Touching Base

Episode 19 (April 26, 2024): This week, the GEN editors celebrated DNA Day by sharing some stories about their favorite observations and applications of DNA research.

Featuring Kevin Davies, PhD (Editorial Director, GEN), John Sterling (Editor in Chief, GEN), Uduak Thomas (Senior Editor, GEN), Alex Philippidis (Senior Business Editor, GEN), Fay Lin, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN Biotechnology), Jonathan Grinstein, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN), and moderated by Corinna Singleman, PhD (Managing Editor, GEN and IPM).

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base:

The Life and Times of Rosalind Franklin

GEN Webinar presented by Matthew Cobb, PhD, Oct 16, 2020.

"Life Story"

BBC film (1987).

Nobel Winner Svante Pӓӓbo Discovered the Neandertal in Our Genes

By Daniela Mocker, Scientific American, Oct 4, 2022.

“Svante Pӓӓbo, reader of the Neanderthal genome”

Wielgus, Danielewski, and Walkowiak, Acta Physiol, Nov 23, 2022.

Colossal’s Woolly Mammoth Project Advances as Elephant iPSCs Clear Milestones

GEN, Mar 7, 2024.

The State of Omics 2024

GEN Summit.

“Genetic Ancestry Testing What is it and Why is it Important?”

Jorde and Bamshad, JAMA, Mar 27, 2020.

A Leading Cause of Autism Spectrum Disorders May Be Prevented by Novel Approach

GEN, May 21, 2023.

AI Finds Autism-Causing Mutations in “Junk” DNA

GEN, May 28, 2024.

Pollution and Stress Alter Brain Development and Social Behavior in Male Mice

GEN, Aug 3, 2022.

“Mechanistic Basis of Resistance to PCBs in Atlantic Tomcod from the Hudson River”

Wirgin, et al., Science, Mar 11, 2011.

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Episode 18 (April 19, 2024):  

Biology’s exploding data streams continue to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) tools to streamline drug development. How do we define AI in drug discovery? Who are notable players in the space? How do humans fit into these growing computational pipelines?  

This week, Jonathan Grinstein, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN) and Fay Lin, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN Biotechnology) unpack one of the fastest growing topics in the biotech field, AI in drug discovery. 

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base: 

The Difference Is the Data: Drug Discovery’s AI Revolution 

By Fay Lin, PhD, GEN Biotechnology, April 18, 2024 

Archimedes’ Box: Diagonal Therapeutics Raises $128 Million to Discover Agonist Antibodies 

By Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, GEN Edge, April 3, 2024 

Generate:Biomedicines Raises Largest Biotech Series C of 2023 

By Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, GEN Edge, September 14, 2023 

Alex Zhavoronkov Aims to Take Over the Drug Development World with AI 

By Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, GEN Edge, June 20, 2023 

Diffusion Evolution: New Artificial intelligence Models Break Barriers in Protein Design

By Fay Lin, PhD, GEN Biotechnology, October 16, 2023

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Episode 17 (April 12, 2024):  

This week, the GEN editors discuss the launch of Nvelop Therapeutics, a new start-up leveraging approaches developed by gene editing pioneers David Liu, PhD, and J. Keith Joung, MD, PhD, to advance delivery of genetic cargo. The GEN editors also recap highlights from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting held in San Diego, California. 

Featuring Uduak Thomas (Senior Editor, GEN), Alex Philippidis (Senior Business Editor, GEN), Julianna LeMieux, PhD (Deputy Editor-in-Chief, GEN), and Jonathan Grinstein, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN), and moderated by Fay Lin, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN Biotechnology) 

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base: 

The State of Omics 2024 Registration 

GEN Summit 

Cloaking Device: Liu, Joung Launch $100M Nvelop Therapeutics to Advance Delivery of Genetic Cargo 

By Alex Philippidis, GEN Edge, April 9, 2024 

Bertozzi, Regev, and More Inspire During the Opening Plenary Session of AACR 

By Julianna LeMieux, PhD, GEN, April 8, 2024 

AACR 2024: Aviv Regev Shows How Single-Cell Atlases Foster New Axis to Genentech’s Drug Discovery 

By Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, GEN, April 8, 2024 

AACR 2024: A Video Update from San Diego 

By Julianna LeMieux, PhD, and Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, GEN, April 8, 2024 

A Video Update from Day Two of the AACR Meeting 

By Julianna LeMieux, PhD, and Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, GEN, April 9, 2024 

AACR 2024: EpiBiologics Advances Degraders of Membrane-Bound Proteins 

By Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, GEN, April 8, 2024 

Celebrating National Robotics Week

By Uduak Thomas, GEN, April 12, 2024

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Episode 16 (April 5, 2024): This week, the GEN editors discussed deep proteome profiling of home-sampled dried blood spots to assess the effects of SARS-CoV-2 in mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic, rapid liquid nitrogen treatment for converting tumor cells into carriers for gene editing tools that target cancer in vivo, Verve Therapeutics’ pausing of a clinical trial due to a serious adverse event, Iambic Therapeutics’ advancement of its first AI-designed candidate into the clinic, and the launch of Diagonal Therapeutics to find agonist antibodies for heteromeric receptor complexes.

Featuring Uduak Thomas (Senior Editor, GEN), Alex Philippidis (Senior Business Editor, GEN), Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, (Senior Editor, GEN), and moderated by Corinna Singleman, PhD, (Managing Editor, GEN and IPM)

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base:

The State of Omics 2024 Registration

GEN Summit

COVID-19 Infections Detected in Dried Blood Spots via At-Home Proteomic Profiling

By GEN, April 2, 2024.

CRISPR-Cas9 Targets Lung Cancer Using Cryo-Shocked Tumor Cells

By GEN, March 31, 2024.

Iambic Rhythm: AI Drug Developer Enters the Clinic, Targeting HER2 Cancers

By Alex Philipidis, GEN, April 3, 2024.

Archimedes' Box: Diagonal Therapeutics Raises $128 Million to Discover Agonist Antibodies

By Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD, GEN Edge, April 3, 2024.

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Episode 15 (March 29, 2024): From the expansion of Nvidia's generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform for drug discovery to AI notetakers that coach doctors to be more human, the GEN editors discuss the latest news in AI from two conferences in California: Nvidia GTC (San Jose) and Precision Med TRI-CON (San Diego).

Featuring Alex Philippidis (Senior Business Editor, GEN), Fay Lin, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN Biotechnology), Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD (Senior Editor, GEN), moderated by Corinna Singleman, PhD (Managing Editor, GEN and IPM).

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base:

GTC 2024: Nvidia Highlights AI ‘Revolution’ in Drug Discovery, Genomics

By Alex Philippidis, GEN, March 19, 2024.

GTC 2024: Nvidia’s Quantum Expansion Runs through the Cloud

By Alex Philippidis, GEN, March 20, 2024.

Machines Bring Efficiency…and Empathy? Eric Topol Talks AI in Precision Medicine

By Fay Lin, PhD, GEN Edge, March 28, 2024.

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Episode 14 (March 22, 2024): This week, the GEN editors cover identifying receptors and proteins for cellular uptake and intracellular processing of nanoparticles, and a new mRNA structure by adding multiple “tails” to the molecules that boosted mRNA activity levels in cells by 5 to 20 times. 

Featuring Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD, (Senior Editor, GEN), Uduak Thomas (Senior Editor, GEN), and moderated by Fay Lin, PhD, (Senior Editor, GEN Biotechnology) 

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base: 

Nanoparticle Uptake Screen Informs Nanomedicine Design 

By GEN, March 19, 2024. 

mRNA Therapeutics May Act Longer If Given Multiple Tails

By GEN, March 22, 2024 

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Episode 13 (March 15, 2024): This week, the GEN editors discussed business news from NanoString, Curio, and Cellares.

Featuring Alex Philippidis (Senior Business Editor, GEN), Uduak Thomas (Senior Editor, GEN), Jonathan Grinstein, PhD, (Senior Editor, GEN), and moderated by Corinna Singleman, PhD, (Managing Editor, GEN and IPM).

