Boston University researchers said they’ve found biological markers in the blood that can help predict how well people will age.

Researchers with the New England Centenarian study have long looked at people who live into their 90s and beyond, some with serious illness and some relatively healthy. Their previous studies linked certain genetic combinations with a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, frailty and other age-related problems.

Boston University’s Paola Sebastiani said the new study links other types of biomarkers — like protein molecules in the blood — to the likelihood someone will live long and well.

“And the difference is really important because the genetics, you cannot change it. You are born with those genes, and that’s what you have,” Sebastiani said. “But the molecular data, you can change this data.”

The next research goal, she said, is to develop drugs that can manipulate the levels and patterns of proteins in the blood that bode well for the aging process.