Xenotransplantation has long been a scientifically promising but ethically complex field, overshadowed by its limited practicality despite the growing shortage of transplantable organs and the urgent needs of patients. Recent breakthroughs, including genetically modified pig heart transplants in 2022 and 2023, have demonstrated its feasibility, marking a turning point even though long-term survival has not yet been achieved. In this episode of Behind the Breakthroughs, Mike Curtis, PhD, President and CEO of eGenesis, explains how the company is building on this success to advance xenotransplantation as a scalable clinical strategy, emphasizing that even temporary extensions of life—such as a recent nine-month kidney transplant case—can provide meaningful outcomes and bridge patients to future treatments.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Traditional drugs usually inhibit specific protein sites, but many disease-causing proteins lack accessible or unique motifs, leaving them “undruggable.” Targeted Small-molecule drugs have long been the quiet workhorses of modern medicine, slipping inside cells to target disease-driving proteins, even as biologics, immunotherapies, and genetic medicines have taken center stage in recent years. Yet thousands of disease-related proteins remain “undruggable” because they lack the structural pockets needed for traditional inhibitors to bind. In this episode, Markus Warmuth, MD, CEO of Monte Rosa Therapeutics, explains how molecular glue degraders harness the cell’s protein-disposal machinery to eliminate harmful proteins entirely, and how the company’s QUEEN discovery platform is advancing new therapies in cancer and autoimmune disease.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cancer Research Institute CEO Alicia Zhou, PhD, traces her path from teenage lab technician to leader in cancer immunotherapy. Trained at MIT and Dana-Farber, she worked on The Cancer Genome Atlas before moving to industry at Color Genomics, expanding access to clinical sequencing. Zhou champions applying advanced genomics to immunotherapy through CRI’s Discovery Engine, an open dataset mapping tumor–immune interactions. She argues nonprofits uniquely fund shared infrastructure and standardization efforts. By supporting collaboration, young scientists, and patient resources, Zhou aims to accelerate breakthroughs and ultimately make cancer solvable.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CRISPR has crossed a turning point, evolving from an experimental tool into a platform delivering FDA-approved therapies and on-demand patient treatments that correct disease at its source. Brad Ringeisen, a former DARPA office director and leader at the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), has been at the center of that transition, helping guide CRISPR from early promise toward scalable clinical impact. Ringeisen discusses in this episode how he is collaborating with CRISPR pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna, PhD, at the IGI to address rare, complex, and underserved diseases, going beyond isolated successes. Accessibility, durability, and worldwide benefit, Ringeisen believes, will be the real indicators of CRISPR's success.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cancer immunotherapy evolved through decades of research, with watershed moments like checkpoint inhibitor approvals and the first CAR T trial results reshaping expectations. For Zachary Roberts, MD, PhD, witnessing CAR T-induced remissions as a Mass General resident convinced him of the field’s future and drew him from academia into drug development. Now as CMO and EVP of R&D at Allogene Therapeutics, he’s focused on the next inflection point: transforming CAR T into scalable, off-the-shelf therapies that could broaden access and extend impact beyond cancer to autoimmune disease.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Geroscience sits between hype and skepticism, with headlines swinging from dubious mouse-life supplements to ethically distant fantasies like organ or head transplants. Yet precision medicine has been turning science fiction into reality. Today’s guest, Boyang Wang, thinks lifespan extension is next. Founder of Singapore-based Immortal Dragons, he backs longevity companies—from organ printing to preventive gene therapies. A former computer scientist and tech entrepreneur, Wang now runs a $40M fund supporting underfunded bets on healthspan and aging.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I’m joined by Kevin Davies, PhD, Director of Professional Media Content Development at Sage Publications and acclaimed author of Editing Humanity, one of Jennifer Doudna’s favorite books on CRISPR. We explore key themes in precision medicine in 2025, including personal genomics, gene editing, and clinical impact. The discussion centers on my personal genomic testing series, major gene-editing advances, and emerging debates around embryo selection and IVF-based genomics heading into 2026.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Precision medicine isn’t just molecular—it’s anatomical. Even as gene editing advances, many conditions still demand exquisitely targeted surgical care. That’s the world envisioned by Stereotaxis CEO David Fischel, where operations become remote, cockpit-guided missions. Using magnetic “invisible fingers,” surgeons steer ultra-soft catheters with sub-millimeter precision through fragile vessels. After two decades and 170,000 patients, Stereotaxis has reshaped cardiac procedures into robotic navigation—bridging genomics, anatomy, and the future of intervention.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katherine Stueland’s early advocacy—raising money for genetic disease research as a child—shaped her belief that genomic insight can change lives. As CEO of GeneDx, she has refocused the company on high-need conditions, tripled sequencing capacity, delivered more than 750,000 exomes and genomes, and returned the company to profitability. She highlights the power of combining sequencing with the Infinity database and champions newborn screening, all guided by a core principle: genomic access should reach every family.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Rahul Gupta, MD, MPH, stepped down in January 2025 as Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, he closed a historic chapter as the first physician and first immigrant to serve as America’s “drug czar.” He steered national drug policy toward a public-health approach, advancing harm reduction, expanding naloxone access, and reframing addiction as a treatable condition amid the deadliest years of the fentanyl crisis. Now, as President of GATC Health, Gupta is channeling his experience into biotechnology and AI, seeking to accelerate drug discovery and use data-driven tools to outpace the slow machinery of government.

Produced and hosted by Jonathan D. Grinstein, PhD

Audio mixed and mastered by Erick Ziegler

Brought to you by Inside Precision Medicine (SAGE Publishing)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.