About BIO-COMPaSS

Learn more about this project

About BIO-COMPaSS — Mission & Vision

Lifestyle-related chronic diseases pose major healthcare and economic challenges in the Netherlands. While life expectancy reaches 81.5 years, health-adjusted life expectancy is 71.4 years, with significant socioeconomic disparities. Current strategies promoting healthy lifestyles through physical activity and diet have failed to achieve lasting improvements.

The BIO-COMPaSS project aims to harness biological age as a catalyst for initiating and maintaining healthier behavior, thereby reducing the gap between chronological and biological age of citizens by ~5 years. Focusing on the 30-67 year age group with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. We anticipate a larger increase in health-adjusted life expectancy among less advantaged groups, thereby potentially narrowing the health gap by ~5 years.

Key questions include: 1) Which biological markers effectively catalyze behavior change, measure health span, and guide interventions? 2) What feedback and intervention methods are effective for different individuals?

Through inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations, cutting-edge technology, and real-world validation, BIO-COMPaSS aims to create an evidence-based, personalized, and sustainable health system that motivates individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles and embed and exploit this knowledge in field labs for real impact

The project is structured into six work packages that provide the building blocks for BIO-COMPaSS:

1. sustainable behavioural change strategies via biomarkers of aging;
2. identification and validation of feasible, predictive, and responsive biomarkers of aging;
3. composite biological age measures for different groups;
4. personalized exercise and nutrition interventions;
5. knowledge application and implementation of BIO-COMPaSS through co-creation with stakeholders; and
6. four key areas of expertise support project activities: Data Science, Cohorts, Sensors & Wearables, and Infrastructure.

In a large community-based field lab of citizens aged 30-67 and stakeholders, research findings will be tested and integrated to implement and validate the proof of concept of BIO-COMPaSS. These findings will inform the design and testing of the BIO-COMPaSS system in regions within the Netherlands.