Mendelspod Podcast

As sequencing continues to become cheaper, more attention is being paid to sample prep. Today we’re following up with the company, Volta Labs, a genomics applications company transforming sample prep for NGS by increasing robustness and precision, and lowering operating costs. CEO Udayan Umapathi reflects on what has been a breakout first commercial year for Callisto , the company’s sequencer-agno...

Few startups have launched with such quiet anticipation—or such a remarkable founding pedigree—as Cellanome . Backed by veterans of the genomics revolution, the company aims to do for cell biology what Illumina did for sequencing: make it measurable, dynamic, and multidimensional. In this debut conversation, Cellanome CEO Omead Ostadan traces his path from the early days of Applied Biosystems and...

At the end of each year we look for a guest who in many ways defines the year. Today we sit down former NHGRI director Eric Green to reflect on the most turbulent year in his 31-year career at NIH. After leading the National Human Genome Research Institute for more than 15 years, Green’s appointment was abruptly non-renewed—a decision he learned about with “two or three days notice that I was goin...

Note: This show was originally published on September 11, 2025. In light of the recent acquisition of Foresight Diagnostics by Natera, we’re re-publishing the interview with co-founders Jake Chabon and David Kurtz. Catching a cancer relapse before any scan could see it is the ultimate goal for minimal residual disease or MRD testing. And it’s the promise behind Foresight Diagnostics, a Stanford sp...

This week on Mendelspod, we speak with Petter Brodin , Professor of Pediatric Immunology at the Karolinska Institutet and Director of Systems Immunology at Imperial College London, about his pioneering work in childhood immune development and his new spatial-proteomics investigations into lupus. Petter shares how a single lecture on natural killer cells pulled him into immunology, and how early tw...

What if the next leap in human health isn’t hidden in our genes, but in everything that happens to them? In this week’s truly groundbreaking Mendelspod episode, we open a new chapter for the show: our first deep dive into exposomics—the study of all the physical, chemical, biological, and social exposures that shape the human body across a lifetime. To guide us, we welcomed two leaders at the cent...

After more than a decade of success in research, long-read sequencing is more and more adopted into clinical testing. In today’s show, we speak with Rita Shaknovich , Chief Medical Officer at Agilent Technologies , and Sarah Kingan , Associate Director of DNA Applications at Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) , about how their collaboration is speeding up this long-anticipated transition. * 0:00 Long re...

What used to take months of bioinformatics analysis can now happen in minutes—and with greater biological insight than ever before. In this episode, Theral Timpson sits down with Vivek Adarsh , co-founder and CEO of Mithrl , an “AI science” company that’s bringing the power of vertical AI to the lab bench. Adarsh began his career at Nvidia, long before the company became synonymous with AI. “What...

The biggest story in sequencing this year lives up to the hype. Mark Kokoris, head of SBX sequencing at Roche and inventor of the technology, joins Mendelspod to talk about how Sequencing by Expansion (SBX) works and why it may redefine the limits of genomics. * 0:00 A long journey inspired by PCR * 7:20 What is sequencing by expansion? * 14:00 On scale and accuracy * 19:40 Multi-omics vision? * 2...

What company began as a sake manufacturer over a century ago and went on to launch the world’s first single-cell kit in 2011? It’s Takara Bio—and their story is far from finished. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Andrew Farmer , Chief Scientific Officer and Head of R&D at Takara Bio USA , about the company’s remarkable evolution from a Japanese enzyme maker to a global innovator in single-cell an...

When should a genetic test be ordered—and who decides? It’s a question we are constantly asking on the program. Dr. David Braxton, Chief of Molecular Pathology at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Southern California, has built a system where the answer is simple: the pathologist decides. At Hoag, reflex testing protocols automatically trigger genomic tests when certain cancers appear under the microscope...

Illumina has just made a bold move into proteomics. In this episode of Mendelspod , Krishna Morampudi, Associate Director for Product Management at Illumina, joins Theral to talk about the company’s recent definitive agreement to acquire SomaLogic and the new launch of Illumina Protein Prep, their new end-to-end proteomics solution. 0:00 On the acquisition of SomaLogic 4:30 Scoop: Illuminated Prot...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.com On today’s debut interview with Truvian Health, CEO Jay Srinivasan lays out the company’s bold but grounded plan to radically decentralize blood testing. With over $150 million raised and a benchtop instrument already in FDA review, Truvian aims to run 34 lab-quality tests from just eight drops of blood—in under 30 mi...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.com Premal Shah says that many companies in personal genomics have emphasized quantity over quality. Premal is the CEO of Myome, a company offering whole-genome interpretation built for the clinic rather than the consumer. Shah says Myome was founded on the belief that more data isn’t better data. “Physicians don’t want a...

