Behind the Breakthroughs

Hervé Affagard, CEO and co-founder of MaaT Pharma, traded industrial engineering for medicine after cancer struck his family. Now, he’s pioneering microbiome-based therapies to restore balance in the gut, boost immunity, and tackle diseases from graft-versus-host to cancer itself. On Behind the Breakthroughs , Hervé shares how reimagining our inner ecosystem could transform treatment. Want me to m...

When Michelle Werner, PhD, learned her son Caffrey had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, she left big pharma to lead Alltrna—a Flagship Pioneering company engineering tRNAs to tackle rare diseases with no treatments. On Behind the Breakthroughs , Werner shares her journey as both mother and CEO, and how Alltrna’s approach could unlock therapies for thousands of conditions caused by nonsense mutations....

Public health is greatly benefiting from population genomics screening, as it provides patients with risk education and treatment for symptoms of life-threatening diseases that they would not have been aware of through routine checkups. So, why hasn't population genomic screening realized its full potential? As an internist geneticist and Medical Affairs Director at Helix, this issue became all th...

Three biotech trailblazers—Patrick Hsu (co-founder of the Arc Institute), Serge Saxonov (co-founder and CEO of 10x Genomics), and Gilad Almogy (co-founder and CEO of Ultima Genomics)—join forces to discuss their groundbreaking collaboration on the virtual cell. This ambitious project leverages advanced AI and cutting-edge genomic technologies to model and predict cellular behavior, a leap forward...

For years, Tempus operated in mystery—its website sparse on details while headlines announced massive funding and high-profile partnerships. The claim? AI-enabled solutions for personalized healthcare. Intrigued, I sought answers. In this episode, Kate Sasser, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Tempus, shared insights into how the company uses AI to analyze unstructured clinical data to develop pati...

At just 25, UPenn dropout Kian Sadeghi is betting big on personalized genomics. As founder of Nucleus Genomics, he’s offering affordable whole-genome sequencing direct to consumers and rethinking how patients, clinicians, and insurers engage with genetic data. On Behind the Breakthroughs , Sadeghi unpacks the fall of 23andMe, the rise of patient agency, and why he thinks genomics needs its own Bil...

Imagine a future where your ancestry not only tells a story about your past but also holds the key to your health. That's the vision drives Carlos D. Bustamante, PhD, population geneticist and founder of Galatea Bio, as he embarks on an ambitious mission: building a biobank of 10 million genomes to transform drug development and healthcare across Latin America. With thousands of founder population...

Josh Denny, MD, turned a family tragedy with cystic fibrosis into a lifelong mission to transform medicine. Now CEO of the NIH’s All of Us Research Program, he’s leading one of the largest precision medicine efforts in history—850,000 participants strong with 400,000 genomic profiles and counting. On Behind the Breakthroughs , Denny shares how this unprecedented dataset could rewrite the future of...

The sage-like Uli Stilz, PhD, Vice President of Novo Nordisk, provides insight into the inner workings of Novo Nordisk’s Bio Innovation Hub, which he founded in Boston, to tackle complex, multifactorial diseases that impact billions of people, such as diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases. Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter&nb...

Despite advances in screening, only one in six U.S. cancers is detected early. Tomasz (Tom) Beer, MD, left most of his clinical practice to join Exact Sciences and push the frontier with blood-based multicancer early detection (MCED) tests. On Behind the Breakthroughs , Beer explains how these tests could transform cancer screening and catch disease before it’s too late. Stay up to date with the l...

Katy Rezvani, MD, PhD, turned her fascination with immunology into a career engineering allogeneic immune cell therapies. On Behind the Breakthroughs , Rezvani explains why NK cells—unlike T cells—hold promise for safer, more accessible cancer treatments, and how her work at MD Anderson is shaping the future of cell therapy. Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by s...

"Are we close to curing diseases like ALS and Alzheimer's?" In recent years, several academic and industry endeavors have given reason to be hopeful. Toby Ferguson, MD, PhD, is the Chief Medical Officer at Voyager Therapeutics, which develops genetic medicines and delivery tools to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In this episode, Ferguson explains the current state of therapeutics for neurolo...

Tomi Pastinen, MD, PhD, is transforming pediatric medicine through genomics. As Director at Children’s Mercy Kansas City, he’s pioneered pharmacogenetic testing and 5-nucleotide genomic sequencing, bringing precision medicine to children. On Behind the Breakthroughs , Pastinen discusses the promise—and challenges—of turning genetic diagnoses into real treatments, from rare inherited diseases to co...

Tom Whitehead, father of Emily Whitehead—the first pediatric CAR T patient—turned a harrowing journey into a mission to help families navigating life-threatening illness. On Behind the Breakthroughs , he shares the emotional story of Emily’s treatment and the challenges patients face when cutting-edge research intersects with real-world care. This is the 2024 finale for Behind the Breakthroughs, a...

Harry Clifford, PhD, Digital Biology Lead at NVIDIA, discusses how the computer manufacturing and AI computing leader is building a technology platform to address data bottlenecks in drug development and healthcare to advance precision medicine. Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter  here . Produced by Bill Levine Hosted by...

Michael Severino, MD, discusses the approaches for developing "genome writers" at Tessera Therapeutics, where he joined as CEO in 2022, and the advantages of performing in vivo genome editing over ex vivo approaches. Severino explains where the company is in utilizing its genome writing platform to perform edits in vivo on its journey toward the clinic. Stay up to date with the latest episode...

This special edition episode for the upcoming Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) annual meeting in Vancouver, Jane Gibson, PhD, opens up the dialogue about how the evolving field of molecular pathology is taking on major challenges, including how the FDA’s ruling on laboratory developed tests (LDTs) is affecting clinical labs. Dr. Gibson is a Professor of Pathology at the University of Cent...

Helen Sabzevari, PhD, President and CEO of Precigen, discusses the barriers to implementing cell and gene therapies that impede the accessibility and implementation of these precision medicines. Dr. Sabzevari also explains how key cell and gene therapy platforms and tools can provide safety measures, such as guardrails to cellular toxicity, and address cost by offering “off-the-shelf” efficient ge...

Luca Quagliata, PhD, global head of medical affairs for clinical NGS and oncology at Thermo Fisher Scientific, shares how his career has been intertwined with precision medicine, beginning with his time as a student in Italy during the early 2000s. Quagliata examines the significance of genomic profiling within the cancer care continuum, outlining the essential steps and touchpoints necessary to e...

In the premiere episode of Behind the Breakthroughs , Geoff Oxnard, MD, VP of Clinical Development at Lilly and a Thoracic Oncologist at Boston Medical Center, shares his journey in precision medicine, beginning with his introduction to genetic testing as a Medical Oncology Fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and as an academic researcher. Oxnard discusses how differences in impact an...