Mendelspod Podcast

23andMe lays off over 100 employees. Illumina comes to the JP Morgan empty-handed. Has Precision Medicine seen it’s heyday already? Or are we gearing up for another wave of innovation? Nathan and Laura are again ready for the tough questions of genomics.We begin with the current spat between genetic counselors and the ACMG. Like, . . . huh? 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

It's our special look back over the entire decade which has Nathan and Laura firing on all fours. Not only do we discover their genomic highlights of the last ten years--ups and downs-- they also pull out their special "future glasses" and come up with a provocative list for the next ten. You don't want to miss this.But first, we do cover December and that kerfuffle over the George Church dating app. And the genomics of income--really? Did you go for that?Theral, Nathan, and Laura for an extended broadcast. Happy 2020! 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

Our end-of-year special guest is one of the U.K.’s top genomicists, Ewan Birney, Co-Director of the European Bioinformatics Institute at EMBL. He is also the non-Executive Director for Genomics England.  Ewan's perhaps best known for his work with the ENCODE consortium. 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 gene edited babies, Lulu and Nana, turn one. Laura Hercher says it feels like it’s been five years. Nathan says, “Happy Birthday.”Along with our genomics headline party this month, we also discuss a comment that came in from our last show which leads us to the question, can we discuss science without discussing politics?It’s Nathan, Laura and Theral for almost a full hour sifting through November’s news. 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

Just in time for Black Friday, Ancestry.com has launched new health testing. Thanksgiving week (the company calls the shopping holidays the “Turkey Five”) has been kind to what is the largest DNA testing company in the world. Back in 2017, their ancestry test competed with the Instapot for Amazon’s top sellers on the biggest shopping day of the year. To date Ancestry has sold over 15 million DNA tests. 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

On November 25th, 2018, the world was shocked to find out a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, had edited the germline of twin girls-and the twins had been born. Many in the scientific community remember that Sunday afternoon well as the story broke on MIT's Tech Review, "EXCLUSIVE: Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies."Today’s guest can even tell you what he had for dinner that Sunday and just what was his reaction. "Holy S**t!" 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

Warning: the first part of this story can sound quite typical. Three co-founders with backgrounds in genomics and AI found a Stanford spinout. Their goal: to bring the tools of AI and computational modeling to unlock the medical secrets of the genome and deliver those to patients. They call this company, Jungla—Spanish for “jungle”—naming not only their adventure, but the whole problem. Then things get interesting. 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 2013 Twist Bioscience was a newcomer to a market that most of us thought was saturated, cornered, commoditized—that of synthetic DNA. But Emily Leproust and her co-founders saw something different. They saw "a big market with unhappy customers.” Today, with a radically disruptive technology, they are market dominant. Twist is a publicly traded company whose stock has doubled already once since they IPOd last year. Imagine, a DNA synthesis company going public! And then seeing their stock perform so well. This is tricky for the most hyped of tech or biotech startups. 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

Our Halloween show this year summarizing October’s genomics news has more tricks and treats than spooks and scares. It’s Nathan and Laura back to sift through a big month of happenings from the cool CRISPR upgrade to Inscripta’s bold move in gene editing to Ancestry.com’s shift into health testing.It’s all here, right now, on Mendelspod. 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

It’s a hot question in the field today. Recently several studies arguing for increased testing for all breast cancer patients have been published in leading oncology journals.Peter Beitsch is a breast cancer surgeon in Dallas Texas and co-author of one such study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He says that NCCN guidelines were created when tests were much more expensive and in an outdated context and that many patients are going under-diagnosed today. 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