Mendelspod Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.com“Genomics works. Don’t be scared of it.” That’s the message from Mike Kreitzinger, a longtime Illumina leader now advising the Institute for Pediatric Rare Disease at Florida State University and stepping into a broader role as a genomics advocate.In this episode, Mike gives us an inside look at Florida’s newly funded Sunshine Genetics Act, which includ…

Illumina’s new interpretation software, Illumina Connected Insights, signals a turning point in oncology genomics—where sequencing power meets end-to-end clinical utility. On this episode of Mendelspod, host Theral Timpson sits down with Jing Gao, VP of Software Engineering at Illumina, to explore how the company is extending its leadership from sequencers to software.“We’ve moved from offering modular tools to building full-stack solutions,” Jing explains. “Connected Insights is about taking raw genomic data and delivering meaningful answers—quickly and consistently.”* 0:00 With Connected Insights, Illumina now has end-to-end support* 4:30 What’s your niche in oncology?* 10:40 Can software really interpret biology?* 14:45 What’s new and updated?* 17:00 The future of genomic interpretation in oncologyFrom variant annotation to case summaries aligned with clinical guidelines, Connected Insights integrates more than 55 curated databases, AI-driven tools like SpliceAI and PrimateAI-3D, and a design philosophy that emphasizes both comprehensiveness and human-centered transparency.Gao previews upcoming innovations—such as integration with Illumina’s MRD and Constellation technologies—and paints a future where interpretation is more automated, collaborative, and expansive.“Our goal,” says Gao, “is not to replace scientists, but to scale their expertise. Connected Insights is an intelligent assistant that amplifies what experts do best.”🎧 Also, don’t miss the GenomeWeb Webinar on July 9 at 10 AM EDT, where Jing Gao and team go deeper into real-world use cases and the future of variant interpretation in precision oncology. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mendelspod.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.comCan we finally replace animal testing in drug development—and still know a drug is safe and effective?That’s the provocative question at the heart of this episode, as we sit down with Andrei Georgescu, co-founder and CEO of Vivodyne. The company is developing robotic, AI-enabled systems for growing living, biopsy-like human tissues that can be used to t…

In this episode of Mendelspod, Theral welcomes Dr. Rita Shaknovich, Chief Medical Officer in Agilent’s Life Sciences and Diagnostics group, for a high-level and deeply insightful look at where liquid biopsy technology stands today.With her background in hematopathology and molecular diagnostics, Rita brings clarity to a field that has long promised transformation—and is now delivering. “It’s not the future anymore. It’s actually here,” she says. Liquid biopsy has moved beyond the buzzword phase and is increasingly integrated into both clinical trials and standard care for cancers like non-small cell lung cancer.We talk about why fluids are such a powerful source for diagnostics, with Rita reminding us, “Sixty percent of our body is water.” Sampling these accessible fluids not only makes for less invasive testing but also captures the heterogeneity and clonal evolution of diseases like cancer better than traditional biopsies.Rita also offers a tour through the latest technology advances, from target enrichment chemistry to the rise of multiomic platforms, including Agilent’s Avida portfolio. “There are 30 million CpG sites in the genome that can be methylated,” she explains, highlighting why DNA methylation is such a rich source of diagnostic information.She discusses the operational hurdles labs face in adopting liquid biopsy—chief among them being assay complexity and staffing—and how automation and customizable panels are easing the way.The show concludes with a call to action: "We are very slow often as a medical community adopting new tools. I hope we will democratize access as the clinical evidence grows.”Bonus: To go deeper, listeners are invited to attend a GenomeWeb webinar on July 8th, presented by Dr. Nicola Normanno, a leading voice in the liquid biopsy space. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mendelspod.com/subscribe

