO of Vero Bioscience, to explore a new approach to predictive health built around proteomics and organ-specific aging. Paul shares how his own organ-age test flagged his kidney as years older than his chronological age despite normal traditional labs, ultimately leading to the discovery of a renal cyst. They unpack why different organs age at different rates, how Vero’s OrganAge™ uses thousands of circulating proteins and machine learning to identify early signals, and why the future of health may depend less on a single “biological age” and more on finding your weakest link before disease takes hold.

Key Takeaways

• 🧬 You aren't one biological age. Your brain, heart, kidneys, immune system, and other organs can age at different rates, making a whole-body age score potentially less actionable.
• 🩸 Paul's test changed his career. His kidney came back roughly seven years older than his chronological age despite normal traditional kidney labs. A follow-up ultrasound found a large renal cyst, which was benign.
• 🔬 Proteins provide a real-time window into biology. Vero's current OrganAge™ approach analyzes 11,000+ proteins from a blood draw and uses machine learning to identify organ-specific aging patterns.
• 🧠 Brain aging carries serious predictive information. In the 2025 UK Biobank study, an especially aged brain was associated with a 3.1x hazard of Alzheimer's disease, while youthful brain and immune-system profiles were associated with lower mortality risk.
• 🔄 Paul wants health tools to “close the loop.” His model is simple: measure the signal, make a targeted intervention, then retest to see whether the biology actually changed.
• 💰 The goal is healthcare, not “wealthcare.” Paul says today's broad proteomic assays are too expensive for mass adoption, and Vero is working toward a smaller focused protein panel that could dramatically reduce costs. The proposed future pricing discussed in the episode remains a company target, not a verified current consumer price.
• 🩺 Clinicians stay in the loop. Vero is currently working through clinical partners, including a new six-month study with Biograph comparing OrganAge™ with imaging, VO2 max, DEXA, clinical labs, and intervention outcomes.
• 💃 Healthspan is ultimately personal. Paul closes with the story of dancing with his grandmother around her 100th birthday, a reminder that the goal isn't simply adding years. It's staying healthy enough to live them.

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcoletta/

Vero Bioscience: https://www.verobioscience.com/

Vero Bioscience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vero-bioscience-inc/

 LINKS:

https://www.drjeremykoenig.com/
https://www.instagram.com/drjeremykoenig/
https://www.youtube.com/@drjeremykoenig

Here's the link for this week's episode: https://drjeremykoenig.substack.com/.