Behind the Genes

Siddhartha Mukherjee: The song of the cell

A doctor, a scientist, an entrepreneur, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author is Siddhartha Mukherjee. His new book is called 'The Song of the Cell, An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human'. Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician and researcher. He is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center. A Rhodes scholar, he graduated from Stanford University, University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School. He has published articles in Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, The New York Times, and The New Republic.

 

You can view our transcript here: https://files.genomicsengland.co.uk/documents/Podcast-transcripts/Siddhartha-Mukherjee.docx 

 

"A gene, as you know, is extraordinarily important. It's a carrier of information. But it's lifeless. Without a cell, a gene is a molecule, a cell brings it to life."

 

Today on The G Word, Parker Moss, our Chief Partnership Officer is joined by Siddhartha Mukherjee. They Discuss Siddhartha's new book release covering some of the main insights into his lab research and personal life. They also discuss other scientific areas of research .

Martin Mendoza: Health equity engagement of special populations

Before joining All of Us, Martin Mendoza served as director of the Division of Policy and Data at the Office of Minority Health in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, charged with developing health policies and initiatives to eliminate health disparities and advance health equity.

 

View our transcript here: https://files.genomicsengland.co.uk/documents/Podcast-transcripts/Martin-Mendoza.docx 

 

"Information can then help to improve the ways to diagnose, prevent, and treat health conditions and lead to improved health for hopefully generations to come."

 

Today on The G Word, Maxine Mackintosh, programme lead for Diverse Data at Genomics England, is joined by Martin Mendoza, Director of Health Equity at All of Us. They discuss the need for health equity engagement of special populations and the impact of the pandemic. 

Mai Shehab, Zaynah Asad and Aman Ali: The Muslim Census

Muslim Census surveyed 1,007 Muslims aged 18-65+ living in the UK to understand whether these pre-conceptions about Muslim’s attitudes towards health research and genomics more broadly, as well as health information, are based in fact. Our aim is for the findings to help explore how to engage with Muslims to increase Muslim representation in genetic research. Aman Ali, one of Genomics England's proud ambassadors is joined by two health researchers from Muslim Census, Mai Shehab and Zaynah Asad. They discuss the lack of representation in the Muslim community and how and why this must change in order to benefit the future of healthcare. 

 

You can find our transcript here: https://files.genomicsengland.co.uk/documents/Podcast-transcripts/The-Muslim-Census.docx 

 

"Over 70% of our respondents said that they were hopeful about where developments in science and tech are going. It shows a willingness to learn more and participate more."

 

Mai Shehab and Zaynah Asad joined Aman Ali, one of our ambassadors, at the Genomics England Research Summit 2022. They discussed the lack of Muslim representation in genetic and genomics research, the lack of knowledge of genomic terminology and genomics generally in Muslim communities and what genomics England need to do to change these figures and engage more ethnic communities in studies. 

 

 

Kate Grafton: Not quantity of life, quality of life

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Kate Grafton shares her journey with breast cancer at the Genomics England Research Summit hosted earlier this year. She talks living with breast cancer and the side effects of cancer treatments and the importance of engaging with the patient community. If you're a researcher wanting to understand how and where to connect with your patients, listen to this episode. 

 

You can find our transcript here: https://files.genomicsengland.co.uk/documents/Podcast-transcripts/Kate-Grafton.docx 

 

"We want to work with you to look at how can we make kinder treatments and how can we have longevity. I don't just want quantity of life, I want quality of life."

 

Kate has been living with secondary breast cancer since 2011 and is a member of ARC as part of her role as a representative of the Participant Panel. She has an active role with several national breast cancer support groups, has successfully campaigned for fair access to cancer interventions and has sat as an expert patient on the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust cancer patient forum.

Kate is a HCPC and CSP registered physiotherapist with a specialist clinical background in ICU and surgical oncology. She is currently a Principal Lecturer in Physiotherapy at Leeds Beckett University and has undertaken and supervised numerous NHS based clinical research projects. Kate hopes to bring to ARC her knowledge and experience as a long term cancer patient and be a voice for others with an incurable cancer diagnosis.

Professor Matthew Hurles: The Sherlock Holmes moment

The genome itself was the beginning of a whole technological revolution. Matt and Chris talk about taking on the challenge, searching for the needle in the haystack, and making it work at scale! Join Chris and population geneticist Prof Matthew Hurles this week as they delve into the genetic detective work and the future of research while engaging the research and participant community. If you're a student wanting to get into the field, Matt gives his take on how to go about it.

