If today's guest were a super hero, he'd be High Resolution Sequencing Man. Bobby Sebra is the Director of Technology Development at the Icahn Institute of Genomics and Multiscale Biology at Mt Sinai in New York. He has the complete arsenal of DNA sequencers in his lab. He specializes in long read applications, and today he goes into several of those spaces, including infectious disease and oncology. How has sequencing changed since we last had Bobby on a couple years ago, and how does he see it...
Oct 05, 2017•25 min
To honor Laura's pentametric thirst, We write the summary today in verse. Was it a quake that had no epicenter, That silly paper out by J. Craig Venter? And after years of silencing the market Has RNAi at last knocked out its target? Then Nathan gives to yuppies devil's choice. Which one libs: gluten dough or GMOs? 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...
Oct 02, 2017•26 min
We’ve heard a lot this year about the search for new structural variants and the hope that scientists will find new causal linkages for diseases such as cancer. But will the genome still yield dramatic genetic signatures such as KRAS, BRAF and EGFR that have been so helpful in cancer treatment? Today’s guest says, yes, and he’s on the trail. 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...
Sep 26, 2017•24 min
When we first talked with Tim Triche of LA Children's Hospital, we found out he was a bit of an outlier among cancer researchers. He was an advocate for poking around in the non-coding RNA. Today we welcome Tim back to the show to talk about a new gene panel that he has designed specifically for childhood cancers. It’s a first of its kind and was modeled quite closely on the gene panel for the NCI’s MATCH trial. The new panel has both a DNA and an RNA component, and the RNA side is by far the bi...
Sep 21, 2017•25 min
Back in 2009, University of Washington professor, Jay Shendure, wrote a definitive paper offering up a roadmap for exome sequencing. Since then, the cost of sequencing has come down so far that many have debated whether or not to do whole genome sequencing vs. just the exome. 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...
Sep 13, 2017•25 min
Back from summer vacation, Nathan and Laura are smoking hot as they look back over some exciting headlines. The summer boiled over with plenty to talk about, but it was just this week that delivered most of the news for our discussion today. Novartis’ gene therapy based on CAR-T technology was approved Wednesday, making it the first gene therapy to be approved ever in the US. Analysts will be trying to figure out how high high is when it comes to the price tag, but Nathan and Laura explain why t...
Sep 01, 2017•20 min
The challenge for the first ever in-human gene editing trial, according to today’s guest, is with the delivery to the body. “At the moment, the easiest place to deliver your gene or genome editing is to the liver, using AAV which are viruses that seek out and go to the liver cells," says Sandy Macrae, the CEO of Sangamo Therapeutics. Sangamo is known for two things: They have pioneered the commercialization of an older gene editing technology called Zinc Fingers. And they have done a lot of work...
Aug 08, 2017•26 min
Today we get to bring you a feel good story, one of the major achievements so far in precision oncology. Three large companies—Thermo Fisher, Pfizer, and Novartis—put aside their differences to come together for patients. The patients are those who suffer from non-small cell lung cancer. In June, the FDA approved for the first time an NGS panel with multiple genes for multiple drugs that treat this kind of cancer. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or ...
Aug 03, 2017•25 min
Invitae appointed their co-founder Sean George as CEO earlier this year. He joins us to share his bold vision for the field of genetic 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
Aug 01, 2017•27 min
The life science tools space is flourishing. Biomedical research output is at an all time high. Today’s guest says there are over 40,000 papers published each year on cancer biomarkers. But very few of those become commercialized tests. Why? 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...
Jul 27, 2017•24 min
They’re getting a lot of buzz this week. We’re pleased to have Justin Kao, a co-founder of Helix on the program today for the first time. 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
Jul 25, 2017•33 min
Barrett Bready is back on the program. He’s the CEO of Nabsys, a company with some new technology for genome mapping. Originally Nabsys had been working to develop nanopore sequencing, but after a recent reboot has become focused on scaling up scientists' ability to read structural genomic information. Barrett compares Nabsys’ new multiplex technology for genome mapping to the improvement of arrays over single nucleotide (SNP) detection. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this wi...
Jul 20, 2017•21 min
George Church joins us today. He’s the Robert Winthrop Professor of . . . . well, he’s George Church. And he confirms that, yes, a movie called “Woolly" is being made about his lab. In the next breath, he reminds us (and himself?) that less than 1% of his press is about the woolly mammoth. 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...
Jul 13, 2017•32 min
It’s the end of the month--and the half year mark--so we open up today's monthly discussion with Nathan and Laura to include some of the headlines we’ve missed this year. Last month a paper was published warning about the off target effects when using CRISPR. Laura and Nathan agree the kerfuffle which exploded into this month was more about Wall Street than adding anything new to science. Remember the technology we used before CRISPR? Sangamo Biosciences launched the first ever “in vivo” (in hum...
Jun 30, 2017•24 min
When will we see the results of microbiome research in our every day lives? And what will that look like? Rob Knight joins us for the first time today. He’s a professor at UC San Diego and Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation. He is well known for co-authoring a paper showing that the microbial populations in the guts of obese mice differentiate from those in lean mice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vis...
