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Getting into some good tech this week as Rick is joined by Dr. Erika Angle and Scott Tindal of Ixcela.
Like physical fitness, the fitness of your gut microbiome is critical to your overall health and wellness. Ixcela worked with ORACLE TEAM USA to improve internal health.
Ixcela was co-founded by Drs. Erika Ebbel Angle and Wayne Matson with a group of outstanding scientists (see the biographies of our amazing co-workers). All of us had developed technologies and methods for the study of a range of diseases for diagnosis, predictive diagnostic risk factors and specification of therapy (personalized medicine). Tindal is the Head Nutritionist at Ixcela. Dr. Angle Angle is a renowned biochemist, former Miss America competitor, founder of gut health start up, Ixcela, and also the wife of iRobot co-founder, Colin Angle.
After deep analysis of the complex biochemical profiles for over 1000 compounds in several thousand subjects, it became clear to us that the microbiome (the some 6-10,000 species in the gut – second largest organ in the body) was a critical part of the biochemical web distinguishing normal from disease subjects. Understanding these webs could also allow the prediction of therapeutic response. Additionally, the biochemistry of the microbiome had direct links to the function of other organs including the brain.
This led us beyond the ideas of diagnosis and therapy to the concept of promoting biochemical wellness (“internal health”) through measurement and control of the microbiome with specific, personalized intervention based on testing.
This year, Dr. Erika and Ixcela collaborated with TEAM ORACLE USA in preparation for this year’s America’s cup, the gold standard of competitive sailing. Erika and her team provided the defending champions individualized gut therapy that dramatically increased availability and performance on the water. It worked for these world-renowned athletes and now Erika is bringing the same internal fitness solutions to the rest of the world.
The Boston Business Journal selected Erika as one of the “40 Under 40″ business and civic leaders who are making a major impact in their respective fields in the Boston area. Selected by L’Oreal Paris as a Woman of Worth for her work, Erika has been featured on Lifetime TV and Nova Science Now on “The Secret Lives of Scientists and Engineers.” A biochemist with degrees from BU and MIT, Erika is extremely passionate and generally very inspiring.
This week, they join Rick.
