EP103: Gene Writing with Tessera Therapeutics CEO, Dr. Mike Severino
Jul 20, 2023•44 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode description
In this episode, Patrick is joined by Dr. Mike Severino, CEO of Tessera Therapeutics and CEO-Partner of Flagship Pioneering. Join us as Mike walks us through Tessera’s approach to treating genetic diseases by rewriting bases, exons, or even whole genes with a novel approach called Gene Writing.
0:00 Intro
1:00 What prompted you to join Flagship Pioneering?
3:32 How is Flagship able to innovate and invent novel therapies in ways that Big Pharma companies may find difficult?
5:00 Introduction to gene writing and the role of Tessera Therapeutics
8:22 The current limitations and challenges of gene writing
10:22 Gene knockouts vs gene writing – which is more useful for genetic therapies?
12:30 Reasons why the liver the most commonly targeted organ for gene therapies
19:00 Lipid Nanoparticles and their role in gene writing
22:45 How do you guide mobile genetic elements to write genes in the intended location?
25:20 Development of gene writing technology since 2018
28:15 The implications of gene writing for diseases like PKU, Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, sickle cell disease, and cancer
34:00 Next steps on the way to clinical trials
36:46 Using genomics and computational biology to guide measurable outcomes in drug discovery and development
40:15 Using gene writing to address rare developmental diseases
43:32 Closing remarks
