The Genetics Podcast

Sano Genetics
  • 4.8 (51)
  • Natural Sciences
  • Updated Biweekly

Exploring all things genetics. Dr Patrick Short, University of Cambridge alumnus and CEO of Sano Genetics, analyses the science, interviews the experts, and discusses the latest findings and breakthroughs in genetic research. To find out more about Sano Genetics and its mission to accelerate the future of precision medicine visit: www.sanogenetics.com

  1. 1d ago

    EP 251: Cracking the delivery barrier in genetic medicine with Jagesh Shah of Mirai Bio

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. Jagesh Shah, Chief Scientific Officer at Mirai Bio. They discuss why delivery is a central bottleneck holding back nucleic acid medicines, how Mirai's lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platform is built to reach tissues like adipocytes and T cells, and the machine learning feedback loop the company uses to engineer LNP formulations. Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 01:00 Welcome to Jagesh 01:40 Why delivery is the main bottleneck for gene therapies 03:42 Easier vs harder tissues to target for delivery 06:40 Overview of Mirai's modular delivery platform  09:02 Comparing viral vectors and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)  12:18 Different approaches for targeting adipocytes and T cells with LNPs 15:49 Mirai's machine learning (ML) feedback loop for optimizing LNP formulation 20:50 Why lipid chemistry is still hard for ML to learn and factors affecting LNP tropism 24:35 Jagesh's path from academia to Mirai 27:23 Mirai's platform business model and how it lowers risk 29:13 What industry partnerships with Mirai look like 31:41 Mirai's next frontier of delivery to muscle tissue and the brain  34:40 Cargo size and immunogenicity of LNPs vs AAV  36:00 Why the field needs to close the regulatory pace gap  37:19 Closing remarks Find out more: Mirai Bio

    EP 251: Cracking the delivery barrier in genetic medicine with Jagesh Shah of Mirai Bio

  2. Jul 30

    EP 250: Redefining rare disease realities with Sharon Terry of the Genetic Alliance [Re-run]

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Sharon Terry, President & CEO of Genetic Alliance. They discuss how Sharon established a layperson-led biobank, her long-term work on rare diseases and patient advocacy, and her program to bring genetic technology to patients in low- to middle-income countries. We’re re-running this episode for its enduring lessons on patient advocacy, rare disease parenting, communication, and citizen science.  Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 00:59 Welcome to Sharon and a discussion of the personal experience with rare disease that started her journey 03:47 Reasons Sharon decided to establish the first layperson-led biobank 05:34 Challenges with setting up the biobank infrastructure 07:00 Balancing financial factors in a non-profit organization  09:30 Recent patterns and future insight into rare disease drug discovery framework and regulation 15:32 Barriers to widespread collaboration and cooperation in rare disease research, and why it should be approached from a public health perspective 18:12 Background and experiences from the iHope Genetic Health program in low- to middle-income countries 24:44 Sharon’s perspective on challenges with the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act 28:49 Sharon’s lessons learned in her patient advocacy and policy work, and her hopes for future legislation 33:04 Sharon’s hopes for improved access to genetic testing and treatment for children in underserved communities 34:34 How Sharon learned about rare diseases and genetics as a “homeschooling mom without a degree” 37:54 Insights into how elements of spirituality can support advocacy work 40:18 Closing remarks

    EP 250: Redefining rare disease realities with Sharon Terry of the Genetic Alliance [Re-run]

  3. Jul 23

    EP 249: Building the world's most detailed genetic map of inflammatory bowel disease with Carl Anderson of the Wellcome Sanger Institute

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. Carl Anderson, Senior Group Leader and Head of the Human Genetics Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he leads the Genomics of Inflammation and Immunity Group. They discuss IBDVerse, the single-cell atlas Carl's team built to map genetic effects on gene regulation across gut cell types, how coding and non-coding variants converge on shared biological pathways in inflammatory bowel disease, and Carl's vision for longitudinal multi-omics cohorts built around the sickest and most underrepresented hospital patients. Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 00:58 Welcome to Carl 02:05 The origins of IBDVerse and mapping genetic effects on gene regulation across gut cell types in IBD 05:43 How anti-TNFs and newer genetically-supported IBD drugs have reshaped treatment  08:04 Genetic versus environmental contributions to IBD 09:53 Using single-cell data to uncover IBD disease subtypes 13:22 Drug sequencing and immunogenicity in treatment response 16:52 The backstory of building the IBDVerse atlas at scale 20:29 How coding and non-coding IBD variants converge on the same genes and pathways 23:38 The case for pathway-specific polygenic risk scores 28:17 Building a longitudinal multi-omics dataset to predict IBD progression and drug response 30:08 Why Sanger's next cohort targets sick and underrepresented patients rather than healthy volunteers 34:07 What Carl looks for when interviewing PhD students and faculty candidates  39:20 A call to junior scientists and closing remarks Find out more: IBDverse study

