DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast

On This Episode We Discuss: Services WatershedDNA Offers Motivation Behind Writing “The DNA Guide for Adoptees” Differences in Genealogical Research for Adoptees Compared to General Population Preparing to Meet New Biological Family Members Advice for DNA Testing Adoptee Related Searches DNA Testing for Children/Minors to Find Biological Relatives Insight for Adoptee’s Seeking Medical Information...

Seth Rotberg, a rare disease patient advocate and motivational speaker, joins the show to share his perspective on Huntington Disease (HD). From 2011 – 2015, Seth served on the boards for the HDSA National Youth Alliance (NYA) and HDSA Massachusetts Chapter to continue his efforts in the HD community. He became the President of the HDSA NYA in 2012 and HDSA Massachusetts Chapter in 2013, where he...

Happy Genetic Counseling Match Day! Today we are celebrating the genetic counseling graduate program match day by discussing how to prepare and what to expect during the first year. We also provide advice for applicants that didn’t match in this cycle and offer inspiration to apply next round. In a way this is a follow up episode from the application process discussions. If you are thinking about...

This show is a landmark episode, number 100! I want to sincerely thank all you listeners, new and old, for tuning in. It’s been such a fantastic experience over the last 7 years to share news and interviews with you all and learn along with you. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to the shows as much as I have have enjoyed recording and producing them. Author Carl Zimmer joins me to discuss new and o...

Two leaders from the Coriell Institute for Medical Research join the show to discuss biobanking. Nahid Turan, Chief Laboratory Officer, and Alissa Resch, Chief Scientific Officer, lead separate aspects of the Institute scientific efforts. Coriell is known for its impact in the world of biobanking. If you’ve ordered biological materials in the past for research, there’s a good chance you’ve ordered...

To celebrate and honor Rare Disease Awareness month (February) Lydia Seiders joins me on the show. She is a volunteer Maryland State Ambassador for NORD, t he National Organization for Rare Disorders , through NORD’s advocacy arm the Rare Action Network. Her daughter was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a form of bone marrow failure. This motivated Lydia to become an Ambassador for NORD. In this ro...

A panel of four incoming genetic counseling graduate schools discuss the application process. This is part two of two podcasts, discussing the second portion of the application cycle: interviews, ranking, and matching. Episode 87 was the first part of this conversation where we discussed how to gather the experience and classes to have a competitive application. We also surveyed over 50 incoming g...

Jim Cavan, CEO and President of Backpack Health is featured on this episode. He has great passion for helping healthcare companies tackle systemic problems, and 20 years of executive health research and startup leadership experience. The development of Backpack Health is the result of several key goals of his, including improved access to and control of medical information, and less obtrusive coll...

Author Laura Kieger and her son, Dr. Alexander Kieger, share their family’s courageous, century-long struggle with a rare genetic cancer syndrome, Familial Adenomatous Polyposis. Familial adenomatous polyposis is a rare, genetic cancer predisposition syndrome caused by a deletion mutation in the APC gene on chromosome 5. By the age of 40, nearly 99% of untreated patients will develop cancer. This...

Dr. Biju Parekkadan is a Co-Creator and Scientific Director of the hard science graphic novel, Legend of Sumeria . He is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering with a research lab that specializes in cell and genetic engineering. His discoveries have been published in prestigious journals with patented inventions that have led to the foundation of several companies. He received his bachelor’s degre...

Members from Team Telomere (formerly DC Outreach), a community for telomere biology disorders join me for this episode. This panel includes patient advocate Katie Stevens, Dr. Sharen Savage, and Dr. Suneet Agarwal. They provide information and support services to families worldwide who are affected by these disorders, encourage the medical community’s research in finding causes and effective treat...

Dr. Erin Young discusses the role genetics play in pain susceptibilities. She is an Assistant Professor of both the School of Nursing and Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Her career has been focused on studying genetic contributions to pain susceptibility, for which she has published numerous papers sharing her findings. She received her BA at Wesleyan College, and h...

Ellen Matloff is the President and CEO of My Gene Counsel . Ellen is the founder and former director of the Cancer Genetic Counseling Program at Yale School of Medicine. Ellen has authored more than 50 scientific publications in the field, is an established educator, lecturer and media spokesperson and has received national awards for her ongoing patient advocacy efforts. She is an outspoken patie...

