Absolute Gene-ius

Precision oncology research increasingly depends on finding the right biomarker and choosing the right tool to measure it.

In this episode of Absolute Gene-ius, Dr. Javier Hernández Losa, leader of the Molecular Biology Laboratory at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, joins Lisa Crawford and Jordan Ruggieri to discuss the evolving world of biomarker research. Javier explores the growing range of protein, DNA, RNA, and other molecular biomarkers, along with challenges posed by FFPE tissue, limited sample material, and liquid biopsy. He also explains how technology selection depends on the biological question: qPCR and digital PCR can be valuable for highly specific, sensitive analysis of a small number of known targets, while NGS can support broader profiling and discovery. The conversation also covers molecular residual disease, orthogonal validation, assay design, methylation, and the potential of combining multiple layers of molecular information.

In Career Corner, Javier reflects on 25 years in oncology research, the mentor who helped launch his career, and why young scientists should stay open to new technologies, questions, and directions. He also shares the familiar graduate-school promise that results will always be ready “on Monday.”

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

In this Science Snapshot episode of Absolute Gene-ius, Lisa Crawford and Jordan Ruggieri revisit conversations with researchers working at the limits of molecular detection. Dr. Nikhil Ram Mohan explains how digital PCR revealed viral RNA signals that were difficult to detect by qPCR and how absolute quantification helped expose subtle differences. Dr. Clarence Lee discusses finding known biomarkers and mutations in complex samples, including circulating tumor DNA and cell and gene therapy applications. Dr. Parker Wilson shares how digital PCR helped verify rare Y chromosome loss first observed by single-cell sequencing, while Dr. Jesus Mingorance describes using multiple PCR approaches to investigate difficult-to-measure HIV-2 viral load. Finally, Wendy Wang brings the concept of partitioning to life with a memorable analogy for understanding copy number and structural variation.

 Together, these stories show that rare-target research is often about more than simply asking whether a signal is present. It is about choosing the right tools to detect it, measure it confidently, and decide what that small signal might mean.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

Chickens cough, coronaviruses persist, and molecular methods can reveal more than meets the eye.

In this episode of Absolute Gene-ius, University of Calgary researcher Fathima Ishara Isham joins Lisa Crawford and Jordan Ruggieri to explore infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a coronavirus that affects poultry health and can disrupt egg production. Ishara explains how IBV can move beyond the respiratory tract, why vaccination strategies differ for broilers and layers, and the practical challenges of animal studies involving large sample sets and multiple time points. She also walks through her study comparing qPCR and digital PCR for IBV detection, including quantification range, limit of detection, precision, specificity, and testing of real-world tissue, swab, air, water, and dust samples. Her findings highlight how digital PCR can detect low-level viral signals in samples that tested negative by qPCR, raising new questions about persistence and infectivity.

 In Career Corner, Ishara shares her path from Sri Lanka to Canada, the value of mentorship, and why saying “I don’t know” can be a strength. Plus, she recalls a proud cell-culture milestone and one illuminating immunofluorescence mistake.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

Choosing between qPCR and digital PCR isn't about finding a winner, it's about asking the right scientific question.

In this Science Snapshot, Jordan Ruggieri and Lisa Crawford revisit insights from researchers including Corbin Schuster, Nikhil Ram Mohan, Brandi Kiel Reese, Pavla Brachova, Nehemiah Seth Alvarez, Raquel Muñoz, Rounak Feigelman, and Brian Bahder to explore how qPCR and dPCR work together across a wide range of applications. From environmental DNA and pathogen surveillance to COVID viral RNAemia, reproductive biology, CAR-T cell monitoring, and assay development, each guest demonstrates why qPCR often provides the speed, flexibility, and throughput needed for discovery, while digital PCR delivers the analytical sensitivity, precision, and absolute quantification required for challenging targets. Together, these examples illustrate that the strongest workflows often combine both technologies, allowing researchers to move seamlessly from broad screening to highly confident quantitative measurements.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

PCR gets amplified, quantified, partitioned, and multiplexed in this practical tour through three decades of molecular biology innovation.

Dr. John Pfeifer, senior real-time PCR field application scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific, joins Jordan and Lisa to explain how conventional PCR, qPCR, and digital PCR generate and interpret results differently. John describes real-time PCR as a versatile “Swiss army knife,” while digital PCR offers particular advantages for detecting rare targets against a high background. He then explores multiplexing, including how TaqMan assays use distinct fluorescent dyes to detect multiple targets in one reaction. The conversation covers the benefits of multiplexing for throughput, sample conservation, precision, and quality control, along with key considerations such as target abundance, Taq polymerase saturation, primer limitation, dye selection, mixed standard curves, and wet-lab validation.

In Career Corner, John traces his scientific curiosity from childhood books and theoretical physics to genetics, molecular virology, and PCR. He also recalls a demonstration gone wrong, a surprisingly restorative qPCR presentation involving Charles the goat, and the sales-rep conversation that changed his career.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

In this Science Snapshot, we explore copy number variation (CNV) and why accurately measuring gene copies is critical for modern research.

