In this thought-provoking RAADFest 2025 talk, Dr. Matt Kaeberlein reflects on decades of research into the biology of aging—from his groundbreaking Dog Aging Project to cutting-edge approaches in human healthspan optimization. With characteristic clarity, he outlines what works, what doesn’t, and where the future of longevity science is headed.

Key Points:

Dogs provide a practical, real-world model for studying aging and testing longevity interventions, thanks to their shared environment with humans and diverse genetic backgrounds. Preliminary findings suggest that intermittent feeding in dogs may lower the risk of age-related diseases, though more research is needed to confirm this link. To translate such insights into human health, Dr. Kaeberlein advocates for a shift toward “Medicine 4.0”—a proactive, scalable approach to longevity care powered by biomarkers and technology.

• The Dog Aging Project: A large-scale study of 50,000+ pet dogs that tracks genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors across lifespans to uncover insights into aging—and improve the health of both dogs and humans.
• Why Dogs?: Dogs age faster than humans, share our environment, and show diverse genetics across breeds, making them ideal models to study aging interventions like rapamycin in real-world conditions.
• Surprising Data: Dogs fed once a day showed significantly lower risk of age-related diseases. While this suggests possible benefits of intermittent fasting, further studies are needed to confirm causality.
• Cognitive Aging: Larger dogs age faster overall, but cognitive decline in dogs doesn’t correlate with size. Exercise and sensory health (e.g. vision, hearing) reduce dementia risk—mirroring human findings.
• Medicine 4.0 Vision: Kaeberlein proposes a pragmatic, AI-enhanced, biomarker-driven healthcare model rooted in geroscience, moving beyond “Medicine 2.0” reactive care and “Medicine 3.0” biohacking hype.
• What Works (and Doesn’t): Blood tests, DEXA scans, oral health screening, and CGMs offer reliable insights. In contrast, direct-to-consumer microbiome and biological age tests currently lack validity or utility.