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Thanks DC - GEN Editors' Final Report from ASHG
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Thanks DC - GEN Editors' Final Report from ASHG
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Upload Date:
2023-11-08T00:00:00.0000000
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Language: EN.
Segment:0 .
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KEVIN DAVIES: Hi, everyone. We've successfully navigated ASHG 2023. We're back in our respective offices, scattered up and down the East Coast. So I'm joined by Julianna Lemieux, GEN's deputy editor, and Uduak Thomas, GEN's senior editor, who-- Uduak, your first time, I believe, at ASHG. What were your impressions?
UDUAK THOMAS: Indeed, it was my first time. This was, I think, probably-- well, it's my first time in a number of ways. It's the first time I'm going to ASHG-- I've ever been to ASHG, and also the first in-person conference I've been to since the pandemic. So there were two firsts for me here. It was very interesting. It's a huge conference. I think the final count was over 8,000 people present and something like 3,000 posters and several other presentations and panel talks.
UDUAK THOMAS: So it's quite a big one. Lots of interesting conversations, lots of companies, lots of scientists present. I learned a lot. I think one of the hardest things for me-- and I think this is hard in every conference I go to-- is a lot of sessions that you want to go to somehow end up running concurrently. And so it's always having to make the difficult decision, which one do I go to?
UDUAK THOMAS: Which one do I prioritize? At every moment of the day pretty much? But overall, it was a really, really good experience. Definitely learned a lot. Lots of great science. And I honestly can't wait for next year.
KEVIN DAVIES: So Uduak, what in particular stood out in terms of the sessions and people you met and press conferences you might have gotten roped into?
UDUAK THOMAS: Absolutely. So there are several things that stood out to me, but I'll highlight a few. I think one of the things that really was of interest to me was seeing a lot of the clinical applications, a lot of the science that's been going on for the past several decades. I mean, obviously, clinical applications have been happening for quite some time, but it was really great to see them making even more inroads in terms of bringing precision medicine and making that a reality.
UDUAK THOMAS: I got to cover a couple of projects that have been going on on the industry side, which, hopefully folks have read our previous newsletters, you saw those stories, but I'll flag them here again. Fabric Genomics had a couple of announcements. One of them was a partnership with Oxford Nanopore Technologies. And that's focused very much on applying sequencing and genomic data in the clinical context, specifically around pediatric cases.
UDUAK THOMAS: And it was really interesting to see a couple of examples where this was already making a difference in the lives of patients. I think that was really important. Fabric also had an announcement with DNAnexus, again, combining their platforms, all with the aim of bringing genomic data, moving it further and further into the clinics, which I think is really important.
UDUAK THOMAS: Another company that I got to cover at this meeting was Genomenon. They had an announcement regarding the release of the first fully curated human exome, with the latest release of their Mastermind platform. And this is something that they had talked about previously that they were hoping to do. Their plan-- I think they have this ambitious goal of doing it for the whole genome.
UDUAK THOMAS: And they've started to deliver a little bit on that promise with the release of this exome in the most recent version of their platform. So those are just some things that really jumped out to me, I think, in terms of the clinical applications.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Can I just actually jump in for a minute?
UDUAK THOMAS: Yes, please.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Because with all of this precision medicine and clinical-- moving into the clinic talk-- I wanted to add that our colleagues from Inside Precision Medicine were also at the meeting. And I've actually never been at the same meeting with, for example, Damian Doherty, the editor-in-chief of IPM. So I just wanted to say, Uduak, I totally agree with you-- there was a huge focus at this meeting on that, which was really exciting, and is being covered so deeply by our colleagues at IPM.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: So yeah, that was really fun also to have the whole team together at a conference.
KEVIN DAVIES: Yeah, Damian is based in the UK. So it's nice when he takes the time to come over the pond. And he'll be at AMP as well in a couple of weeks' time. So Julianna, what stood out for you? You covered a lot in our previous little video highlight reel, but what else in the last 24 hours or so that you were at the meeting?
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Yeah. So one of the last booths that I went to and conversations I had, Kevin, at the meeting on Saturday was a conversation with the CEO of Nautilus Biotechnology, Parag Mallick. And that was great. This is a proteomics company. They don't have a platform yet. He said, we're here for education, basically, of how our technology works, which, of course, is like my bread and butter.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: I just love learning about new technologies. He actually was the first booth I've been to where they had a whiteboard. And he was drawing out-- they detect proteins. And it is not protein sequencing. So a customer-- a user-- would not get the sequence, but what it does do is give you a huge amount of information about what proteins are present and at what quantity.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And I think we talked about this in our last video call, Kevin, but just so much proteomics at this meeting, including some companies that are commercially available, some like Nautilus, which has a very cool new technology which is really up and coming. So that was really great. And the other thing I really at ASHG-- the genomics community is a great one. And everybody knows each other, have been working together for a long time.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: So actually, some of the meetings or conversations that I had were just bumping into people, whether it was in the hall or in the expo or whatever. I bumped into Joe Gleeson, who is in San Diego at Rady's and also is at n-Lorem. And at Gen, we've covered n-Lorem before, working on ASO technologies for very extremely rare-- nano rare diseases. And he was talking about-- I mean, what's going on at n-Lorem is just-- it's going so well.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: They're dosing more patients, accepting more patients-- telling me a little bit about that process. They had a poster. He also was commenting that-- one thing that was interesting about it being in DC is that actually some of the people from policy in government were actually at the meeting. Did you know that?
KEVIN DAVIES: No.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: I didn't know that either. And so they were going around to different posters-- I believe n-Lorem was one of them-- and trying to understand what changes need to be made in that realm to bring this technology to patients and these drugs to patients. So I'd like to learn a little bit more about that, I've got to say, now that we're home.
