Tgen Talks

275 days ago, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia … a novel coronavirus was eventually identified and labeled COVID-19.   Since that time, over 200,000 Americans have died and over 7.1 million have tested positive for the disease. Globally, the number of deaths has reached 1 million with more than 33 million citizens testing positive.   Our guest this month on TGen Talks is Dr. David Engelthaler, co-director of TGen North, the Pathogen and Microbiome Division of TGen located in Flagstaff, Arizona, who shares his insights on the latest information and developments surrounding COVID-19 — locally and globally — from testing to the value of masks, and vaccine development.

Immune cells, also known as white blood cells, help the body fight infection and disease. Now, scientists and clinicians at TGen and City of Hope are using immune cells in combination with chemotherapy drugs to tailor personalized treatments for cancer patients. Specifically, they're using a mathematical formula to predict who might respond best to this type of therapy.    This month on TGen Talks, Sunil Sharma, M.D, TGen Deputy Director of Clinical Sciences and Director of the Applied Cancer Research and Drug Discovery Division discusses immunotherapy, this latest advance, and how it could lead to the development of innovative clinical trials in the future.

Following the lifting of social restrictions and individuals returning to work, the medical profession has seen a recent spike in COVID-19 cases. This month on TGen Talks, Tyler Delaughder, D.O., a TGen clinical research coordinator and recent graduate of Midwestern University, shares his interpretations of the medical issues surrounding COVID-19.     Dr. Delaughder provides insight on the progress of testing and what we might expect next by looking into the past, identifying human error, understanding the power of Mother Nature, and the body’s own genomic complexities. Is there a way of stopping future viruses from developing or are they inevitable? And how is the progress being made in the labs at TGen and TGen North informing the medical profession during this pandemic. All this and more on TGen Talks.

For nearly 6 months, COVID-19 has raised numerous questions and concerns, as well as having led to global disruption. In addition to testing, TGen was an early adopter in tracking the virus to learn how it mutates and spreads. Joining TGen Talks to discuss what we've learned is Dr. David Engelthaler, co-director of TGen North, the Pathogen and Microbiome Division of TGen located in Flagstaff, Arizona.   Dr. Engelthaler discusses what the epidemiology is telling us about COVID-19, and how that plays into decisions states are making on whether to open, and if so, how broadly? He also discusses the global effort toward vaccine development, the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 in the fall, lessons learned in terms of public health and how we prepare for other viruses in the future.

What can a few drops of blood tell scientists about how one’s immune system reacted to COVID-19? If you’re TGen North’s Dr. John Altin, you hope a lot.   In this episode of TGen Talks, Dr. Altin discusses a new study entitled the COVID Immunity Study whereby citizen-scientists diagnosed with, and subsequently recovered from, COVID-19 can contribute a few blood spots that will enable Dr. Altin to investigate the antibody response against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the COVID 19 disease.  Through his study Dr. Altin, an Assistant Professor in TGen’s Pathogen and Microbiome Division, hopes to find antibody signatures of exposure that are clear and robust and perhaps even signature that differentiate the different types of disease that people experience. The Holy Grail would be signatures that indicate what type of immune response provides protection, versus one that may do more harm than good. The answer may lie in their immune response. This study may find the answers.

The COVID-19 coronavirus continues to affect lives on a daily basis. Businesses, churches, schools, and other public facilities are closing. Sporting events and meetings are canceled daily. News reports tell us how hospitals are grappling with limited testing capabilities. There seem to be more questions than answers, and if ever there was a time for answers, it is now. Joining TGen Talks to discuss COVID-19, is Dr. David Engelthaler, co-director of TGen North, the Pathogen and Microbiome Division of TGen located in Flagstaff, Arizona, who discusses the launch of a genomic-based test for COVID-19, and TGen’s collaborative work with the Arizona Department of Health Services to test for and identify pockets of COVID-19 across the state.

Our DNA tells the story of who we are genetically. But when we develop cancer, our tumor DNA tells a different version of that story. At Ashion Analytics, a subsidiary of TGen, a patient's tumor sample undergoes testing in a CLIA-certified laboratory —through its flagship test, GEM ExTra— to understand how the story changed and how Ashion can help treating physicians identify actionable steps to help their patients. In episode 24 of TGen Talks, Dr. Janine LoBello, Medical Director and Pathologist of Ashion Analytics, discusses Ashion's beginnings, how their services benefit medical professionals, and a few interesting facts you may not know about the BReast CAncer, or BRCA, gene. Listen now or learn more at ashion.com.

The human body contains trillions of individual cells, and inside each resides a unique genetic code. Single-cell RNA sequencing enables researchers to study the mechanics of individual cells and identify the processes underlying disease states — valuable information that helps predict disease susceptibility, or resistance, to drug therapies.     This is particularly important in the study of cancer, as cells are constantly mutating. Single-cell sequencing allows investigators to observe these patterns of mutations at a micro-level. In episode 23 of TGen Talks, Dr. Sen Peng, a computational scientist with TGen’s Brain Tumor Unit, discusses how data from single-cell sequencing allows Dr. Peng and his colleagues to study — and make inroads against — the deadly brain cancer, glioblastoma.    Dr. Peng also discusses work with colleagues at City of Hope and elsewhere, and his future plans for studying glioblastoma.

