DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast

#155 Genetic Counseling Grad School FAQs

This episode is an edited recording of the clubhouse meeting Kira Dineen and Dena Goldberg (Dena DNA) hosted on August 26th, 2021 in the “Genetic Counseling and the Future of Healthcare”. We explore making the most of the genetic counseling graduate school experience. Since this was recorded on Clubhouse, the audio is not as high quality as our other episodes.

#154 Kenneth Kovan & David Berd on Haptenized Vaccines

This week our host, Kira Dineen, is joined by Kenneth Kovan and Dr. David Berd of BioVaxys, a clinical-stage biopharma company developing antiviral and anticancer vaccine platforms using haptenized viral protein technology.

#153 Dayan Goodenowe on Dementia

Joining our host, Kira Dineen, this week Dr. Dayan Goodenowe. He is the Founder, President, and CEO of Prodrome Sciences Inc., and the Author of Breaking Alzheimer's: A 15-Year Crusade to Expose the Cause and Deliver the Cure, a novel about biomarkers of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and the science and clinical applications of plasmalogens for the therapeutic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

#152: Janice Berliner on Brooke's Promise

Joining our host, Kira Dineen, this week is Janice L. Berliner. She is the Director of the Master of Science in Genetic Counseling Program at Bay Path University and the Author of Brooke's Promise, a novel that follows a family through their journey and struggles as their love is pushed to the test while learning to live with their daughter’s disease.

#151: Richard Michelmore and Brad Pollock on COVID-19 Variants

Genotyping for COVID-19 variants surveillance is explored with the Director of the UC Davis Genome Center and the director of the Healthy Davis Together project.

#150 Euan Ashley and Stephen Quake on The Genome Odyssey

This marks the 150th episode of DNA Today! Our guests to celebrate this landmark episode of DNA Today are Dr. Euan Ashley, a medical geneticist and cardiologist. And Dr. Stephen Quake, a physics professor, bioengineer and pioneer in microfluidics.

#149 CF Series: Gunnar Esiason on Patient Advocacy

On the third and final episode of our cystic fibrosis podcast series, our host Kira Dineen is joined by Gunnar Esiason who shares about his experience as a patient with CF. Gunnar is a cystic fibrosis and rare disease patient leader, who is passionate about early stage drug development, patient empowerment and health policy.

#148 CF Series: Shuling Guo on Pharmaceuticals

To continue our cystic fibrosis podcast series, Dr. Shuling Guo joins our host Kira Dineen, to discuss drug discovery efforts in cystic fibrosis. She is the VP of Antisense Drug Discovery at Ionis Pharmaceuticals – the leader in RNA-targeted drug discovery and development.

#147 CF Series: Bijal Trivedi on "Breath From Salt"

This episode launches DNA Today’s Cystic Fibrosis Podcast Series! Over the next three episodes of the podcast we will be exploring cystic fibrosis’ history, patient experience and ongoing drug development.

#146 Jo Bhakdi on Whole Exome Sequencing

Our guest on this episode is Jo Bhakdi, the founder and CEO of Quantgene. His work in machine learning, sequencing technology, and DNA extraction procedures defines the cutting edge of genomic diagnostics, early disease detection, and precision medicine.

#145 Greenwood Genetic Center on Epigenetics

Greenwood Genetics Center’s Ray Louie and Kellie Walden join the show to discuss epigenetics.

#144 Orion Buske on Genomic Digital Tools

This episode of DNA Today continues our mini series about telehealth in genetics. Last episode we heard from the founder of Advanced Tele-Genetic Counseling, Elizabeth Turner, who shared her expertise in telehealth. Her company provides a scalable telehealth platform for genetic counseling services, where genetic counselors can help patients navigate through areas of genetics like genetic testing, and ultimately understand their own genetics.

#143 Elizabeth Turner on Telehealth Genetic Counseling

To kick off our mini series in telehealth genetics fellow genetic counselor, Elizabeth Turner joins our host Kira Dineen. Elizabeth is the cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Tele-Genetic Counseling (AT-GC). Elizabeth’s team, one of the first tele-genetic companies to enter the industry, provides comprehensive genetic counseling services via telemedicine. Elizabeth has practiced in the areas of oncology, pediatrics, reproductive health, and general genetics, and holds a current certification from the American Board of Genetic Counseling.

