HoldsUp

Derya Unutmaz

Derya Unutmaz is a biomedical researcher working in immunology and computational biology. His published research focuses on CAR T-cell therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer, single-cell mapping of the human immune system across the lifespan, and artificial intelligence-driven multi-omics modeling of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). He has also investigated gut microbiome-host interactions, metabolomics, and immune responses in conditions such as long COVID.

35 claims checked on air: 4 context 2 contradicted 3 overstated 23 supported 3 unverified

What they said on air - context

0:42:31needs contextmoderateWhy the Next 10 Years May Add 50 to Your Lifespan | Dr. Dery

AI models can detect certain tumors like breast cancer years before a radiologist can see them.

"The AI models are able to detect certain tumors like breast cancer years before a radiologist is able to to to see that." (said at 0:42:31)

Deep learning models (such as Mirai) have been developed and validated to evaluate screening mammograms read as negative by radiologists to predict the future risk of breast cancer up to 1 to 5 years in advance (achieving concordance indices of approximately 0.75–0.84 across diverse international cohorts). However, these algorithms are assessing imaging-based future risk and parenchymal features rather than directly visualizing or detecting an established, measurable tumor years before clinical diagnosis.

1:10:20needs contextmoderateWhy the Next 10 Years May Add 50 to Your Lifespan | Dr. Dery

COVID-19 vaccination caused myocarditis in young people at a rate of 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 10,000.

"Yes, the vaccinated people, young people, at 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 10,000 rate got myocarditis." (said at 1:10:20)

A rate of 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 10,000 (equivalent to 100 to 200 cases per million) falls within the estimated peak incidence range for the highest-risk subgroup—specifically adolescent and young adult males (aged 12–29) following a second mRNA vaccine dose (especially with mRNA-1273 or shorter interdose intervals). However, attributing this rate to "young people" in general requires qualification, as the incidence is significantly lower in young females (fewer than 20 cases per million, or <1 in 50,000) and across all young vaccinees when combining both sexes and all doses.

1:42:08needs contexthighWhy the Next 10 Years May Add 50 to Your Lifespan | Dr. Dery

Dolly the sheep, cloned in the late 1990s, was the first cloned sheep.

"The first moment was, uh, the, um, the sheep, uh, that's called Dolly. Uh, you probably know it was the first cloned sheep. Um, it was 1996, '97, or something like that." (said at 1:42:08)

The claim is partially accurate but requires qualification. Dolly the sheep, born in July 1996 (with results published in 1997), was famously the first mammal cloned from an *adult somatic cell* (specifically, a mammary gland cell). However, she was not the first cloned sheep. Cloned sheep had been produced a decade earlier in 1986 by Steen Willadsen using nuclear transfer from embryonic blastomeres. Dolly's scientific breakthrough was demonstrating that an adult differentiated somatic cell nucleus could be reprogrammed to control full embryonic development.

2:02:55needs contextmoderateWhy the Next 10 Years May Add 50 to Your Lifespan | Dr. Dery

Epigenetic aging clocks measured in blood largely reflect the proportion of differentiated effector T cells accumulating in old age versus naive T cells.

"Usually they're done through through blood analysis, but in the blood you have, uh, like, you know, I work with T cells, so you have these cells that we call effector cells that have, um, lots of epigenetic change because they differentiated and they continue to accumulate in in old age. And then you have these naive cells that have, you know, more pristine, uh, kind. So it's a combination. So depending on, um, what that combination is is going to affect the output of of the, um So you you you can actually just look at the proportion of your, uh, T cell differentiated T cells, you'll probably get the same same kind of information." (said at 2:02:55)

Blood-based epigenetic clocks are significantly influenced by age-associated shifts in immune cell composition, particularly the decline in naive T cells and accumulation of differentiated effector memory T cells. Purified naive CD8+ T cells score 15 to 20 years younger by epigenetic clocks than effector memory CD8+ T cells from the very same donor. However, claiming that clocks solely or largely reflect cell proportions overstates the case: isolated, homogenous naive T cells still show progressive epigenetic aging as donors age, demonstrating that standard blood epigenetic clocks capture two independent phenomena simultaneously: cell-intrinsic epigenetic aging and changing leukocyte subset composition.

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