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base:

The State of Omics 2024 Registration

GEN Summit

NanoString Agrees to be Acquired by Investment Firm for $220M

By GEN, March 11, 2024.

Curio Begins Testing Commercial Spatial Barcoding Technology for Single Cell Sequencing

By GEN, March 12, 2024

Cellares Unveils Clinically-Compliant Cell Therapy Manufacturing Platform

By Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD, GEN, March 12, 2024

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Episode 12 (March 8, 2024): Featuring Julianna LeMieux (Deputy Editor-in-Chief, GEN), Uduak Thomas (Senior Editor, GEN), and Alex Philippidis (Senior Business Editor, GEN), moderated by Fay Lin (Senior Editor, GEN Biotechnology)

This week, the GEN editors cover a recent interview with the Lost Women of Science, advances in delivery with lipid nanoparticles, Novo Nordisk’s expansion in the Boston area, and how organoids derived from amniotic fluid show promise for understanding fetal diseases.

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base:

At Lost Women of Science, the Unsung Are Celebrated

By Julianna LeMieux, GEN, March 7, 2024.

To Mark International Women’s Day, C-Suite Women Share Leadership Insights

By GEN, March 7, 2024.

Lipid Nanoparticles Engineered to Target Lung Cells Reduce Tumor Size in Mice

By GEN, March 4, 2024.

Novel Thio-lipids Developed Capable of Reaching Eyes and Lungs in Animals

By GEN, March 5, 2024.

Novo Nordisk Expands Boston Area Research and Early Development

By Alex Philippidis, GEN, March 2, 2024.

Metal-Organic Nanoparticles Enable Better Vaccine Delivery, Stronger Immune Response

By GEN, March 6, 2024.

Organoids Originating from Cells in Amniotic Fluid Could Illiminate Congential Conditions

By GEN, March 5, 2024.

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Episode 11 (March 1, 2024): After being diverted by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to develop and manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, Moderna gets back to advancing rare disease mRNA therapeutics; a look at rare autoimmune diseases that fly below the public radar; Form Bio announced a partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks to bring their AI out of the computer and into gene therapy production by optimizing genetic payloads.

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base:

Rare Disease Day: Moderna Gets Back to Its Roots

By Jonathan D. Grinstein, GEN, February 28, 2024

Taming the Immune System When Rare Diseases Strike

By Kathy Liszewski, GEN, February 27, 2024

Form Bio’s AI Ensures Gene Therapies Pass Muster, with Ginkgo’s Help

GEN, February 28, 2024

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Episode 10 (February 23, 2024): Researchers from Francis Collins’ lab developed an efficient CRISPR prime editing protocol to generate isogenic-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines carrying heterozygous or homozygous alleles for putatively causal single nucleotide variants. An RNA-based system known as PRINT can create and introduce site-specific, safe, and stable transgenes into the human genome. Astellas Pharma and Kelonia announced a nearly $800 million research collaboration and license agreement to develop innovative universal, off-the-shelf in vivo CAR T cell therapies. Fourth-quarter earnings and revenue fell short of expectations as Biogen worked to eliminate 1,000 jobs (11.5% of its workforce), among other cost-cutting actions, and restructured its pipeline after a slow start.

Plus, an interview with Andrea Choe, founder and chief executive officer at Holoclara.

Listed below are key references to the GEN stories, media, and other items discussed in this episode of Touching Base:

Generation of Human Isogenic Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines with CRISPR Prime Editing

The CRISPR Journal, February 14, 2024

Addressing Scientific Misconduct: An Interview with Elisabeth Bik

By Uduak Thomas, GEN Biotechnology, February 15, 2024

StockWatch: Biogen’s Q4 Results Disappoint Analysts

By Alex Philippidis, GEN Edge, February 18, 2024

Astellas and Kelonia Partner for $800M In Vivo CAR T Cell Therapies

By Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD, GEN Edge, February 20, 2024

PRINT: Precise RNA-Mediated Insertion of Transgenes

GEN, February 21, 2024

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