The Genomic Revolution with Prof. Dr. George Church

Today on FYI – For Your Innovation we are joined by Dr. George Church for a high-level discussion with ARK’s genomics analysts, Simon Barnett and Manisha Samy, on the current and future status of the field of genetics. Dr. Church is a pioneer of synthetic biology and an influencer in the field of genomics. He is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, the Director of personalgenomics.org and a cofounder of a multitude of companies! His innovations have led to technological breakthroughs in the areas of next generation DNA sequencing and CRISPR gene editing, amongst many others. Our conversation in this episode covers a wide range of topics within genomics including next generation oncology, the security and regulation of genetic information, gene editing and the increasing speed of the genomic revolution. Dr. Church really gives us the inside and expert scoop and how exciting things in his world are and how this may become more of a reality for all of us sooner than you think. For all this and more be sure to join us!              Key Points From This Episode: Genomic Revolution: Cost decline and unlocking new possibilities in the field of genetics Obstacles that stand in the way of the zero dollar human genome Increasing population genomics as a means to more accurate tests The future of health care as new technologies converge Why we should not be underestimating the speed of the revolution What our ability to edit 13,000 sites in a single cell means in real terms The ultimate goal of the human genome project and creating a synthetic reference Our computational power in dealing with these huge amounts of data What these advances mean for the field of regenerative medicine The possible efficacy of CAR T in fighting solid tumors Competition, market leaders and driving down of prices of advanced products Some of the technologies in the genome field that excite Dr. Church the most   Tweetables: “There’s still a few remaining diseases that are not solved by vaccines and there are some synthetic biology solutions to those that may be even cheaper than vaccines.” — @geochurch [0:14:03]