Jun 27, 2017•22 min
Reports from ASCO, the nation’s biggest cancer conference, this year again were full of stunning stories about the success of older and new immuno therapies. The race has never been hotter for biomarkers to target patient groups. Most of this new class of drugs--which harnesses the immune system to go after the cancer--inhibit an immune checkpoint called programmed cell death protein 1 or PDL1. So frontline cancer treatment these days typically includes a test for the PDL1 biomarker. This is a p...
Jun 22, 2017•21 min
Let’s say you’re a biomedical researcher looking for a place to make your mark. You find out that there is still a major disease that affects more than 2 million people in the US, and we still know virtually nothing about this disease at the molecular level. Wouldn't that stand out? 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...
Jun 15, 2017•27 min
What does it take to collaborate in genomics? A platform, for one thing. Over the past few years bioinformaticians have been speculating about a dominant "go to” site that would serve the software needs of those in genomics. Would it be a private company, a Google of genomics? Or would it be a non profit consortium? Would it be created at the government level? 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/...
Jun 08, 2017•29 min
Is Grail already merging? Genomic autopsies? Does the House's new healthcare bill turn mere genetic risk into pre-conditions? Nathan and Laura are back to find meaning in the rush of May's headlines. Laura cites a disturbing survey of over 2,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer that found half of them had unnecessary double mastectomies after genetic testing. She says unabashedly, “In big letters, it’s an ADVERTSIMENT FOR GENETIC COUNSELING.” Speaking of alarms, Nathan says attorney Joel Winst...
Jun 01, 2017•23 min
Is health the same thing for an individual as it is for a population? This question goes to the foundation of how we practice medicine today and that of most of genomic research. Michel Accad is a cardiologist in San Francisco and the author of a new book, Moving Mountains: A Socratic Challenge to the Theory and Practice of Population Medicine , in which he uses Socrates to spar with Geoffrey Rose, a British physician and one of the architects of modern medicine. This is a public episode. If you...
May 25, 2017•25 min
Mike Snyder is well known in the genomics community for his iPOP (integrated personal omics profiling) study. Profiling himself with hundreds of thousands of measurements each day over a period of seven years and a group of a hundred others for about three years, he and his team at Stanford have shown that sequencing and other omics data can be used to predict Type II diabetes, cancer, heart problems and other disease. He’s also published numerous papers comparing NGS instruments. Now he is expa...
May 18, 2017•30 min
What does it take to make it in synthetic biology in 2017? 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
May 11, 2017•27 min
For genomics nerds, April 2017 will be remembered as the date when the FDA adopted a more open policy towards 23andMe and direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. What does this decision mean, and just where is the FDA drawing the line? A genetic counselor herself, Laura found the decision “head turning.” “There’s lots of reasons why some genetic counselors are not going to be thrilled to deal with everyone’s 23andMe results,” she says. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this wi...
May 01, 2017•22 min
Today we follow up with Richard Price, the founder and CEO of the most popular social sharing site for the academic sector, Academia.edu . When we talked to Richard almost five years ago, the site had 1.5 million users, mostly academics sharing their own papers so that their peers had access without any paywalls. Today the site boasts over 50 million users and serves as a laboratory for the future of academic publishing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscrib...
Apr 18, 2017•28 min
Rubbing shoulders at molecular medicine conferences these days one senses a sigh of relief when you talk about laboratory developed tests (LDTs). With the FDA’s decision to put regulation on hold coupled with the expected confirmation of Scott Gottlieb as FDA commissioner, those in the lab testing business seem to be confidently settling back to the status quo. And those who were arguing that all we need is a “beefed up” CLIA to hold labs to better testing standards don’t appear to be motivated ...
Apr 13, 2017•21 min
Talk to someone who attended this year’s AGBT, and you’ll know the big buzz was about single cell genomics. One of the exciting new platforms came from a new player in the genomics space and yet from a very old company. 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
Apr 05, 2017•19 min
The largest cut to NIH budget ever, rolling back genetic non-discriminatory law—the bad news continues to roll from Washington. But there was great news this month as well. 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
Mar 31, 2017•21 min
Today’s guest makes time to create beauty in the lab. Memo Berkmen is a bacterial artist along with being a staff scientist at New England Bio Labs. He and his colleague, Maria Penil, were the winners of the American Society for Microbiology’s agar art contest in 2015. Their felicitous relationship with the unseen, often unnoticed, world of ancient organisms fills us with wonder and inspiration. ----- This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to...
Mar 28, 2017•19 min
Marc Edwards is telling a different story than the one most of us have been reading and hearing lately. But then he’s used to it. Marc was the engineer from Virginia Tech who was called one day in September, 2015, by a resident of Flint, Michigan. A Ms Lee Ann Walters wanted Marc to check out her water. When Marc and his team got to Flint they uncovered super high levels of lead in the potable water, with over 100,000 people exposed to high lead levels and 12,000 people with lead poisoning. You ...
Mar 16, 2017•27 min
Mike Murray and the crew over at Geisinger are making the implementation of genomic medicine look down right easy. In today’s interview, Mike explains GenomeFIRST Medicine, a program at the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania to offer care “that is based on an individual’s DNA sequence.” The healthcare provider boasts its own biobank and has partnered up with Regeneron’s Genome Center to offer exome screening to self selected patients. As of DNA Day last year, April 25th 2016, 100,000 recrui...
Mar 08, 2017•24 min
