Mendelspod Podcast

Arutha Kulasinghe was pumped for the AGBT (Advances in Genome Biology and Technology) Conference this year. He is the Principal Investigator for the Clinical-oMx Lab at the University of Queensland. Dr. Kulasinghe has pioneered spatial transcriptomics using digital spatial profiling approaches in the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to world-first studies for lung, head, and neck cancer and COVID-19. Not gathering last year due to the pandemic, the AGBT conference has became a kind of revival for genome biologists. 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

One thinks of Invitae as a leading genetic testing company that has worked to improve clinical quality while bringing prices down. And they are, and they have. But after listening to today's show, you will see that their vision is bigger than that.Farid Vij is the President and General Manager of Data at Invitae. A year ago Invitae bought a company he co-founded called Ciitizen which was focused on providing patients with access to their complete medical records. 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

Satellite Bio is named descriptively for the way its platform works. Out of stealth in the past few months with what you might call a middle ground approach to generative medicine between stem cell therapy and organ transplant, the company takes its name from the tissue therapy constructs they surgically implant in patients. 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

There was a tweet thread at the end of the recent Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) conference where researchers took a moment of silence for all the sequencing companies that have announced big plans at the conference and then died. It was clearly aimed at this year’s sequencing tools entrant and buzz-generating Ultima Genomics. The company emerged from stealth the week before AGBT announcing the $100 genome with a purse of $600 million backed by funders including Khosla Ventures, Andreessen, and Founders Fund. 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

Has the pandemic unleashed the molecule of RNA to be the new future of drug development?Tim Mercer is the Director of the BASE Lab at the University of Queensland which has recently become one of Australia’s leading national facilities for the manufacture and research of RNA technologies. Tim is the next guest in our series on enzymatic DNA synthesis which he says is "a quantum shift” in our ability to synthesize DNA.Tim then goes on to explore the future of mRNA vaccines and other RNA therapeutics. 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

Heidi Rehm’s talents for genomics are legendary. Our field has devoured them like a hungry beast.Discovering an appreciation for the natural logic of genetics in her early school years, Heidi would later learn she was good at the standardization of genomic databases for clinical use. This would make her a pioneering superstar of genomic medicine. 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

The area of early cancer detection continues to become ever more exciting these days. Each month more companies add liquid biopsies to their product offering as new technologies advance and are able to recognize cancer with increased sensitivity and specificity, particularly from cell-free DNA in the blood. 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

While we’re able to sit outside on a warm summer’s night under the ocean of stars, let us contemplate some of the bigger questions. We’re very excited to start out our twelfth season of the podcast with the chemist, Lee Cronin, from the University of Glasgow. Lee published an original and fundamental theory about the universe in the weeks after we taped which has profound implications for the question about the origin of life and could have some interesting applications in genomics. 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

Dr. Eric Green has been the Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2009. Two years ago, he and his colleagues at the Institute came up with a strategic plan for the next ten years. Today we discuss the plan with the director and get his outlook on the future of human genomics.Dr. Green says human genomics can be roughly divided into four chapters. 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

Pacific Biosciences has introduced a new method for detecting DNA methylation simultaneously with DNA sequencing. They are calling it 5-base sequencing.Today on the program, Jonas Korlach, PacBio’s Chief Scientific Officer, and Tomi Pastinen, the Director of the Genomic Medicine Center at Children’s Mercy Research Institute in Kansas City join us to describe the new breakthrough and connect it to clinical possibilities. 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