The Genetics Podcast

Dr. Mike Snyder, a pioneer in personalized medicine and Director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford, discusses the revolutionary impact of wearable technologies on early disease detection. He shares insights on how proactive health monitoring can predict illnesses even before symptoms arise. The conversation also highlights the challenges of integrating advanced diagnostics into mainstream healthcare, emphasizing the importance of transitioning from reactive to preventive models, and the promise of AI in improving health outcomes.

This week, Patrick welcomes President and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory, Lon Cardon. They discuss the rise of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and how they changed the face of genetics research and why Lon took the plunge and moved from academia to industry in an era when it was an unpopular choice. Plus, they cover the future of disease taxonomy and why data sharing remains vital to the field of genetics.

This week, we’re thrilled to welcome Nadav Ahituv, the Director of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco. Patrick and Nadav discuss his research on gene regulation, including his intriguing work on bats and their unique metabolic adaptations – and what that means for human health. They also discuss the evolution of our understanding of genetics, from ancient DNA insights to the mechanisms driving human traits, and how these discoveries could pave the way for future therapies.

In this episode Patrick is joined by Marco Quarta, Co-founder and CEO of Rubedo Life Sciences, and previously Director of Bioengineering in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University. Since childhood Marco had the dream of ‘curing’ ageing and his work at Rubedo focuses on understanding cell senescence, with the goal of developing novel therapies for age-linked diseases. Join Marco and Patrick as they discuss his transition from academia to founding multiple companies, why not all senescent cells are equal, and how understanding the processes behind cell ageing could help extend human healthspan.

In this episode, we’re joined by Martin Borch Jensen, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Gordian Biotechnology and President of Norn Group, a non-profit dedicated to accelerating research and development of therapies targeting the biology of ageing. Patrick and Martin discuss the phenomenon known as the “ageing problem,” how understanding biological age could crack the code on age-related diseases, and the challenges of building a company in a field with no business model blueprint.

In this episode, we’re joined by Tony Cox, CEO of UK Biocentre. After spending more than 20 years at The Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he worked on the Human Genome Project, Tony moved to UK Biocentre in January 2020 – just before the world was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization pivoted to play a key role in the UK’s response effort, and under Tony’s leadership the center sequenced 33 million DNA samples in just two years. Patrick and Tony discussed receiving a phone call from the UK government, scaling from sequencing 1,000 to 100,000 samples per day, and how to manage producing five tonnes of cardboard waste on a daily basis.

This week, we welcome Dr. Mike Gaziano, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC). Mike is also one of two Principal Investigators of the Million Veteran Program - a national research project in the US looking at how genes, lifestyle, military experiences, and exposures affect health and wellness in veterans. This is a huge undertaking, as Mike describes this project as “the largest health system-based mega-biobank in the world". Join Patrick and Dr. Mike for a discussion on the Million Veteran Program’s research, its integration of extensive data from veterans, and its role in shaping the future of personalized medicine for the veteran community.

This week, we’re joined by Scott Weiss, the Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, Associate Director of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and former Scientific Director at Partners HealthCare Personalized Medicine at Mass General Brigham. Patrick and Scott discuss the challenges of integrating large-scale, longitudinal multi-omic profiling into healthcare settings, demonstrating the value of preventative initiatives to health insurance providers, and why, at 78, Scott isn’t planning on retiring from genetics anytime soon.

This week Patrick is joined by Austin Argentieri, Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, Affiliate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. Austin’s work focuses on the proteomics of aging and how proteomic signatures are highly predictive for estimating biological age. From the potential of therapeutic applications, to why no “fountain of youth” genes have yet been identified, he and Patrick discuss the heritability of aging and how proteomics can help identify risk of age-related disease.

In this episode, we’re joined by Daniel O’Connor, Director of Regulatory Policy and Early Access at The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. Daniel previously spent almost 18 years at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and over his career has specialized in improving and incentivizing pathways to rare disease treatment development. Join Patrick and Daniel as they discuss orphan drug designation, the importance of international collaboration, and how unlocking new regulatory approaches to preventative medicine can help change the future of rare and ultra-rare conditions.