786: Biologic Clocks, "Zombie Cells," & The Science of Immune Aging with Dr. Natalia Mitin

Beauty Bytes with Dr. Kay: Secrets of a Plastic Surgeon™

Kay Durairaj, MD, FACS @beautybydrkay

Business, Fashion & Beauty, Health & Fitness, Arts, Management & Marketing, Medicine

4.9 • 608 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Join me for a fascinating deep dive into the science of immune aging with Dr. Natalia Mitin, founder and CEO of Sapere Bio. We explore why the aging of the immune system is the primary driver of aging for the entire body and unpack the concept of cellular senescence—often called "zombie cells"—where stressed cells persist and create chronic inflammation. Dr. Mitin explains why consumer tests that assign a specific "biological age" in years are often scientifically lacking compared to measuring where you stand within a population's trajectory. We also discuss cutting-edge longevity targets, including T-cell exhaustion (and how drugs like Rapamycin and SGLT2 inhibitors address it), the critical role of gut health (where 70% of the immune system resides), and how mitochondrial function in stem cells can correlate with an extra 15 years of healthspan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, hello, hello, guys. You're listening to Beauty Bites with Dr. K, Secrets of a Plastic Surgeon.
0:20.4	Today on the podcast, we have Dr. Natalia
0:22.8	Mitten. She's a leading authority on immune aging and cellular senescence. So I want us to learn
0:29.5	more about biologic aging, aging clocks, how and why we quantify the trajectory of our aging.
0:37.3	She's a really prominent voice in the science of aging and immune aging.
0:41.5	She has a PhD in molecular biology and the foundation in chemical engineering,
0:45.6	and she's served on faculty at UNC Chapel Hill before she's become the founder and CEO of
0:52.6	Sapier Bio.
0:53.6	This is a longevity tech company that's reshaping how we measure and manage biologic aging.
0:59.5	So I think you guys are going to be fascinated.
1:02.2	Her studies have been investigating natural aging process and age-related conditions like
1:07.1	cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, cancer, Alzheimer's.
1:10.4	This work really allows us to do
1:12.4	personalized longevity management and really empowers people when they understand how their aging
1:18.1	clocks of their body are going down trajectories very quickly or very slowly. So Natalia, welcome to the
1:25.3	podcast, Dr. Mitten. So excited to have you here and to learn about Sipir.
1:30.6	Absolutely.
1:31.2	Thank you so much, Dr. K.
1:32.9	Tell me why the name Sipir, Sipir Bio, Sipir X is your product.
1:38.7	So Sipir is Italian or Latin for to know.
1:42.8	Oh.
1:43.3	And we thought it would be very fitting because what Sapir Bio is a company, sort of as a general
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