 

You can find our transcript here – https://files.genomicsengland.co.uk/documents/Podcast-transcripts/Matthew-Hurles.docx.

 

“The reference datasets of normal population variation in individuals of African ancestry are just smaller, and therefore less powerful than the ones of European ancestry. What we really need to do is enrich those African ancestry population datasets, that's something we really can hit on. I think that's a real global challenge."

 

Prof Matt Hurles is Head of Human Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Senior Group Leader of The Hurles Group. He is also the founder of Congenica and an honorary professor of Human Genetics and Genomics at the University of Cambridge. He leads the Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) Study and the Prenatal Assessment of Genomes and Exomes (PAGE) Study. He also led the DECIPHER initiative that is enabling rare disease patients to share anonymised genetic and clinical data globally. 

 

Bettina Lundgren: CEO of the Danish National Genome Centre

“I like ambitious visions, I like try to break the codes in order to get something to work to get a result. But on top of that, I want to make a change for the patient today, and a change for the future patients. And actually to use the knowledge and technology in order to change that to make a better healthcare system to make a better life for each patient today, each citizen.”

Today on The G Word, Chris Wigley, CEO of Genomics England is joined by Bettina Lundgren, CEO of the Danish National Genome Centre.

They discuss Bettina's career, the importance of translating and understanding colleagues, and genome sequencing to benefit patients and to help find better treatments and cures. 

Julia Vitarello: Mila’s story - from Mila to millions

"We took a look and we perform whole genome sequencing of Mila, her mother, her father, as well as her little brother. And we looked for something that might have been missed in those dark regions of the genome. And we found something quite unusual..."

In Todays Episode, Dr Richard Scott, Chief Medical Officer of Genomics England is joined by Julia Vitarello, the mother of Mila, a young girl who was diagnosed with Battens Disease, and Dr Tim Yu, the doctor who designed a medicine just for her.

We'll be hearing Mila's story and how Julia and Tim hope to help many more families access treatments for their children -- as they put it, from Mila to millions. 

Reed Jobs: Philanthropy and venture funding the future of cancer care

"I was driven by a personal desire to see this problem solved." 

On Today's Episode, Parker Moss, our Chief Ecosystems and Partnership Officer, is joined with Reed Jobs, the Managing Director of Health at Emerson Collective, a for-profit organisation focused on education, immigration reform, the environment, media and journalism, and health. Reed Jobs leads Emerson's team in the health care space. With a sole focus on oncology, his team accelerates the discovery and translation of cancer research to best improve and empower the lives of patients.

They discuss venture capitol, venture philanthropy and philanthropy funding in cancer. They also discuss the origin story of Reed's career, how his father's (Steve Jobs) diagnosis launched him into his research and why. 

Rebecca Middleton: The patient’s voice

"I know the power of a word, I know the power of a story, I know the power of a phrase, and language really is so meaningful and so valuable. […] Every data point has a face, there is a person there, it's not just a number, it's not just a code. Principle number two, treat people as you would like to be treated."

On today's episode, Chris Wigley is joined by Rebecca Middleton, Vice Chair of the Participant Panel and founder of Hereditary Brain Aneurysm Support (HBA Support). They discuss Rebecca's clinical and genetic journey, her participation in the 100,000 genome project and what that meant for her. They also discuss the difficulty of having a rare disease, how the lack of information can cause great loneliness and uncertainty and why Rebecca opened HBA Support in response. 

Having lost family to brain aneurysms, and having undergone surgery for an aneurysm herself, Rebecca recently founded HBA Support and is establishing a patient-centred organisation to support patients and families living with familial brain aneurysm syndrome. For more information click here: https://hbasupport.org/  

 

Georgia Whitton: Changing course

"Getting your genetic information isn't just [of] your own, it belongs to your ancestry too."

 

On today's episode of The G Word, Chris Wigley, our CEO is joined by Georgia Whitton, the Senior Genomic Data Scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. She is also a broadcaster on YouTube. She hosts 'Genomics with Georgia', and is bringing new talent into the tech and science field through volunteering with Code First Girls and many other great activities.

From aspiring actress to senior genomic data scientist, Georgia walks us through her genomic journey, starting with her A-level choices to deciding which variant of COVID-19 was infecting the UK. Chris and Georgia also discuss her current work in genomics surveillance and amplicon sequencing of malaria.