Mendelspod Podcast

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

Alec Ford is passionate about his message. No wonder. There's an astounding fact in cancer medicine that is little known and could make a big difference. More cancer patients are dying from infections than they are from their cancers. And Alec's company has the technology to do something about it. 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 of the underrated but true successes of precision medicine has been pharmacogenomics. Beginning in the ’90s with the approval of the drug Herceptin for HER2 positive breast cancer, tailoring drugs to genotype has been one of the less controversial areas of our field and will only continue to build on the early promise of sequencing the human genome.Today we talk Michelle Whirl-Carrillo, Director of PharmGKB, a one-stop go-to for pharmacogenomics data that has been funded by the NIH since 2000. 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

Today we talk with John Nelson, Senior Principal Scientist at GE Research and veteran in the field of DNA synthesis. On January 7th, 2020, two weeks before the first cases of the coronavirus were reported in the U.S, John and a team of scientists and engineers proposed a new project to DARPA called NOW, or Nucelic Acids on Demand Worldwide. The goal of the project, now fully underway, is to deliver DNA-based vaccines anywhere in the world in three days. 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

“I’ve seen a lot of revolutions. Now we’re at the beginning of spatial biology, and I think it has the chance to transform life science similar to next gen sequencing, but even more. It’s going to have more ramifications that spread through more disciplines than any of the revolutions I’ve seen in a while.” 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

Are we now entering the age of proteomics the way we did with genomics thirty years ago?We were told we should talk to today’s guest by four people in one week. He’s Omid Farokhzad, CEO and Founder of Seer Inc. When we did, we understood why.Seer offers its customers the chance to “see the proteome in a way that’s never been possible before.” So what does that mean? 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