Cortisol and other stress-related steroids can be measured in hair, providing a long-term indicator of hormone levels over weeks to months. This method differs from traditional blood and saliva tests, which capture short-term fluctuations. While hair analysis offers unique insights into chronic stress, research is still ongoing to fully understand how these measurements compare to those from blood and saliva, as factors like hair growth and external influences may affect results.
Biomarker Collection Protocols
Hair Collection Protocol
Dried Blood Spot Collection
Dried blood spot (DBS) collection is a minimally invasive, cost-effective method for obtaining blood samples for biomarker testing. It enables large-scale, population-based research by allowing easy collection, storage, and transport of biological samples, even in remote or resource-limited settings.
Saliva Collection using Salivettes
Saliva collection using Salivettes offers a standardized, non-invasive method for biomarker assessment in population-based studies. This approach enables reliable measurement of key analytes—such as cortisol, DHEA, and inflammatory markers—while facilitating easy collection, storage, and transport across diverse research settings. Salivettes are particularly valuable for studies requiring repeated measures or field-based biospecimen collection.
Processing CPT Tubes
Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) are essential for immunological research, including studies of immune function, inflammation, and disease pathogenesis. Cell Preparation Tubes (CPTs) offer an efficient, standardized method for PBMC isolation directly from whole blood. These tubes contain both an anticoagulant and a density gradient medium, allowing for simultaneous blood collection and separation of PBMCs in a single centrifugation step—streamlining sample processing and improving consistency across studies.
Biomarker Measurement
- Key recommendations from the 2022 RCCN Workshop on Measuring Biologic Age
- Epigenetic Variation in Measurement
- Multidevice Comparison Presentation
- Minimum Reporting Recommendations Epigenetics
- Material on use of DBS for assessment of RNA profiling
- Tasso+ Materials
Studies with Biomarkers
- All Of Us
- Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Health, Ageing & Well Being (ELSI-Brasil)
- China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)
- Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS)
- Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Aging Study (CRELES)
- Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study
- Education Studies for Healthy Aging Research (EdSHARe)
- English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
- Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI)
- Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
- Healthy AGeing In Scotland (HAGIS)
- INDEPTH Network
- Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS)
- Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI)
- Lothian Birth Cohort (LBC)
- Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS)
- Mexican Health & Aging Study (MHAS)
- Mid-Life in the U.S. Study (MIDUS)
- National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS)
- National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
- National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health)
- National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP)
- Northern Ireland Cohort Longitudinal Study Of Ageing (NICOLA)
- Study Of Tsunami Aftermath & Recovery (STAR)
- Study On Global AGEing & Adult Health (SAGE)
- Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
- The Irish Longitudinal Study On Ageing (TILDA)
- Tsimane Health and Life History Project
- UK Biobank
- Vietnam Health and Aging Study (VHAS)
- Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS)