Rejuve.AI Receives IRB Approval to Decentralize Longevity Research

Clinical research remains the cornerstone of medical progress. But its pace currently lags behind the urgency of global health challenges.

Traditional trials are expensive, highly centralized, and take years to complete. For longevity science, where interventions should be tested across diverse populations and over long timescales, these bottlenecks are particularly constraining. Promising therapies (and combinations) can remain untested for years, leaving both patients and clinicians waiting decades for answers.

Against this backdrop, the decentralized science (DeSci) movement has emerged. By distributing data collection, analysis, and participation beyond the centralized walls of universities and pharmaceutical companies, DeSci aims to create new knowledge systems that are both rigorous and scalable.

Yet for all its potential, DeSci faces a question: Can it meet the same ethical and methodological standards as conventional clinical research?

Rejuve.AI is now tackling that challenge head-on. Our data collection protocol has officially been approved by the Biomedical Research Alliance of New York Institutional Review Board (BRANY IRB). This IRB approval is a critical step that will determine how decentralized, participatory longevity research can move forward responsibly.

What Is an IRB and What Does It Do?

An Institutional Review Board is an independent committee that safeguards the rights and welfare of human participants in research.

Every clinical study at hospitals, universities, and pharmaceutical companies must pass through IRB scrutiny before data collection begins. The review examines research protocols in detail: Are risks minimized? Is informed consent clear and comprehensive? Are data protected against misuse?

Aside from protecting people participating in research, IRB approval gives scientists the documented assurance they need to analyze data under accepted ethical standards. For a project like Rejuve.AI, that approval matters because it opens doors to formal collaborations with academic and clinical centers as well as to peer-reviewed publications.

Scope of the Protocol Under Review

The protocol covers the full set of data Rejuve.AI will collect through our Rejuve Longevity App.

That includes user-logged lifestyle information such as sleep, nutrition, exercise, and mindfulness. It includes wearable-derived signals such as physical activity levels and sleep staging. Additionally, it includes lab and clinical test results that users can upload to track over 370 biomarkers. Later on, the App will also support seamless upload of multi-omic data.

The aim is to build a longitudinal dataset capable of testing and validating measures of biological aging and related health outcomes. This will enable hypothesis-driven studies that rely on real-world signals.

The protocol sets the rules for how data will be gathered, stored, and made available for ethical research.

The IRLDB: Building a Truly Representative Research Database

Most large research datasets today, such as NHANES in the US and the UK Biobank, come from a handful of sources with heavy geographic or ancestry bias. They often underrepresent non-European ancestries and people outside high-income countries.

That bias limits external validity. A finding that holds in a narrowly defined sample may not apply to populations that differ by region, lifestyle, or genetic roots. Those legacy datasets also capture a snapshot from a specific time window, often years before analysis. 

In receiving IRB approval, Rejuve.AI aims to change that by building the world’s first international longevity research database—the IRLDB. You will notice that the letters “L” and “R” are switched in the acronym, an intentional nod to the fact that the database will capture IRL or “in real life” data. 

The Rejuve Longevity App accepts users all around the world. Anyone with access to the App and a smartphone can contribute to the IRLDB. The approach yields greater geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity.

The App also accepts continuous inputs rather than a one-time survey. This produces a living dataset: more diverse, more current, and more useful for studies that seek generalizable conclusions. It also shortens the time between signal and study, which improves the value of analyses for clinical practice and policy.

How Rejuve.AI Data Can Advance Longevity Science

IRB approval makes sure the signals from Rejuve Longevity App users' data aren't lost, but are actually transformed into formal research questions. The possibilities are endless.

For example, as mentioned earlier, one priority will be validation of Rejuve.AI’s lifestyle-derived biological age metrics against future health trajectories. This will allow us to develop an accurate and more accessible alternative to current-generation biological clocks. We recently presented an abstract on this project at the prestigious Aging Research and Drug Discovery conference, garnering plenty of interest from potential collaborators.

Researchers will also be able to assemble cross-country cohorts to test hypotheses about environment, lifestyle, and aging. Rejuve.AI as a platform can serve as a registry to invite eligible participants into focused, prospective sub-studies that require protocolized yet decentralized follow-up.

All the potential research avenues produce evidence that is more directly relevant to people who live outside traditional study populations. Additionally, scientists from all around the world will be allowed to access our database and lead their own longevity research projects. It’s all open-science.

Data Ownership and the Role of Data NFTs

Rejuve.AI pairs its research ambitions with a blockchain mechanism that gives participants control over their information. 

For each user, the platform mints a unique data NFT (dNFT) linked to the user’s Rejuve ID. The dNFT functions as a record of ownership and as a gatekeeper for permissions. The system tracks every instance when researchers request access and records each instance of data use in studies. 

That audit trail creates transparent visibility of who accessed which data and why. The dNFT also ties into the platform’s token economy, which allows compensation for users’ data. 

This design integrates ethical governance, as reviewed by an IRB, with Web3 governance, as recorded on-chain. The result gives researchers access to richer datasets and gives participants a clear map of how their contributions produce value.

Conclusion

Clinical research started as a careful, institution-driven pursuit. That care remains necessary. At the same time, care must not become inertia. DeSci can provide speed and scale without abandoning ethical oversight. 

In receiving IRB approval, Rejuve.AI brings a commitment to both: rigorous human-subject protections and a modern, participant-owned data model. 

With approval, day-to-day Rejuve Longevity App use will become a direct contribution to credible longevity science. That would establish a robust scientific ecosystem with a community that provides data, a process that protects participants, and research that meets formal standards.

If the process succeeds, the result will be an “in-real-life” research database that reduces geographic and temporal blind spots and gives contributors clear control over their data. That outcome would move aging research closer to timely, inclusive, and accountable science.