Erica Ramos is the 2018 President of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) . She builds products, programs and strategy in the genomics and genetic counseling arenas with expertise in rare disease and predictive genome sequencing. Erica is currently director and head of Clinical & Business Development for Geisinger National Precision Health . This Episode We Discuss: Elevator Pitch of...

Dr. Andrew Ury is the CEO and Founder of ActX , one of the leading companies in electronic health record integrated genomic decision support. He previously founded and was CEO of the first commercial electronic medical record company, Practice Partner . He is also the co-founder of one of the leading practice-based research networks, PPrNet . Dr. Ury helped found and was twice the vice-chair of th...

Ira S. Pastor is the CEO of Bioquark, a life sciences company, developing proprietary combinatorial biologics for the regeneration and repair of human organs and tissues. Ira has over 30 years of pharmaceutical experience. He serves as a board member at multiple companies and organizations including RengerAge, the Reanima Project, The World Academy of Medical Science and the World Economic Forum’s...

A panel of four incoming genetic counseling graduate schools discuss the application process. This is part one of two podcasts, discussing how to gather the experience and classes to have a competitive application. Early next year (2019) we will also release a follow up episode focusing on the second part of the application process: interviews, ranking and matching. We also surveyed over 50 incomi...

Dr. Michael Fossel is the world’s foremost expert on the clinical use of telomerase for age-related diseases. In 1996, he wrote the first book on the telomerase theory of aging, Reversing Human Aging, and has published the sole medical textbook on the topic. Most recently he published The Telomerase Revolution which was named one of the five best science books of the year by the Wall Street Journa...

Sarah McAnulty is a squid biologist and science communicator. She founded Skype A Scientist , matching classrooms with scientists for QnA sessions. Sarah is also a Ph. D. Candidate and Scientist at the University of Connecticut. She studies squids and their symbiosis with bioluminescent bacteria. On This Episode We Discuss: Skype A Scientist Effect ways to communicate science Differences between s...

In this podcast discussion we peek into the world projected by J.D. Lasica in his new genetics thriller novel, Biohack. We consider and debate a few ethical issues that arise in the book focusing on the potential implications CRISPR has for our future. J. D. Lasica is an author, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and public speaker. He spoke at the United Nations in 2012 about how to use social media to...

Alexander Ille, the Director of the Genome Cure Organization, joins me on this podcast episode. He received a Bachelors of Science from University of Waterloo and is currently a graduate student at D'Youville College, actively participating in genetic research. He also wrote a book, “ The Genome Cure: The Future of Medicine for Alzheimer's, Cancer, Diabetes and more ”. Alex founded the Genome Cure...

A panel of guest from Smith Family Clinic for Genomic Medicine in Huntsville, Alabama joins me for this episode exploring the power of whole genome sequencing for patients with undiagnosed diseases. On This Episode We Discuss: Whole genome sequencing (WGS) vs exome sequencing Qualifications for patient to receive WGS Next steps after a “negative WGS” Value of WGS for patients not seeking a diagnos...

Irina Brooke joins me for this podcast episode. She is an patient advocate with the mission of supporting people with BRCA mutations and educating the public on this testing and how it can empower healthcare decisions. On This Episode We Discuss… Deciding to pursue genetic testing and results Qualifications for having a strong family history of ovarian, breast and/or prostate cancer The risk of pa...

Rafi Mendelsohn is the Director of Public Relations and Social Media at MyHeritage . MyHeritage is the largest family history and DNA company that helps consumers to discover their ethnic origins and find new relatives. Their new pro bono initiative, DNA Quest , is currently helping adoptees and their birth families reunite through genetic testing, which we explore in this podcast episode. This of...

Joining me on this episode is Bibaswan Ghoshal. He is a Senior Bioinformatician at the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute of Mount Sinai Health System in Toronto. He has his Master’s of Science in Medicine and finishing his PhD in Bioinformatics, Animal Microbiome and Agriculture from the University of Alberta.   On this episode we discuss… The number of microbes in inside us and how they help...