Behind the Genes

"We're taking the native DNA molecule that's actually from the cell and we're reading the sequence of that molecule. That comes with some tremendous, enormous benefits, but it also comes with it some huge challenges."

On today's episode, we are joined by Parker Moss, our Chief Commercial Officer at Genomics England, and Greg Elgar, the Director of Sequencing Economic England.

They discuss techniques such as preparation ahead of sequencing itself and the logistics to get blood and tissue from humans into the sequencing lab in Cambridge. They also delve into the science of how sequencing itself works, what is needed for accurate sequencing and highlight and debate the implications of genomics, as well as, how it comes into the mainstream of health care and society.

“I Remember when I got to the stage to introduce Edwin Cuppen, who was the first speaker on the cancer Genomics track, and I was just… it’s happening! It’s happening! We did it!”

On today's episode, we are joined by the chairs for scientific content at the  recent Genomics England Research Summit: Dalia Kasperaviciute, Head of Genomic Data Sciences for Rare Disease; Alona Sosinsky, Scientific Director for Cancer; Francisco Azuaje, Director of Bioinformatics, and Maxine Mackintosh, Programme Lead for Diverse Data, all at Genomics England.

They choose their picks of the Summit, some of their favourite moments, and how it felt to get together again with the genomics community under one roof. They also discuss how what they saw and heard highlights the power and implications of genomics, as it comes into the mainstream of health care and society.

"The vast majority of what we think of as human differences, cultural and linguistic, the act of categorisation in science itself, I've come to see as fundamentally fraught and political."

On this week's episode we join Diksha Srivastava from our Diverse Data team, Ewan Birney from EMBL-EBI and special guest Angela Saini, a science journalist, broadcaster and the author of best selling books Geek Nation, Inferior, and Superior: The Return of Race Science, published in 2019. Angela's work has appeared in Science, Wired, The Guardian, The New Humanist and New Scientist. She is also a presenter on the BBC Radio.

They discuss about the history of race science, the use of language and its implications on genomics.

“It's critical that the general public understand that science is a long process, and that science is a process that often begins with the art of the feasible. […] We wouldn't be anywhere without computers, we wouldn't be anywhere without DNA sequencing methods. That not only gives me confidence, but it also makes me feel that there's an awful lot left to do.”

In this week’s episode, our Chief Ecosystems and Partnership Officer Parker Moss is joined by Harold Varmus, who was previously the director of the National Institute of Health and of the National Cancer Institute and is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center. He also won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes with J. Michael Bishop.

Today they discuss cancer biology, the future of cancer research and the major questions that studying diverse ethnicities will uncover through genomics. Harold and Parker also discussed some of the big challenges of bringing molecular diagnostics and genomics into lower income countries and the technologies that are continuing to help explore functional genomics in cancer.

“Patients are absolutely firmly at the centre. That every day we get out of bed, with the patient and their caregivers and families, front of mind. […] You can't be successful in drug development and novel therapeutic development, without engaging the patient communities, as a partner and as a collaborator on the journey.”

In this week’s episode, our CEO Chris Wigley is joined by Dr Annalisa Jenkins, non-Executive Director at Perspectrum Ltd, Oncimmune, AVROBIO, Affimed, COMPASS Pathways and Genomics England 

They discuss Annalisa’s background across life sciences and the role of genomics in development of diagnostics and therapeutics. They also discuss the importance of patient communities.

"The big realisation for me working in life sciences is if we didn't have [this] industry, to translate this amazing science that comes out of academic institutions into usable products, then we wouldn't be able to benefit as individuals."

We join Chris Wigley and special guest Tamsin Berry in today's episode. Tamsin is Partner at Population Health Partners, and former Director of the UK government’s Office for Life Sciences.

They discuss the importance of Life Sciences and what it is, focusing on the impact this particular research has on individual lives. They discuss how Tamsin became a part of the life science world and her journey to becoming Director of the Office of Life Sciences. They also discuss the importance of research funding and genome understanding.

“The whole area is going to be crucial for everything from monitoring waste, you can think about its use in monitoring biodiversity, such a key area for the future. You can think about the impact of the environment and on the changes in species across the world over time. This is going to be a ubiquitous area of societal discussion.”

In this week’s episode, our CEO Chris Wigley is joined by Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and the Head of Government Science and Engineering.

They discuss Sir Patrick Vallance’s role and work in the government, the areas that genomics is starting to touch on beyond healthcare and the use of genomic data. They also discuss the role of legislation and societal dialogue, they touched on the impact of the pandemic and how genomic sequencing is crucial to understand the spread of COVID-19. Sir Patrick Vallance also raised the importance of monitoring biodiversity and the impact on the environment.

“Let's talk about patients. That's where we have to always begin. This is about patients. I was tremendously impressed with how much the patient advocacy groups had accomplished, that helped us make judgments that are really complex and very dangerous judgments. All that played into the success. Then, of course, it was very rapidly approved around the world.”

In this week’s episode, Dr Richard Scott, our Chief Medical Officer, is joined by Dr Stanley Crooke, M.D., Ph.D., the founder, chairman of the board and Chief Executive Officer of n-Lorem.

In this episode, Dr Scott and Dr Crooke discuss the foundation of n-Lorem, the importance of patient advocacy groups and the spinal muscular atrophy treatment Spinraza. They also discussed the value of whole genome sequencing in newborn screening.

“It's not just talking about a genetic test, testing parents to see if they're carriers after their child's been diagnosed or talking about reproductive options when people want to have another child - it's a lot more than that. It's navigating those difficult decisions in a situation where there’s a genetic risk or someone has been diagnosed with something and they need to know if it's going to have an impact on their life and future.” 

In this week’s episode, Chris Wigley is joined by Amanda Pichini, Clinical Lead for Genetic Counselling at Genomics England.  

They discuss genetic counselling, The 100,000 Genomes Project and uncertainty in genomic medicine. They also discuss the impact of genomics on young people and her early career.

“The tools that we have at our disposal now are just mind blowing - in terms of what we can do now compared to what we could during my PhD back in the mid 90s, when it would take you about three days to sequence the best part of 1000 base pairs. Now the number of genomes we can use every day, it's just extraordinary.” 

In this week's episode, Parker Moss is joined by Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s Chief Clinician and Senior Group Leader at The Francis Crick Institute.  

They discuss the evolution of cancer, eureka moments and cell cycle machinery. They also talk about The Francis Crick Institute and his early career.