54: Dr. George Church and I Discuss the Woolly Mammoth, Human Aging, DNA Data Storage, and Other Amazing Projects Coming Out of His Lab with Advice for People Getting Started
Summary: Harvard & MIT Professor, author of Regenesis, methods for 1st genome sequence (1994) & 10M-fold improvements (NGS, nanopore), genome editing, writing and recording. In this episode, we get to talk about Genghis Khan ,Woolly Mammoth, storing data in DNA, advice for people getting started, and more all in under one hour!<br> George is one of the most interesting and down to earth people you’ll read about (might be from the future or an alien, but cannot confirm). He is always working to make all of our lives better. Anytime you are looking for inspiration, do what I do, and learn about what he and his team are working on. I always feel like I can do anything after reading or listening to the current things he is working on. I hope to one day contribute like he does! As a side note: I am working on something that was inspired from our discussion, so we shall see how that goes. If anyone is inspired after listening to him talk, please email me and let me know. We can start a fan group around George and scientists in general. Scientists are the unsung superheros of our society! Also, scroll down to the bottom to see the breadth of his work. I felt like it should be put here in it’s entirety. Hyperlinked show notes will go up tonight for this episode and the previous ones that are lacking them! <br> <br> Quick bio<br> “George Church, professor at Harvard & MIT, co-author of 480 papers, 130 patent publications & the book “Regenesis”, developed methods used for the first genome sequence (1994) & million-fold cost reductions since (via NGS and nanopores), plus barcoding, DNA assembly from chips, genome editing, writing & recoding. He co-initiated the BRAIN Initiative (2011) & Genome Projects (1984, 2005) to provide & interpret the world’s only open-access personal precision medicine datasets.<br> George Church is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of <a href="http://www.personalgenomes.org/">PersonalGenomes.org</a>, which provides the world’s only open-access information on human Genomic, Environmental & Trait data (<a href="http://getconference.org/">GET</a>). His 1984 Harvard PhD included the first methods for direct genome sequencing, molecular multiplexing & barcoding. These led to the first genome sequence (pathogen, Helicobacter pylori) in <a href="http://www.nature.com/ng/wilma/v13n1.867861436.html">1994</a> . His innovations have contributed to nearly all “next generation” DNA sequencing methods and companies (CGI-BGI, Life, Illumina, Nanopore). This plus his lab’s work on chip-DNA-synthesis, gene editing and stem cell engineering resulted in founding additional application-based companies spanning fields of medical diagnostics ( <a href="http://pieriandx.com/tute-genomics-acquires-knome/">Knome/PierianDx</a>, <a href="http://alacris.de/">Alacris</a>, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/luketimmerman/2016/01/11/juno-acquires-harvard-spinout-abvitro-for-125m-to-broaden-the-scope-of-cancer-immunotherapy">AbVitro/Juno</a>, <a href="https://www.genosresearch.com/team.html">Genos</a>, <a href="http://www.veritasgenetics.com/">Veritas Genetics</a> ) & synthetic biology / therapeutics ( <a href="http://www.jouleunlimited.com/about/advisors">Joule</a>, <a href="https://www.gen9bio.com/about-us/our-founders">Gen9</a>, <a href="http://editasmedicine.com/">Editas</a>, <a href="http://www.egenesisbio.com/">Egenesis</a>, <a href="http://enevolv.com/about">enEvolv</a>, <a href="http://warpdrivebio.com/about.php">WarpDrive</a> ). He has also pioneered new <a href="http://arep.med.harvard.edu/pdf/Lunshof_10b.pdf">privacy</a>,<a href="http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/safeguarding_biology/">biosafety</a>, <a href="http://arep.med.harvard.edu/gmc/ELSI_gc.html">ELSI</a>, <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/george-church-de-extinction-is-a-good-idea/">environmental</a> & <a></a>