Jordan Ruggieri and Lisa Crawford demonstrate how digital PCR has transformed DNA quantification using conversations with past Absolute Gene-ius guests including Dave Bauer, Dustin Rubinstein, Raquel Muñoz, Lee Ann Baxter-Lowe, Parker Wilson, Valeria Rangel, and Brian Bahder. They begin with the fundamentals of absolute quantification before exploring real-world applications in CRISPR genome editing, CAR-T cell expansion, transplant monitoring using donor-derived cell-free DNA, chromosomal mosaicism, leukemia research, and environmental genomics. Along the way, listeners learn why digital PCR provides advantages over traditional PCR approaches for measuring rare targets, validating edits, detecting low-abundance DNA, and producing confident quantitative results.

Whether you're new to CNV analysis or already using digital PCR in your research, this episode offers practical perspectives from scientists applying these technologies every day. It's a fast-paced overview of why accurate DNA measurement continues to shape discoveries across molecular biology.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

Some science stories start with a textbook. Donna Paznar’s started with a tick.

In this episode of Absolute Gene-ius, Donna Paznar, head of Molecular Infection Diagnostics at the Medical University of Vienna, discusses her work studying Streptococcus pneumoniae and its impact across the Austrian population. She explains why this respiratory bacterium can be especially dangerous for infants and older adults, how children may act as asymptomatic reservoirs, and why tracking more than 100 bacterial serotypes is both important and technically challenging. Donna also walks through the molecular methods behind her work, including qPCR for identifying positive samples, nested PCR for targeting more specific DNA regions, and sequencing to help confirm serotypes. Along the way, she highlights the complexity of surveillance research and the goal of developing more efficient multiplex qPCR approaches.

The career corner takes a fun turn into ticks, workplace cliques, qPCR mistakes, and a proud sleuthing moment involving a rare tick-borne pathogen. Donna’s advice is simple and useful: try opportunities, expect failure, and stay open-minded.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

Cancer research is moving fast, and molecular tools are helping scientists see more, measure more, and ask better questions.

In this Science Snapshot episode of Absolute Gene-ius, Jordan Ruggieri and Lisa Crawford revisit memorable oncology-related clips from past conversations. Dr. Raquel Munoz explains how CAR-T cells are engineered to recognize and kill cancer cells, and how PCR-based methods can help confirm successful modification and track CAR-T expansion. Dr. Dustin Rubinstein shares how CRISPR and genome editing are being used to create pig models, including “onco-pig,” that may better reflect aspects of human cancer biology than traditional models. The episode also connects cell-free DNA research from Dr. Lee Ann Baxter-Lowe to oncology applications, before turning to Dr. Kathie Sollweck’s discussion of circulating tumor DNA and the sensitivity needed to detect low mutational burden in liquid biopsy research. Finally, Valeria Rangel offers practical perspective on multiplex PCR assay design.

And because it is Absolute Gene-ius, the science comes with some laughs, a few pig jokes, and a reminder that even complex oncology methods can be surprisingly fun to talk about.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

In this episode, Michael Stump and Matteo Franco from ProtaGene explore the growing importance of integration site analysis (ISA) in cell and gene therapy. As viral vectors like lentivirus and AAV become more widely used, understanding where and how they integrate into the genome is essential for assessing genotoxicity and long-term safety. The discussion dives into how sequencing reveals integration locations, clonal expansion risks, and potential activation of oncogenes. They also highlight how tools like digital PCR complement sequencing as orthogonal methods that help enable precise quantification, validation, and new applications like vector integrity and copy number analysis. Beyond the science, the conversation explores the CRO role in supporting both early-phase discovery and late-stage regulatory needs, balancing innovation with regulatory expectations, and adapting to emerging modalities like LNPs.

The career corner brings a mix of honesty and humor, from chaotic CRO workdays to broken PCR capillaries and runaway lab mice, paired with thoughtful advice on navigating industry paths, building GMP expertise, and finding the right fit between academia and industry.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.

PCR may be decades old, but it is still one of the most versatile tools in modern molecular biology.

In this crossover episode, Absolute Gene-ius welcomes Steve Lewis, host of Speaking of Mol Bio and Director of Product Management at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Steve discusses why PCR remains so broadly relevant across research and applied science, from human identification and food testing to gene synthesis and molecular characterization. He also explores emerging trends shaping molecular biology workflows, including multiplexing, assay design, customization, miniaturization, and the ongoing need for high-quality PCR plastics. The conversation also digs into sustainability in the lab, including why single-use plastics remain essential for reducing contamination risk and how more sustainable material sourcing can help reduce carbon impact without compromising performance.

In Career Corner, Steve shares a winding path that started in communications, moved through startups and home brewing, and eventually led to bioprocessing, biosecurity, synthetic biology, and product management. His advice? Cultivate curiosity, surround yourself with good people, and try not to drop your E. coli flask.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, hosts, and science featured in the series. Explore how Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Digital and Real-Time PCR Systems support research across neuroscience, oncology, agriculture, and more.