Nonfiction Laboratories is building a technology called “magnetogenetics” that promises to control proteins inside the body — such as antibodies or enzymes — using small magnets. In this episode, co-founder Maria Ingaramo and scientific advisor Andrew York explain how they engineered a protein, MagLOV, that responds strongly to magnetic fields, why most prior attempts have failed to replicate, and how the mechanism of magnetically-controlled proteins actually works. They also get into the “dream” use cases, like cancer drugs that activate only at the tumor, which might have a lower toxicity inside the body.

This podcast is made possible by Astera Institute.

Notes from our discussion: https://nikomc.com/essays/protein-magnets.html

00:00 - Opening

00:54 — Introduction

01:35 — The dream

05:38 — Why magnets vs. light or ultrasound

10:05 — The physics

17:48 — On the name "magnetogenetics"

21:25 — Birds and cryptochromes

27:09 — Why is the field filled with so much junk?

29:51 — Adam Cohen's molecule

33:24 — Markus Meister’s debunking

38:06 — The experiment

46:22 — Finding the LOV domain

54:11 — Singlets, triplets, and cysteine

56:54 — What the magnet is actually doing

1:05:13 — The conformational-change red herring

1:12:46 — The Quantum Biology Institute

1:19:31 — Founding Nonfiction Labs

1:24:38 — How to convince skeptical investors

1:29:39 — What a magnetogenetic medicine might look like

1:38:50 — First clinical indications

1:45:12 — The regulatory path

1:48:01 — What the field needs

1:54:30 — Appendix: Whiteboard lecture

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