#142 Barbara Fortini on Genomic Data Analytics

Dr. Barbara Fortini joins our host Kira Dineen, to discuss the growing career opportunities in Genomic Data Analytics. She is the Program Director for the Master of Science in Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analytics program at the Keck Graduate Institute. She also teaches their genetic counseling students.

#141 Stan Crooke on Ultra Rare Disease Drugs

Biotech titan Dr. Stan Crooke joins host Kira Dineen to celebrate rare disease month! Dr. Crooke was the Founder of IONIS Pharmaceuticals, with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry developing more than 20 marketed drugs. He has published nearly 500 scientific publications, edited more than 20 books, and has numerous patents.

#140 Patti Hall on Gigantism

Author Dani Shapiro joins host Kira Dineen to discuss her instant New York Times best selling memoir, Inheritance, which is being adapted into a fTo kick off rare disease month, author Patti M. Hall joins host Kira Dineen to discuss her memoir Loving Large which chronicles her son’s rare disease diagnostic odyssey. Her life was pitched into an abyss of uncertainty when a golf ball–sized tumour was discovered in her teenage son’s head and he was diagnosed with gigantism, a disease of both legend and stigma. After scrambling to access a handful of medical experts in the field, Patti learned that her son could grow uncontrollably, his mobility could be permanently limited, and his life could be cut short without timely and aggressive treatment. Listen for more.

#139 Dani Shapiro on her Donor Conceived Discovery

Author Dani Shapiro joins host Kira Dineen to discuss her instant New York Times best selling memoir, Inheritance, which is being adapted into a film. Her other books include the memoirs Hourglass, Still Writing, Devotion, and Slow Motion, and five novels including Black & White and Family History. She teaches writing workshops around the world, including Columbia, New York University, and the Sirenland Writers Conference in Italy.

#138 Genetic Counseling Boards Advice

In this episode three genetic counselors share their experience and advice taking the American Genetic Counseling Board exam.

#137 Nina Harkavy and Lorraine Way on Medical Interpretation

This episode we are exploring medical interpreting in genetic counseling and other areas of healthcare. Joining me are Genetic Counselor Nina Harkavy and Interpreter Lorraine Way. Nina is a prenatal genetic counselor at Columbia University. She graduated from the John Hopkins University/ NHGRI genetic counseling training program. Lorraine is a Spanish Instructor, medical interpreter and the President of Language Way, a language service company. She has a master’s in French from Middlebury College where she also studied Spanish.

#136 Linda Robinson on the History of Genetic Counseling

Our profession has evolved over the last 50 years from a small dedicated group of genetic counselors to over 5,000 individuals in the United States, with sister organizations in Canada, Europe and Australia. Just as the field of genetics has evolved over the last 40 years, so has the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) and genetic counselors.

#135 NSGC 2020 Recap

The National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) hosted its annual conference virtually this past weekend with a new record for attendance. In this special extended installment of DNA Today we are recapping and reflecting on a few sessions from the conference.

#134 Dr. Kat Arney on Cancer Evolution

Dr. Kat Arney is our guest in this episode of DNA Today. She is a fellow genetics podcaster! She is an award-winning science writer, author, presenter, broadcaster, and public speaker. Her voice will probably be familiar to you as she has appeared on radio and TV around the world including BBC Radio 4, the Naked Scientists and Naked Genetics podcasts, and more recently as the host of the Genetics Unzipped podcast. She has written for outlets including the Times Educational Supplement, BBC Science Focus, the Daily Mail, Wired, BBC Online, The Guardian, and New Scientist. Dr. Arney has authored three popular science books: “Herding Hemingway’s Cats: Understanding How Our Genes Work”, “How to Code a Human” and her new book, “Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life's Oldest Betrayal”.

DTC Series: Melanie Hardy on Carrier Screening

This episode is the last installment of our 7 part direct-consumer genetic testing series. Joining for this episode is guest Melanie Hardy, Assistant Director of JScreen Genetic Counseling Services, which is part of Emory University School of Medicine. Melanie has been an active member in The National Society of Genetic Counselors and the American Board of Genetic Counseling, including chairing multiple committees, workgroups and programs. She has also served on capstone committees for genetic counseling students at multiple universities.

DTC Series: Michael Schnall-Levin on Single Cell Sequencing

Michael Schnall-Levin joins host Kira Dineen on this episode to explore genetic testing technology including next-gen sequencing, single cell sequencing and bioinformatics. This episode is part 6 of our ongoing direct-consumer genetic testing series, check out our previous episodes for other deep dives into DTC topics.

