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Join host Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD, North American Editor for Inside Precision Medicine, as he uncovers the stories behind the pioneers driving the precision medicine revolution. Behind the Breakthroughs features candid interviews with seasoned veterans and rising stars, exploring their origin stories and groundbreaking contributions advancing the frontiers of patient diagnosis, treatment, and care.
In every episode, Jonathan goes beyond the science, diving deep into the personal and professional journeys of those striving to make these incredible new therapies more equitable and accessible globally. You'll discover how emerging technologies in molecular diagnostics, next-generation sequencing, genetic medicines (e.g., cell and gene therapies), and AI/ML are transforming treatment and bringing precision medicine closer to the forefront of healthcare. Whether you’re a researcher at a large pharma company or small biotech startup, a clinician at a major health system or community setting, a laboratory technician in the clinic or academia, an investor at a premier or venture capital firm, or just interested in the latest in medicine and healthcare, these interviews will inspire and inform you about personalized medicine's future.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
26 Episodes
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Shana Kelley, PhD, embraces bold, science-fiction-like challenges, such as developing real-time technologies to monitor immune activity—work that demands cross-disciplinary expertise, flexible funding, and visionary leadership. As a Professor at Northwestern University and President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago, she advances “instrumented tissues” to precisely measure biological processes, sharing her passion and insights on innovation in this episode of Behind the Breakthroughs.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mara Aspinall has long been a leader in precision medicine, championing diagnostics as vital to better treatments and saving lives. She built Genzyme Genetics into the nation’s top testing business, later acquired by LabCorp for $1 billion, and led Ventana (now Roche Tissue Diagnostics) in pioneering companion diagnostics. As co-founder of BlueStone Venture Partners and partner at Illumina Ventures, she continues shaping the field. She also publishes the Diagnostics Year in Review, serves on multiple boards, and co-founded ASU’s School of Biomedical Diagnostics. This episode explores both her vision for testing and her journey to becoming a transformative leader.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
David R. Liu, PhD, Harvard and Broad Institute professor, invented base and prime editing—gene editing tools now in 20+ clinical trials with early wins against sickle cell, leukemia, and more. Founder of Editas, Beam, and Prime Medicine, and winner of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize, Liu joins Behind The Breakthroughs to share how chemistry and evolution are driving the next wave of medicine.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Janice Chen, PhD, helped transform CRISPR from a lab discovery into a life-saving tool. As co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences with Jennifer Doudna, Trevor Martin, and Lucas Harrington, she’s driven efforts to harness CRISPR for human health and diagnostics. On Behind the Breakthroughs, Chen shares how she’s turning a once-theoretical gene editor into a medical revolution.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With recent safety setbacks in gene therapy underscoring the risks of genetic medicine, Amber Salzman, PhD, is charting a different course. After 25 years in big pharma, she now leads Epicrispr, where their Gene Expression Modulation System (GEMS) fine-tunes gene activity to tackle diseases too complex for traditional gene replacement, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy. On Behind the Breakthroughs, Salzman shares how epigenomic modulation could open new frontiers in treatment.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1Think Good Will Hunting—but in biology. Mike Previte, PhD, once at Illumina and now CTO and co-founder of Element Biosciences, is building tools to move beyond DNA and RNA sequencing toward a true 5D view of life. On Behind the Breakthroughs, he explains how technologies like AVITI 24 could unlock predictive precision medicine by revealing how cells behave across time and space.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 make this one lean even harder into the industrial-to-biotech transformation angle for extra contrast?Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 the more real for Cassie Hajek, MD, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer that evaded existing genetic testing procedures. In this earnest episode, Hajek shares how her experiences as both a cancer patient and a practitioner have helped her identify and build towards overcoming some of the barriers to maximizing population genomic screening for preventive medicine.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 in understanding complex biological systems. The trio dives deep into their shared vision, explaining how their partnership is redefining scientific research and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in drug discovery and precision medicine.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 patient-derived organoid models for therapeutic refinement. Most exciting is their vision of an interconnected “lab-in-a-loop” system—a cycle of real-world data, biological modeling, and AI analysis.Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDAudio mixed and mastered by David MoselyBrought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 Bill Gates.Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason MackMusic provided by Artem Hramushkin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 populations scattered across the region—from the valleys of Medellín to the islands of the Caribbean—Latin America is a goldmine of genetic diversity. Yet, until now, it has been largely overlooked in genomic research. In this Behind the Breakthroughs episode, Bustamante explains why mapping this diversity can uncover genetic insights that will lead to better treatments for diseases that disproportionately affect these communities.Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 healthcare, from rare disease to everyday care.Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhDMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"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 neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, challenges in delivering genetic medicines and other therapeutics to the nervous system, and Voyager's approach to overcoming the BBB. Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 complex conditions like autism.Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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, and we will release our next episode on January 8, 2025.Stay up to date with the latest episodes of Behind the Breakthroughs by subscribing to the IPM eNewsletter here.Produced by Bill LevineHosted by Jonathan D. GrinsteinMusic provided by Artem HramushkinAudio mixed and mastered by Jason Mack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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