How a Florida institute aims to standardize longevity research at a global scale

A University of South Florida (USF) spinout, MusB Research is a clinical research firm specializing in providing scientifically validated evidence and product substantiation for dietary supplement and pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Yadav co-founded the company with USF assistant professor Dr. Shalini Jain, PhD, in 2024 after noticing that many of the claims made about longevity supplements are unsubstantiated by scientific research.

For example, telomere length—the size of the protective DNA caps at the ends of human chromosomes—are often used as a marker of cellular aging. Supplement companies claim certain products can help slow down the rate at which telomeres shorten as people age, but Yadav said clinical trials rarely study them for long enough, because telomeres reduce over decades.

As a microbiologist, Yadav also focuses heavily on how gut health influences the biological aging process through dysbiosis (an imbalance in the gut microbiome), which is recognized as the 12th hallmark of aging.

MusB Research has now set out to validate and measure how all 12 hallmarks of aging—including inflammation and dysbiosis—are measured, claiming to ensure that longevity products are scientifically understood not just for their benefits, but also for their limitations. This clarity, according to Drs. Yadav and Jain, empowers better business decisions, better healthcare choices and greater public trust.

“Dr. Yadav and I recognized a significant gap between scientific discovery and real-world application,” Dr. Jain said. “There was exceptional research being conducted in nutrition, natural products and microbiome science, yet many promising innovations never reached consumers because companies often lacked access to rigorous scientific validation and translational expertise.”

From milk to leaky gut

Dr. Yadav’s interest in healthy aging and longevity began during childhood. Living on his family’s farm in India, where his father owned 250 cows, he learned that milk could be fermented to make yogurt rich in probiotics, and that these probiotics could contribute to human health.

As an adult, Dr. Yadav went on to pursue this field of research, studying probiotics and the gut microbiome at India’s prestigious National Dairy Research Institute, earning his PhD in biochemistry in 2006. He continued this work at the NIH, investigating whether probiotics could slow the progression of diabetes.

“I was one of the first people to make the connection between GLP-1s and diabetes, focusing on the gut-brain link,” he said.

Dr. Yadav’s research showed that administering a probiotic strain (VSL3) to mice enhanced butyrate production, promoting GLP-1 activity, controlling appetite and reducing inflammation.

This research led to an academic position at Wake Forest University where he studied leaky gut, which occurs when the tight junctions in the intestinal wall loosen. Diets high in sugar and processed foods as well as the regular use of antibiotics and other medications can lead to the condition.

“Leaky gut is similar to what happens to IBD and IBS patients but it’s low-grade chronic inflammation,” Dr. Yadav said. “Data showed older people have more inflammation than younger people. Where was this inflammation coming from?”

He had a theory that inflammation was triggered by the gut. The guts of older people have less butyrate, which is not just important for GLP-1 production but also for the health of the mucus layer or gut lining. Giving older adults more butyrate to combat leaky gut seemed like an obvious solution but there were concerns: delivering butyrate relied on a salt base. This put older people prone to hypertension at risk of further health problems.

“That’s how our clinical trial was killed,” he said about the research failing.

However, the scientific hiccup did not stop Dr. Yadav from fulfilling his life’s work in longevity and aging, which receives funding from the NIH, Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation.

He was recruited by the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine to direct its Center for Microbiome Research, a key component of the recently launched USF Institute for Microbiomes.

Universal goals but regionally specific science

Three years after Dr. Yadav joined the USF faculty, MusB was established. The organization has created research connections in 18 countries under its program, the Mellow Consortium, which stands for ‘Multicontinental Evidence of Longevity and Lifestyle for Optimal Wellness.’

Mellow researchers at clinical sites worldwide participate in the program along with companies to generate rigorous science for longevity, lifestyle and wellness innovations. Corporate partners include Unilever, Vidya, Synbiotic Health, Sabinsa, and Biova, among others.

Those collaborations rely on a stringent standardization system enforced by MusB for research purposes. For example, Mellow-affiliated clinicians have their academic and professional credentials vetted by MusB. In addition, all diagnostic equipment used in MusB trials conforms to standards established by Clear Labs, a high-quality standard used by organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. MusB also creates and mails test kits to sites to collect biological samples, like stool, blood, urine, saliva and even skin. The goal is to find dietary interventions that are designed for as many people as possible.

“We need to find the strategies that work in everyone,” Dr. Yadav said. “But there are some strategies that work on some people but not everyone.”

In response, MusB is now exploring developing region-specific probiotics and postbiotics due to the unique microbial signatures across diverse populations. A recent meta-analysis by USF Institute for Microbiomes researchers and their study partners, which used microbiome data from nearly 11,000 people across 27 countries spanning North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, showed that each region had distinctive gut signatures, reflecting differences in diet, lifestyle and environment.

Now, as microbiome science moves toward global health applications, Dr. Yadav says recognizing both shared and unique microbial patterns across populations will be critical.

However, MusB is still in the early stages of development. The research institute has published just two peer-reviewed journal articles, though others are in the pipeline. Ongoing studies include research evaluating the effectiveness of two Ayurvedic herbs—Ashoka Bark and Shatavari—in reducing menopausal symptoms and another designed to evaluate whether a probiotic supplement can increase the body’s own production of GLP-1.

Mellow investigators are also in the process of publishing research articles, and MusB is encouraging further inquiry into longevity through JLive (Journal of Interdisciplinary Research), a new open-access scientific journal it is launching this month.

Co-founder Dr. Jain, who also earned a PhD from India’s National Dairy Research Institute and has expertise in translational research, said she hopes in the next five to 10 years MusB will be a term people around the world associate with serious lifestyle and longevity science, precision nutrition and wellness. The idea is that lifestyle can be viewed as medicine.

“I want the Mellow Consortium to be the network that makes that possible,” Dr. Jain said. “Picture a truly global community: longevity researchers, physicians, thought leaders, universities, and industry all working together across continents. That’s what lets us run large-scale clinical trials, publish real evidence and move discoveries from the lab into people’s daily lives much faster. The end goal is simple to say and hard to do: Help people live longer, healthier lives, backed by science we can stand behind.”