DTC Series: Libby Copeland on Law Enforcement’s Use of Genetic Databases

This episode is part of our ongoing direct-consumer genetic testing series. Joining the show is an award-winning journalist, Libby Copeland. Copeland, who writes about culture, science and human behavior, is the author of a new book, “The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are,” which explores the personal, familial and ethical implications of recreational DNA testing. Copeland was a reporter and editor at The Washington Post for eleven years, has been a media fellow and guest lecturer, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

DTC Series: Anne Greb on 23andMe

Anne Greb, MS, CGC joins the show to share her expertise on direct-to-consumer genetic testing as part of our ongoing series on DNA Today. She is a genetic counselor and serves as lead of the medical education team at 23andMe. In this role, she is responsible for developing educational initiatives that equip healthcare professionals to better integrate personalized genetic information into the everyday care of their patients. Previously Anne was the program director of 3 genetic counseling programs, Wayne State University, Long Island University and Sarah Lawrence College. She also directed the medical genetics course taken by first year medical students at Wayne State University.

DTC Series: Picture Genetics on At-Home, Physician-Mediated, Genetic....

Guests for this episode are from Fulgent Genetics (offering Picture Genetic kits), which is the sponsor of this new Direct To Consumer Genetic Testing Series. Jessica Shiles is a genetic counselor and Dr. Samuel Strom is the lab director.

DTC Series: Adam Rutherford on How To Argue With A Racist

Dr. Adam Rutherford is our guest for this second installment of our Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing series. He is a geneticist, author, and broadcaster. Dr. Rutherford has a PhD in Genetics, a degree in evolutionary biology, and is an honorary Research Fellow at UCLA. He was an audio-visual content editor for the journal Nature for a decade, and is a frequent contributor to the newspaper The Guardian. On radio, he is the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s flagship science program, Inside Science, as well as many documentaries. On TV, he has presented multiple BBC series including The Beauty of Anatomy, The Gene Code, and award winners Playing God and The Cell.

DTC Series: Jeanette McCarthy on the Industry

This episode kicks off our Direct-To-Consumer (DTCs) Genetic Testing Series! Check out our previous episodes about DTCs including episode 116, 105, 91, 80, and 56.

Answering your listener submitted questions about the American genetic counseling board exam is the ABGC President, Adam Buchanan, MS, MPH, CGC!

Aside from this role at American Board of Genetic Counseling, Adam is an associate professor, genetic counselor and Director of the Geisinger Genomic Medicine Institute. Previously, he was a research associate at Duke Cancer Institute. His clinical expertise includes intimate knowledge of recommended risk management for hereditary cancer syndromes. He is co-leading Geisinger’s MyCode genomic screening program for medically actionable genomic results, and is helping to develop a health services research portfolio on patient-participant, family, and system outcomes of this program.

Answering your listener submitted questions about the American genetic counseling board exam is the ABGC President, Adam Buchanan, MS, MPH, CGC!

Aside from this role at American Board of Genetic Counseling, Adam is an associate professor, genetic counselor and Director of the Geisinger Genomic Medicine Institute. Previously, he was a research associate at Duke Cancer Institute. His clinical expertise includes intimate knowledge of recommended risk management for hereditary cancer syndromes. He is co-leading Geisinger’s MyCode genomic screening program for medically actionable genomic results, and is helping to develop a health services research portfolio on patient-participant, family, and system outcomes of this program.

Infertility Series: Nick Charles on Controversies

This episode concludes DNA Today’s 7 part infertility series. The first episode kicked off with Lauren Isley who shared about fertility genetic counseling. The next two episodes featured a couple who went through reciprocal IVF to have their daughters (part 1 and 2). Filmmakers of fertility movie ANYA joined the show next. Dr. Kara Goldman followed discussing diagnostic fertility testing. Last episode, Genetic Counselor Jennifer Eccles explained the science behind PGT for polygenic conditions.

Infertility Series: Jennifer Eccles on PGT for Polygenic Conditions

This episode continues DNA Today’s series about infertility. Over the last five episodes of DNA Today, we talked with experts in fertility.

DNA Today stands in solidarity with BLM and in doing so we wanted to share a few resources with you listeners where you can educate yourself by listening to Black voices in our genetics community. You can support BLM through donations to ActBlue here.

