Mendelspod Podcast

This week, we saw Dr. Anthony Fauci being grilled by an angry congress over, among other things, the origin of COVID-19, which is estimated killed at least 25 million people.  He was asked about how the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he directed until 2022, funded risky virus research at the Wuhan lab in China.Ever since the pandemic broke out, scientists, as well as policymakers, have been debating new restrictions on pathogen research, and last month, the White House released a new policy for what it calls “dual use research of concern and pathogens with enhanced pandemic potential.Marc Lipsitch is Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.  He joins us to talk about the pros and cons of the new policy and explain how it might work moving forward.Marc acknowledges there is legitimate disagreement among scientists, but these are value-laden questions, so it's for more than scientists to decide. It should include ethicists and the public. What are some of these value-laden questions? Will this impact privately funded research, and what are some of the alternative possibilities to high-risk research? 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

A new precision medicine startup has launched that uses transcriptomic and epigenetic information to help with therapy for a wide range of chronic disorders. Hayward, California-based Aqtual emerged from stealth at the end of last year with data on its first assay, a blood-based test for rheumatoid arthritis.Today, we’re joined by Diana Abdueva, Aqtual’s Founder and CEO, and Maggie Louie, VP of Translational Research and Strategic Partnerships."We are complex organisms that work beautifully for many years,” says Diana in today’s interview.  "But when something goes wrong, it is very hard to detect where the pathology originates.  There are many applications other than oncology, such as dermatology or immunology.”We explore Aqtual’s technology and history and consider the exciting possibilities for liquid biopsy beyond 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.comToday, we pursue an exciting area of medicine for the first time:  cell therapy for solid tumors.Most, if not all, of our audience will be familiar with the success of CAR-T therapies for blood cancers.  But only 10% of cancer is in the blood.  The other 90% develop solid tumors. Jason Bock is the CEO and founder of CTMC, a new company aiming to speed the advancement of the entire field of cell therapies. First, we cover this new treatment for solid tumors and discuss the near-science-fiction action of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (til). 

The Clinical Knowledge Base (CKB) powered by The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) is a dynamic digital resource for interpreting complex cancer genomic profiles in the context of gene variant knowledge and protein impact, therapies, and clinical trials. Illumina has teamed up with JAX in the newly released Connected Insights software, which integrates CKB as a knowledge source.We’re joined by Cara Statz from JAX and Erica Schnettler from Illumina to discuss how their combined technologies are helping researchers and oncologists deal with the increasing complexity of cancer genomic data. They discuss oncologists' experience with an overwhelming amount of new scientific data, and both guests give their advice for new labs setting up cancer testing. 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

A paper out this week in Nature Methods demonstrates a new technology which shows novel patterns of protein spatial polarization and co-localization in immune cells. The technology launched by Swedish startup Pixelgen has been dubbed “molecular pixelation” because it uses DNA pixels to tag and reveal relative locations. Unlike most other spatial technologies, molecular pixelation does not involve microscopy.Lead author of the paper, Filip Karlsson, joins us today to explain the technology and how it might enable new proteomics research.  He says that immunology is a great application area.How does this technology fit in the spatial landscape, and how might it enable new medicine that could impact 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

Damon Hostin has had an active and exciting journey in genomic medicine.  He’s now at Illumina, where his title is illuminative:  Lead, Health System Market Access.A regular on the precision medicine stage, Damon has some insights into what he calls the “blindingly fast progression” of genomic medicine that should convince the most jaded of its critics.  Compared to other areas of medicine, we are witnessing a rapid uptake of new science.  Damon’s biography includes work at Celera in the age of the Drosophila and Human Genome papers and at a large community health system, Catholic Health Initiatives, where he was in charge of precision medicine.   At Illumina, he’s part of the large vision of seeing that genomic medicine has every chance at adoption.Today, we ask Damon what has changed about access to genomic testing in the past five years and where we are seeing success. Damon brings a refreshingly optimistic viewpoint to the show. We talk about everything from PGx testing to whole genome sequencing, which he calls an “amazing win” for reimbursement. 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.comSarah LeBaron von Baeyer studied anthropology at Yale. Today she serves as the Director of Ethics Engagement at the new drug development company, Variant Bio, not a job she ever imagined at university.

In today’s show, we talk with Kyle Fahr, the VP and Distinguished Scientist leading Illumina’s Artificial Intelligence Lab."We lack a way of training genomics AI as readily as you would for natural language processing, says Fahr.  "There are vast amounts of data, but there are no labels, no supervision.  One of the most powerful tools that we’ve found is using clues from natural selection.Fahr says the company began the AI lab seven years ago when deep learning took off. Two of the team’s AI algorithms, PrimateAI-3D and SpliceAI, published in Cell and Nature Genetics, were among the first examples of deep learning algorithms in genomics to become widely used by clinical labs and researchers in interpreting variants of unknown significance.  We take a close look at Illumina’s work in AI and delve into the long-term impact of AI on 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

Patrick Short, CEO of Sano Genetics, discusses overcoming challenges in genetic research, emphasizing accessibility and pre-symptomatic treatments for conditions like ALS. They also explore early detection strategies using biomarkers for diseases like Alzheimer's and Braca mutations.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.comThrough its Center for Personalized Medicine, the University of Colorado Health offers its 2.2 million patients some of the country's most advanced precision medicine initiatives.