KEVIN DAVIES: Yeah. Good. Well, since you asked, I had a good meeting, too. I enjoyed running into a lot of old friends on the exhibit hall floor and catching up with a few interesting updates from various companies. You mentioned protein sequencing, Julianna. And of course, one of the leaders in that space, in terms of desktop protein sequencing, is Quantum Si. So it was nice to get a quick tour of their benchtop instrument.
KEVIN DAVIES: And I think I was reliably informed that the price of that is going to be going up before the end of the year or in the new year. So if you're interested in an affordable and effective protein sequencer, now that may be the time to jump on that. And Nabsys had a very big presence. They're now partnering with Hitachi. So it's nice to see that technology for gene mapping, long-range gene mapping, finally, after a long time-- I covered them back in my bio-IT world days-- nice to see them getting some traction.
KEVIN DAVIES: I also enjoyed, among many familiar faces, bumping into Jay Flatley, of Illumina fame, of course, who stopped by the Gen booth and picked up a few journals. And I just casually asked him what he was up to these days. And he said, oh, I'm just on the half a dozen boards, some public, some private. He's on the board of an electric car company that I guess might be rivaling Tesla.
KEVIN DAVIES: And he's also on the board of Iridia, which is a very interesting-sounding DNA data storage company. So he might be crossing paths with George Church and others in a rapidly expanding space. So before we sign off, I know we were all very excited to go to the, dare I say, the PacBio concert here. No, you haven't brought your hats. I'm disappointed.
KEVIN DAVIES: I thought we talked about this. What did you think of the concert, Julianna? [LAUGHTER]
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Kevin, I did not bring my hat. No, the concert was so much fun. I mean, come on. Like we said in our first video, PacBio is redefining "work trip." It was great fun. We got out to this place a couple of miles away, called Echostage. And Christian Henry was on, talking about some updates from PacBio.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And I don't think we need to reveal it-- as we were talking about, everybody now knows it was Macklemore, who gave a great show. And then they had some dancing afterwards. So really fun. Had a great time. Uduak, how about yourself? How'd you like the concert?
UDUAK THOMAS: It was very fun. I was very pleasantly surprised. I think when we walked in, seeing the decor and certain little telltale signs, we gradually figured out who the musical guest was before he actually showed up. And I'll be honest-- initially, I thought, oh, I don't know. I've never seen Macklemore in concert. What's this is going to be like? And I was very pleasantly surprised.
UDUAK THOMAS: It was a lot of fun. I got the sense that he and the band had a lot of fun. I think coming in, he, himself might have felt a little apprehensive regarding what to expect with a bunch of scientists. I think we surprised him very--
KEVIN DAVIES: I think he absolutely reveled in having a bunch of nerdy scientists for an audience. There was plenty of leg pulling and joke telling.
UDUAK THOMAS: Yes.
KEVIN DAVIES: And, yeah, Christine Henry, trying to show a slide show five minutes before the main act comes on about an hour later than advertised, I don't think that really-- it didn't have the most attentive audience, shall we say. But a great effort, and we really thank PacBio. And of course, that just ups the ante for Denver, where ASHG will be next year. So I can't wait to see who they bring to Mile High Stadium.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Also, Kevin, it will be interesting because AGBT is in February, and they had Flo Rida at AGBT--
KEVIN DAVIES: Yeah.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: So is PacBio going to do two of these concerts every year?
KEVIN DAVIES: That's right. And what will they have left in the marketing budget? I don't know. There was another big musical act, which I think none of us were able to make. It was Saturday night, in the final festivities. And the delightfully named Ethidium Spill-- that's Francis Collins' band-- but judging from the videos I've seen on social media, they seem to go down pretty well as well.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Yeah. I'm sorry I missed it. But hopefully next time. Yeah.
KEVIN DAVIES: Yeah.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: [AUDIO OUT] before that one.
KEVIN DAVIES: Yeah.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: A concert and meeting.
KEVIN DAVIES: Yeah. I mentioned ASHG will be in Denver next year. But I know, Julianna, you'll be back on the road soon and building on, of course, your preeminent NGS coverage. I know you're looking forward to another trip down to Florida in February, I believe, for AGBT.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Yeah, definitely, Kevin. One of my favorite meetings of the year. And going to ASHG now, with AGBT so closely following-- I talk to a lot of people who said either, well, we'll have a lot of news at AGBT, we'll send you our news before AGBT or you'll see the whatever launch at AGBT-- so I think, if I wasn't excited before ASHG, I am definitely excited to go now because I think it'll be exciting.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: I think it will be another exciting meeting.
KEVIN DAVIES: And as you said just before we hit record on this video, ASHG isn't-- or maybe has gone out a little bit of favor in terms of where the big announcements are made. But of course, in the new year, you'll have JP Morgan, rapidly followed by AGBT. And as you explained last time, as we discussed, 2022 was such an incredible year for injecting new blood and new instruments and new technologies in the NGS space.
KEVIN DAVIES: I suppose it was inevitable that there would be a slight lull. But soon we'll see what 2024 has to bring.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Yeah. And you know what's also really exciting is that they're all still standing, right?
KEVIN DAVIES: Yeah.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And at ASHG, they were all excited, selling, talking about advancements. So the beat goes on.
KEVIN DAVIES: Yes, indeed. Well, it was great hanging out with you last week. Uduak, thanks for participating and making your debut not just at the conference, but in these little informal video catch-ups and summaries. So we'll have to do this again very soon.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Thanks, Kevin.
UDUAK THOMAS: Thank you so much.
KEVIN DAVIES: All right.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Thanks, Uduak.
KEVIN DAVIES: Thanks for watching. Bye.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: All right. Bye. [MUSIC PLAYING]