    EP 249: Building the world's most detailed genetic map of inflammatory bowel disease with Carl Anderson of the Wellcome Sanger Institute

  4. Jul 16

    EP 248: The blood mutations rewriting cardiovascular risk: Clonal hematopoiesis and polygenic risk with Pradeep Natarajan of Massachusetts General Hospital

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. Pradeep Natarajan, Director of Preventive Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. They discuss the discovery of clonal hematopoiesis as a driver of cardiovascular disease, the inflammatory mechanisms and emerging therapies targeting it, the growing clinical case for polygenic risk scores, and Pradeep's upcoming move to lead cardiometabolic and human genetics research at Amgen. Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 00:59 Welcome to Pradeep 01:30 The origin story of clonal hematopoiesis (CH) as a cardiovascular risk factor  09:41 CH mutations such as TET2 that are linked to cardiovascular disease 12:27 Evidence tying inflammation to CH and drugs that could target it 16:49 TenSixteen Bio’s strategy for targeting CH and the challenge of finding the right patients 21:33 Trajectory of CH across age and somatic mosaicism beyond blood 26:44 How polygenic risk scores fill a gap in cardiovascular risk prediction 34:49 The future clinical applications of polygenic risk scores 39:20 The challenge of standardizing polygenic risk scores for clinical and regulatory use 42:27 Pradeep's move to pharmaceutical company Amgen and his reasons for it 46:23 Closing remarks Find out more: Clonal hematopoiesis paper

    EP 248: The blood mutations rewriting cardiovascular risk: Clonal hematopoiesis and polygenic risk with Pradeep Natarajan of Massachusetts General Hospital

  5. Jul 9

    EP 247: Why neurons accumulate mutations like clockwork: Somatic mosaicism and neurodegeneration with Christopher Walsh of Boston Children's Hospital

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. Christopher Walsh, Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children's Hospital, and HHMI Investigator. They discuss his path from neurobiology to human genetics, how somatic mosaicism in the brain drives disease from epilepsy to Alzheimer's, and what this reveals about new therapeutic targets for neurodegeneration. Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 00:59 Welcome to Chris 01:18 Chris’ path from neurobiology to human genetics 04:55 How collaboration and mentorship have shaped Chris' career 06:59 Somatic mosaicism and genetic mutations in the brain, from epilepsy to Alzheimer’s 13:56 Repurposing cancer therapeutics and targeting DNA damage as new approaches to Alzheimer's 15:29 A shared pattern of DNA damage across neurodegenerative diseases and the mechanism behind it 19:36 How healthy neurons accumulate mutations with age and what that means for the brain 23:21 How mutation rates and patterns vary across cell types 26:23 How genome quality control and synaptic pruning may explain both brain development and neurodegeneration 30:33 Why some people maintain a healthy brain into old age 33:57 Chris’ advice for early-career scientists on pursuing goals 36:43 Closing remarks Find out more: https://walshlab.org/

    EP 247: Why neurons accumulate mutations like clockwork: Somatic mosaicism and neurodegeneration with Christopher Walsh of Boston Children's Hospital

  6. Jul 2

    EP 246: Turning a fatal diagnosis into a cure strategy: Accelerating C9orf72 ALS research with Yentli Soto Albrecht of CureC9