This episode continues DNA Today’s series about infertility. Over the last few episodes of DNA Today, we talked with experts in fertility. On the first episode we heard from Lauren Isley, a genetic counselor about artificial reproductive technologies and the genetic counseling side. We also had the Baileys on the show to share their reciprocal IVF journey in part 1 and part 2.

This episode is part of DNA Today’s ongoing infertility series. The series was launched hearing from Genetic Counselor Lauren Isley, she shared about artificial reproductive technologies and infertility genetic counseling.

Celebrate Match Day with DNA Today on Friday, April 24th at 7pmET (4pmPT) on Zoom. We want to wish you congrats and share our advice for navigating grad school. Previous guests from last year’s Match Day episode from Sarah Lawrence College’s Class of 2020 will be hosting including Karl Krahn, Maria van Noordenne, Ashlyn Enokian, and Kira Dineen. We’ll also be doing a QnA, so bring your questions!

This episode continues the DNA Today’s series about infertility. If you haven’t yet heard the episode with Genetic Counselor Lauren Isley, I highly recommend you go back and listen to learn more about the artificial reproductive technologies and the genetic counseling side. It’s a great preview into this episode.

This episode is kicking off a series about infertility. The launch of this series is coinciding with infertility awareness week, April 19-25th, 2020. Over the next few episodes of DNA Today, we will be talking to experts in fertility these include genetic counselors, a couple who went through IVF, even filmmakers who produced a science fiction movie about fertility.

Zaki Sabet joins the show to discuss issues in the diagnostic process of hematologic cancers. Zaki has been with Precipio since co-founding the company in 2011 and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer. He holds over 15 years of experience in laboratory management spanning all fields of reference laboratory operations primarily focusing on cancer diagnostics, which is the focus of our conversation on this episode. Prior to Precipio, Zaki has served as a consultant with the College of American Pathologists (CAP) for many years as well as several diagnostic companies in setting up their specialized cancer testing operations. Zaki holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

This episode continues the crossover series with other podcasts. Joining the show is Dr. Janina Jeff, who is a Human Geneticist and the first African American to graduate with a PhD in Human Genetics from Vanderbilt University. She is currently a Senior Scientist at Illumina, a biotech company that creates technology for companies such as Ancestry.com and 23&Me. Her research career was focused on population genetics, specifically studying admixed populations (descendants with African ancestry) and discovering population specific genetic risk factors of common disease. Her podcast, “In Those Genes”, is a hip-hop inspired show that uses genetics to uncover the lost identities of African Americans.

By the end of 2020, roughly 100 million people will have taken an at-home DNA test, according to MIT Technology Review. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the combined populations of Texas, California and Florida! In this podcast episode we explore considerations of direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

Dr. Daria Julkowska joins the show for Rare Disease Month as the Coordinator of the European Joint Program on Rare Diseases. This organization was newly established in January 2019. Daria is of Polish origin but she has lived and worked in France for the last 18 years. She has a PhD in molecular biology and is involved in rare diseases research and management for the last ten years.

Genetic Counselor Matt Burgess join the first episode of 2020 to talk about Australian genetic counseling and being a clinical science liaison. He built one of Australia’s most successful genetic counseling private practices in Melbourne. Matt provided versatile genetic counseling services using a broad scope of knowledge including hereditary cancer, neurogenetics, prenatal genetics, adult, pediatric and cardiac genetics. He earned a graduate degree in genetic counseling from the University of Newcastle and a Masters of Applied Positive Psychology at The University of Melbourne. He is currently a Clinical Science Liaison at Baylor Genetics. Matt also hosts another genetics podcast, “Demystifying Genetics”, which makes this is episode part of my crossover series with other genetic podcasts.

Lauren Winter joins host Kira Dineen on this episode exploring the genetics of dentistry. They are both genetic counseling graduate students, Lauren attends the University of Pittsburgh and Kira attends Sarah Lawrence College. Lauren is a Research Assistant involved in the COHRA2/COHRA Smile Projects at the Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics. Lauren and Kira discuss this project and dental genetics in general.

On this episode, we explore the pediatric speciality of genetic counseling. Guest Sam Toy is a pediatric genetic counselor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She earned her BS in Biology and MS in Professional Biology from Indiana University. She went on to earn her MS in genetic counseling from Indiana State University.

In this podcast episode we recap highlights from the sessions and tips for new attendees next year. Also check out #NSGC19 on Twitter to read more insight from the conference.

How the film has aged with genetic technology, society, ethics, and more.