#230 Cancer Pharmacogenetics with Dr. Jamie Fettig

Mar 31, 2023

Dr. Jamie Fettig, Cancer pharmacogenetics expert, discusses breakthroughs in eliminating variants of unknown significance in pharmacogenetics and companion diagnostic tests in oncology. They explore the importance of personalized medicine and genetic testing for effective drug selection in treating different types of cancers. The episode also highlights advancements in genetic technology, the potential of pharmacogenetics in creating custom drugs, and the balance between quality and quantity in cancer assay testing.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Understanding Variants of Unknown Significance and Pharmacogenetics in Oncology

02:26 • 14min

Cancer Progression, Genome Sequencing, and Related Genetic Assays

16:41 • 2min

Advancements in Cancer Pharmacogenetics

19:11 • 6min

The Importance of Quality and Quantity in Cancer Assay Testing

24:50 • 3min

The Potential of Pharmacogenetics and Custom Drugs

27:22 • 2min

Measuring Mutations, Future Updates, and Genetic Testing and Sequencing Sponsorships

29:36 • 4min

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My guest today is Dr. Jamie Fettig, the Founder and CEO of TruGene Diagnostics. We are chatting about a breakthrough in eliminating variants of unknown significance - especially in relation to companion diagnostic tests and pharmacogenetics in oncology.

Dr. Jamie Fettig is the Founder and CEO of TruGene Diagnostics, which is eliminating variants of unknown significance - especially in relation to companion diagnostic tests and pharmacogenetics in oncology. He graduated from Palmer University. Dr. Fettig previously worked in private practice and then transitioned into manufacturing and selling medical equipment. He also worked as a coach and trainer to fellow doctors.

On This Episode We Discuss:

Defining variants of unknown significance (VUS), pharmacogenetics and companion diagnostics

What TruGene Diagnostics does

The GiggaAssay

How knowing if a breast cancer is HER2+ can help inform medications that people should be prescribed

VUS in HER2 Tyrosine Kinase Region

What people should do if they get HER2+ cancer or their doctor wants to do a biopsy thinking it might be HER2+

How cancer survival rates are impacted by utilizing precision medicine approaches with drugs

How TruGene Diagnostics’ test differs from other PGx tests or Precision Meds

How pharmacogenomics can increase the efficacy of clinical trials

Check out Dr. Fettig’s papers:

Heligenics: fulfilling the promise of the functional genome to enable precision medicine (March, 2023)

Data Supporting a saturation mutagenesis assay for Tat-driven transcription with the GigaAssay (September 2022)

GigaAssay – a high-throughput assay system for molecular functions and cell processes (July 2021)

Check out DNA Today Episode 134 that Kira mentioned during this episode; it’s with guest Dr. Kat Arney about cancer evolution. You can also stream other episodes about pharmacogenomics including Episode #108 with Becky Winslow, Episode #174 with Gregory Kellog, and last week’s Episode #229 with Avni Santani!

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on April 7th, 2023, where we’ll be discussing ChatGPT and AI In Genetics with Daniel Uribe of GenoBank! New episodes are released every Friday. In the meantime, you can binge over 225 other episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, streaming on the website, or any other podcast player by searching, “DNA Today”. Episodes since 2021 are also recorded with video which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

DNA Today is hosted and produced by Kira Dineen. Our social media lead is Corinne Merlino. Our video lead is Amanda Andreoli. Our Outreach Intern is Sanya Tinaikar. Our Social Media Intern is Kajal Patel. And our Graphic Designer Ashlyn Enokian.

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