In this episode of Mendelspod, Theral speaks with Frédéric Debode, Scientific Director at CRA-W in Wallonia, Belgium, about the evolving landscape of GMO detection in the age of gene editing. From early work in real-time PCR to the latest in next-gen sequencing and target enrichment, Debode has been on the front lines of tracking genetically modified organisms—often when the modifications leave almost no trace.What’s at stake? In Europe, labeling GMOs is not just a policy—it’s the law. Debode emphasizes that public trust hinges on scientific transparency: “Thanks to correct labeling, people can choose if they decide to eat or not food that is coming from GMOs.”* 0:00 What led you to GMO detection?* 4:00 How has your approach evolved?* 11:00 NGS plus target enrichment* 16:10 What are you testing?* 21:00 The future of GMO detectionThe conversation dives into the challenges posed by CRISPR and other new genomic techniques (NGTs), which can make single-base edits indistinguishable from natural mutations. “With CRISPR,” Debode explains, “you are not obliged to introduce a large fragment into the genome. You can just modify one base… and in fact, you will have a big effect.”Debode outlines how CRA-W is adapting its toolkit to these challenges, turning to high-throughput sequencing with target enrichment technology to screen for even subtle genetic changes. He also shares how Belgium and the EU are investing in collaborative efforts like the DETECTIVE project to establish viable detection protocols across a broad diversity of organisms.The work isn’t just regulatory. CRA-W is partnering with farmers and industry to improve diagnostics, ensure safety in bio-based fungicides, and support sustainability through gene mapping. “We’re not doing this alone,” says Debode. “There’s a strong European network working together to make these tools applicable and enforceable in the field.”For more from Debode on GMO detection, tune into an upcoming GenomeWeb Webinar here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mendelspod.com/subscribe

“We’re going to be rewriting the textbooks on how tissues work.”In this compelling reunion with spatial biology pioneer Joe Beechem and a first-time visit from Oliver Braubach, we explore the rapid evolution of spatial technologies at Bruker, a legacy instrumentation company newly resurgent in the spatial space. Following Bruker’s acquisition of Nanostring and Canopy, the company has emerged as a unifying platform where whole-transcriptome discovery meets translational assay development—under one roof.* 0:00 Red alert: we don’t yet understand how tissue biology works, and don’t let anyone tell you we do.* 5:12 Customer of spatial turned toolmaker* 10:00 What do you want researchers to know about Bruker Spatial?* 14:24 How do you go from discovery to assay?* 18:09 How has AI impacted spatial?* 22:41 The ongoing question of reductionism* 31:00 What’s your biggest challenge?Beechem, known for launching the first high-plex spatial platform at Nanostring, returns to Mendelspod to declare that spatial biology may be more consequential than genomics itself. “If somebody tells you they understand how tissue biology works, you can just cut them off. They don’t,” he says, describing the dramatic leaps from 84-plex in 2019 to 20,000-plex subcellular imaging today.Braubach, a neuroscientist turned toolmaker, shares his journey from early customer to R&D leader, developing user-friendly platforms that empower researchers with flexibility and speed. “We want researchers to assume again a degree of power over their assays,” he says, outlining Bruker Spatial’s mission to integrate discovery and translation.Together, the two leaders discuss how AI is accelerating the power of spatial, with foundational models that can identify patterns humans can’t. Beechem recounts feeding high-plex images into a GPT model: “It came back and told me where to look. And it was right.”They also reflect on the philosophical shift spatial enables—moving beyond genomics' reductionist lens toward a more holistic view of biology in situ. “The hype around spatial is not hype,” says Beechem. “It’s real.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mendelspod.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.comIn this episode of Mendelspod, Theral sits down with Rob Neely, co-founder and CSO at Tagomics, to discuss how his company is fusing genomics, epigenomics, and fragmentomics into a single, assumption-free assay for early cancer detection. The conversation begins with breaking news: Tagomics has just received a new grant from the UK’s Innovation Agency a…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.comIn this premium episode of Mendelspod, we’re joined by one of the few people speaking clearly and globally about biosecurity in the era of synthetic biology and AI: Sophie Peresson.A consultant and leader in responsible innovation, Sophie brings an unusually broad and grounded perspective. With experience spanning international law and governance, she p…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.comAs artificial intelligence continues to influence the life sciences, some researchers are questioning not just what it can predict, but what it can explain. On this episode, Mike Kiebish, VP of Platform and Translational Sciences at BPGbio, discusses the company’s “biology-first” approach to drug discovery—one that begins not with models or literature, …

Join Gavin Knott, an associate professor at Monash University and an alum of Jennifer Doudna’s lab, as he dives into the fascinating world of RNA and AI in gene editing. Knott reveals RNA as a dynamic language and how AI tools like AlphaFold are revolutionizing protein design. He discusses the exciting potential of AI in reducing off-target effects in CRISPR technology and opens up about the challenges in the field. With his infectious curiosity, Knott envisions a future where proteins are designed with intent, pushing the boundaries of molecular biology.