We are Genomics England and our vision is to create a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare. Join us every fortnight, where we cover everything from the latest in cutting-edge research to real-life stories from those affected by rare conditions and cancer. With thoughtful conversations, we take you behind the science. You can also tune in to our Genomics 101 explainer series which breaks down complex terms in under 10 minutes.
Episodes
Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
Chris Wigley: Celebrating 2021 - end of year highlights
Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
“It’s been a fantastic year of conversations with an incredible cast of people, and we have learned so much from each of them. What our discussions show is we are on the right track but have plenty more to do in 2022 – and beyond. Thanks so much for joining our conversations, and hope to see you again for The G Word next year”
In this week’s episode of The G Word, Chris takes a look back at 2021.
He remembers chats with Dr Kenny Baillie, several members of the Participant Panel, Baroness Nicola Blackwood, Dr Adam Rutherford, Dr Natalie Banner and many more.
He recalls conversations about the need to view people holistically, consider their situations and hear their voices. He discusses lessons learnt about breaking stereotypes, getting young people into STEM, data, disabilities, long-term illness and patient choice.
He also talks about the podcast’s original aims: about how it was created earlier in the year to get more people familiar with genomics as a whole, in as many ways as possible, whether in the context of its use in medicine transparent and ethical use of people’s data, or innovation in the tech sector.
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
Matt Brown: How your environment impacts your genome
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
“Now, of course, we've got multiple new technologies coming around. Each of them is going to have areas where they're going to completely enable resolution of key aspects of diseases and lead to the development of much better understanding of disease pathogenesis, and ultimately to better treatment of diseases.”
In this week's episode of The G Word, Chris is joined Matt Brown, our new Chief Scientific Officer. Formerly Director of NIHR Guys and St Thomas’ BRC and Director of Genomics at Queensland University of Technology, he played a significant role in the development of genome-wide association study (GWAS) methodology and is a fellow of both the Australian Academy of Sciences and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
He discusses his priorities in his new role, how your environment impacts your genome and his hopes for 2022. He also talks about his early career and working with the Participant Panel.
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
Fyodor Urnov: Putting our ancestors in a Tesla
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
"We only learned to change human DNA 10 years ago; we as a species are 200,000 years old. So gene editing to treat disease is not even in its infancy - it's in its first minute of being born. To say that we have no idea whether to use it to make changes to future generations would be the understatement of all time. I mean, this is the equivalent of taking our ancestors who roamed Neolithic Europe and putting them in a Tesla."
In this week's episode of The G Word, Chris is joined by Fyodor Urnov, Director of Technology & Translation at the Innovative Genomics Institute and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Listed on the 2014 Thomson Reuters list as one of 'The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds', he has authored over 100 scientific publications, invented more than 130 US patents and won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching at Brown University.
Fyodor discusses genome editing, his involvement in the US's effort to test for COVID-19 and CRISPR technology. He also talks about his education and academia.
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Dr Harpreet Sood: Understanding communities
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
“If you really embed yourself in the community, embed yourself within the people that are going to be using a solution and try to understand from them what their pain points are, you build trust from the outset. You’re saying, ‘we're doing this for you and we're working together to do it’.”
In this week's episode of The G Word, Rakhi Rajani, our Chief Digital Officer, is joined by Dr Harpreet Sood, a primary care doctor and digital health expert. Formerly Associate Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) and Senior Fellow to the CEO of NHS England, he is a board member at Health Education England (HEE), a trustee at the South Asian Health Foundation and Co-Founder of the NHS Digital Academy.
Harpreet discusses developing NHS England’s digital health and data strategy, his role at Health Education England and new models of primary care. He also talks about debunking Covid-19 vaccine myths and The South Asian Health Foundation.
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
Dr Maria Chatzou Dunford: Connecting data
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
“Our big mission and vision is to make sure that any data that can be used to cure these diseases is actually used. And we do that by connecting as much data as possible - as many types from as many different sources as we can find.”
In this week's episode of The G Word, Chris is joined by Dr Maria Chatzou Dunford, CEO and Co-Founder of Lifebit and expert in bioinformatics, medical informatics and high-performance computing. With a PhD in Biomedicine, she is also part of the developing team at Nextflow, a bioinformatics engineer at SciLifeLab and a passionate entrepreneur.
Maria discusses her work with Lifebit, founding multiple companies and advances in AI. She also talks about the rate at which genomic data is being generated and making data useable.