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Yentli Soto Albrecht, physician-scientist in training and founder of CureC9. They discuss how losing her father to C9orf72 ALS, and later learning her own genetic risk, reshaped the direction of her career. The conversation explores the biology linking the C9 repeat expansion to ALS and FTD, and how CureC9 is removing barriers across biomarkers, therapeutics, and patient samples to accelerate progress toward a cure. Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 00:58 Welcome to Yentli 02:34 How Yentli's father's C9 ALS diagnosis and her own genetic risk led her to pivot her research career toward curing it 06:41 The biology of the C9orf72 repeat expansion and how TDP-43 dysregulation links it to ALS and FTD 11:40 Therapeutic strategies targeting TDP-43 pathology in ALS and FTD 15:35 The state of biomarkers for ALS and FTD, and why C9-FTD trials lag behind ALS 22:08 How Yentli is lowering barriers for biomarker, cell line, and drug development through CureC9 30:40 Call for collaborators and where to follow Yentli  32:59 Closing remarks Find out more: CureC9

    EP 246: Turning a fatal diagnosis into a cure strategy: Accelerating C9orf72 ALS research with Yentli Soto Albrecht of CureC9

  7. Jun 25

    EP 245: Developing targeted therapies for ALS with Eric Green of Trace Neuroscience [Re-run]

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, we're re-airing our conversation with Eric Green, Founder and CEO of Trace Neuroscience, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Maze Therapeutics, and Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. Patrick and Eric discuss Eric's transition from cardiology to entrepreneurship, the role of highly focused biotechs in creating precision therapies, and the development of high-impact gene therapies for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We're revisiting this episode following Trace Neuroscience's recent announcement that the first patient has been dosed with its antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) designed to restore UNC13A function in ALS. Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 02:03 Welcome to Eric, his background in cardiology, and how he got into biotech 06:23 Eric’s experience incubating and spinning out early-stage companies with Third Rock Ventures and developing Maze Therapeutics 09:13 Eric’s decision to transition from academia to the world of biotech 11:24 Building Maze Therapeutics and Eric’s focus on and genetic modifiers to discover new drugs    15:09 The growth of therapeutic modalities in the context of genetics and gene therapies 16:48 What led Eric to launch Trace Neuroscience to develop ALS therapies 28:35 The process of getting Trace’s ALS therapies into the clinic 32:22 The identification of therapeutic value in low odds ratio genes 35:58 Eric’s view on the APOA1 gene target and its major effect size in kidney disease 40:03 How best to integrate genetics and genetic discovery into small and medium biotechs 41:50 Closing remarks Find out more Trace Neuroscience https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260622451252/en/Trace-Neuroscience-Initiates-Global-Clinical-Development-Program-for-TRCN-1023-an-Antisense-Oligonucleotide-Designed-to-Restore-UNC13A-Function-for-the-Treatment-of-ALS

    EP 245: Developing targeted therapies for ALS with Eric Green of Trace Neuroscience [Re-run]

  8. Jun 18

    EP 244: Building the first n-of-1 ASO: The new frontier of rare disease with Timothy Yu of Boston Children’s Hospital

    This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. Timothy Yu, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Physician/Researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. They discuss how one child’s hidden genetic mutation led Tim into individualized ASO medicine, what it takes to develop n-of-1 therapies, and how new regulatory frameworks could expand treatment options for children with ultra-rare genetic disease. Show Notes 0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast 01:00 Welcome to Tim 02:05 How uncovering the genetic mutation underlying an ultra-rare disease led Tim into personalized ASO medicine 07:38 Challenges in developing a custom ASO  12:25 How Tim’s team has scaled individualized ASO therapies to reach more than 50 patients worldwide 16:18 Measuring clinical benefit in n-of-1 therapies with natural history data, wearables, and biomarkers 20:24 How the N-of-1 Collaborative helps rare disease researchers share infrastructure  24:28 Comparing ASOs, base editing, and prime editing for individualized rare disease therapies 30:06 Finding scalable models for n-of-1 therapies in newborn genetic disease 33:52 The potential impact of the FDA’s Plausible Mechanism framework on bespoke therapies 36:58 Connecting rapid newborn genome sequencing to earlier treatment for rare genetic disease 42:10 Closing remarks

    EP 244: Building the first n-of-1 ASO: The new frontier of rare disease with Timothy Yu of Boston Children’s Hospital
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About

Exploring all things genetics. Dr Patrick Short, University of Cambridge alumnus and CEO of Sano Genetics, analyses the science, interviews the experts, and discusses the latest findings and breakthroughs in genetic research. To find out more about Sano Genetics and its mission to accelerate the future of precision medicine visit: www.sanogenetics.com

Information

  • Creator
    Sano Genetics
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    251
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Sano Genetics
  • Show Website
    The Genetics Podcast

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