#49 – Ajay Karpur on Metagenomic Sequencing

Ajay Karpur is a senior research software engineer at RAND, working with the Meselson Center. He's hoping to start tweeting again soon, at @ajaykarpur.

Joining as a guest co-host on this episode was Janvi Ahuja, who is a PhD student in computational biology at Oxford University, and part of the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security ‘Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity’ program. She's tweeting at @jn_ahuja.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• What is metagenomic sequencing, and why could it matter so much for it to become affordable and ubiquitous?
• How and why can nonprofits help positive technologies become more accessible?
• How emerging biotech can help the world respond better to the next emerging (potential) pandemic
• Refuges against biological threats
• Analogies between fire protection and pathogen protection through monitoring and cleaner air
• Career advice for entering biosecurity, especially with an engineering background.

You can read more about the topics we cover in this episode's write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/karpur

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