A few weeks back we featured a next gen PCR technology called iconPCR that carries the promise to dramatically impact research. Today we take a customer’s-eye view of the technology. Dr. Stefan Green, who directs the Genomics and Microbiome Core Facility at Rush University, has been putting the instrument through its paces on challenging projects ranging from pathogen surveillance in Chicago to ul...

Alex Dickinson, former Illumina executive and now host of The Geonomics Podcast , joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of DNA sequencing and its future. Known for his independent voice, Alex isn’t afraid to speak plainly about the industry’s biggest players and its shifting technology landscape. * 0:00 Squarely in the long read age * 6:10 When short reads, when long? * 9:20 Whole...

In a time when many diagnostics companies are struggling, GeneDx is thriving by focusing squarely on solving one of medicine’s most pressing problems: the diagnostic odyssey for rare disease. CEO Katherine Stueland explains why the company has committed to whole exome and genome testing as first-line answers for children, and how their recent acquisition of Fabric Genomics expands their reach into...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.mendelspod.com Few founders get to build the future of genomics twice—Moran Snir is doing it a fourth time. After founding Clear Genetics and helping Invitae scale genetic services, she’s back with a new venture: Nest Genomics , a software platform aiming to make genomic care routine across U.S. health systems. * 0:00 Founder of fou...

The story of Certis Oncology begins with a patient. In 2012, Barney Berglund was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma. Standard treatments failed him, and though his doctors at UCLA tried to create mouse avatars of his tumor to test drugs, Barney passed away before the models were ready. Out of his family’s grief came a mission: to change the trial-and-error nature of cancer treatment. They joined with p...

For his first interview as CEO of Myriad Genetics, Sam Raha joined us to help kick off Mendelspod’s 15th season. Raha, who took the helm in April after serving as COO and holding senior roles at Illumina and Agilent, leads Myriad at a pivotal moment. While consumer genomics has faltered—23andMe filed for bankruptcy earlier this year—Myriad continues to double down on its clinical strategy with new...

Catching a cancer relapse before any scan could see it is the ultimate goal for minimal residual disease or MRD testing. And it’s the promise behind Foresight Diagnostics, a Stanford spin-out co-founded by scientist Jake Chabon and oncologist David Kurtz who say they have arrived at “next gen” MRD testing. In this debut interview, Jake and Dave walk us through their journey from academic research...

Epigenetics has emerged as one of the most revealing windows into cancer biology. Long before genetic mutations appear, changes in DNA methylation can initiate tumorigenesis, shape tumor diversity, and provide powerful clues for biomarker discovery. In this episode of Mendelspod, we explore Illumina’s new 5-base solution with Dr. Bodour Salhia, a cancer epigenetics researcher at USC’s Keck School...

Reinventing PCR, huh ? That’s what we asked Pranav Patel, CEO and co-founder of N6 Tec , on today’s show. After all, PCR is one of the oldest tools in the molecular biology toolbox. Isn’t that field… done? Turns out, not at all. Patel — a veteran of PacBio, 10x Genomics, and founder of 2D Genomics — is back with a bold rethink of thermocycling itself. His new platform, IconPCR , isn’t just another...

Today we sit down with renowned geneticist David Ledbetter, whose pioneering work helped uncover the chromosomal basis of Prader-Willi, Angelman, and Miller-Dieker syndromes. He served as Chief Scientific Officer at Geisinger, where he led the MyCode Community Health Initiative—one of the largest population genomic screening programs in the world. Now, he's bringing his decades of experience to be...

In this special tribute episode, Mendelspod honors the life and legacy of Dr. Atul Butte (1969-2025), a towering figure in big data and precision medicine who passed away earlier this year. Atul was more than a pioneer in translational bioinformatics—he was a mentor, a builder, and a boundless source of ideas. He sought to “lift all boats in the harbor.” Joining the conversation are three scientis...