Over the past decade, cancer treatment has gone from a one-size-fits-all approach to a targeted and personal approach known widely as Precision Medicine.   Among the leaders at TGen pushing the boundaries of this new frontier is Dr. Sunil Sharma, Deputy Director of TGen Clinical Sciences, Professor, and Division Director in the Applied Cancer Research and Drug Discovery division.   Dr. Sharma is a well-known cancer investigator, responsible for helping develop some of the world’s most advanced anti-cancer agents.    In episode 22 of TGen Talks, Dr. Sharma discusses his work in drug development and patient clinical trials in concert with City of Hope in California, and TGen’s clinical partnership with the HonorHealth Research Institute. Whether in the clinic, or at the bench, his work helps bring precision medicine solutions to patients in need.

Experts aren’t sure why some people accumulate fat in the liver while others do not, but they all agree it’s a serious health issue. One type, known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease — or NAFLD — is a collection of liver conditions affecting people who drink little to no alcohol. It’s also the most common form of chronic liver disease and is tied closely to diabetes. In episode 21 of TGen Talks, Johanna DiStefano, Ph.D., a Professor in TGen’s Quantitative Medicine and Systems Biology Division and Head of its Diabetes and Fibrotic Disease Unit discusses the connections between NAFLD and diabetes, her work to determine the disease trajectory of patients with NAFLD, and what you can do to avoid getting NAFLD.

Don't let the word rare fool you. Roughly 1-in-10 individuals in the world are affected by a rare disease, and our Center for Rare Childhood Disorders is on a mission to find diagnoses and treatments for these individuals and families.   In episode 20 of TGen Talks, Center co-director, Keri Ramsey, explains the advances science has made in genetic sequencing and how we've applied it to help our patients through treatments, gene therapy, and FDA drug testing. Listen to learn more about how our Center and its donors are impacting the lives of our community.

The offer of help to a family friend created a serendipitous chain of events that led Dr. Nick Banovich to study Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). IPF is a type of lung disease that scars the lungs and as it worsens makes it for the lungs to take in enough oxygen. In episode 19 of TGen Talks, Dr. Banovich explains how the right collaboration and today's technology make it possible to examine individual cells, rather than a mash-up of many cells from a tissue sample, to identify gene expression changes associated with IPF, work that is breathing new life into research surrounding IPF.

TGen North's Dr. David Engelthaler discusses Valley Fever. We learn why Arizona - with nearly 65% of all Valley Fever cases in the U.S.- is the perfect hotbed for research into this debilitating and potentially lethal disease, and how TGen North is tracking this warm-climate invader and adapting today's technology to provide much needed answers to this age-old problem.

Patrick Pirrotte, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of the Cancer and Cell Biology Division and the Director of TGen's Collaborative Center for Translational Mass Spectrometry discusses the role of proteomics in cancer research, and finding new targets for cancer treatment.

TGen Assistant Professor, Dr. Will Hendricks, discusses comparative oncology, a field of study that in recent years has gained in popularity, as it seeks to integrate information from naturally occurring cancers in pets into what we know about the biology of cancer in humans.

MindCrowd, launched seven years ago by Dr. Matthew Huentelman, studies the healthy brain. At its core, MindCrowd offers a new way approach scientific research to learn how the brain functions and how genetics influences memory.

Microbes out-number the genes in your DNA by more than 1,000 to 1 and together they make up what is known as your microbiome. TGen’s Dr. Sarah K. Highlander, a research professor in the Pathogen and Microbiome Division at TGen North and director of the Clinical Microbiome Service Center, works to understand the microbiome and how it is helping scientists better understand cancer, diabetes and a host of other conditions, including traveler’s diarrhea.

Dr. Glen Otero, a 20 year veteran of life science industry and an expert in high-performance computing, discusses artificial intelligence, or A.I., and how it addresses the computational needs of the biomedical research community by executing tasks more rapidly and without human error in a fraction of the time. Today, A.I. is used to process complex genomic data sets to accelerate delivery of personalized treatments for cancer and other diseases by turning raw genomic data —such as a human genome sequence— into usable information to predict disease patterns and treatment outcomes.

In medicine, a biomarker is anything used to determine the presence or development of a particular disease or biological state. They can be used to determine if an injury or disease has occurred, or even if a therapy is working. In this episode, Dr. Kendall Van Keuren-Jensen, a Professor in TGen Neurogenomics Division and Co-Director of TGen’s Center for Noninvasive Diagnostics, discusses how her team is working on ways to use biomarkers — in this case the molecular readout of RNA — as a non-invasive method for studying and treating complex diseases, such as those that affect the nervous system.

Nature vs. nurture? How about nature and nature? Dr. Candace Lewis, a postdoctoral fellow in the Huentelman lab at TGen, walks us through a biological regulatory framework known as epigenomics that changes the behavior of our cells due to our life experiences. Dr. Lewis also discusses the resurgence in psychedelic assisted therapy to treat depression and trauma, and her work in Autism.