Has this pandemic presented a unique moment for science in our history? Or is it just a strange and temporary moment of science fiction? Or both?
Sci-fi author Kim Stanley Robinson (The Mars Trilogy, The Ministry of the Future) recently penned an essay in the New Yorker about how the virus has “changed our imaginations” and created a new “structure of feeling.”

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Happy summertime! We had positive news this month about an mRNA vaccine from Moderna. We also saw how during a pandemic, the process of science is especially abnormal. Nathan says let's be happy about the good news. Laura's ringing with alarm bells, sensing conflicts of interest right and left.

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Back before the world turned upside down, you know, all those years ago--early this February--a paper popped up on bioRxiv called, “Nanopore adaptive sequencing for mixed samples, whole exome capture and targeted panels." It’s an interesting paper.

In the paper, the authors, led by Matt Loose from the DeepSeq lab at the University of Nottingham, describe a method unique to nanopore sequencing where one can do "selective sequencing of single molecules in real time by individually reversing the voltage across specific nanopores.”

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What is the key to getting a coronavirus vaccine? “Manufacturing,” says today’s guest, Jeff Stein of Cidara Therapeutics.

Jeff joined us just last fall to talk about his company’s exciting new technology, an immunotherapy, that is a universal flu preventative and therapy. Yes, you read that right. A universal flu preventative.

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Our commentators, Nathan Pearson of Root and Laura Hercher of Sarah Laurence College, join us to look back on month two of the first modern pandemic.

We begin with a scandal that rocked the Twitter science community and talk about how science itself may be having a big moment. Will this be a silver lining for this strange year?

Then it’s on to antibody testing. What would a good antibody test need to do? And will there be tough ethical questions when some “have their immunity papers” and go back to work while others do not?

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Why have diagnostic tests for the Coronavirus been slow on the scene? What have been the challenges for lab directors? Were they scientific? Were they regulatory? Were they scaling challenges? Are they still scaling challenges? Supply chain problems?

Elaine Lyon worked for many years at the molecular genetics lab at ARUP at the University of Utah and is now the Clinical Services Lab Director at Hudson Alpha. In both of these jobs she has designed and overseen the design of many diagnostic tests.

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After the virus reached American shores, was the FDA quick enough to allow companies and labs to develop their own tests without restrictive oversight? The question sparked a sweeping new bill in congress, the VALID Act that could overhaul FDA oversight of diagnostics altogether—something that has been clamored for for a generation.

Turna Ray has been covering the FDA and diagnostics for GenomeWeb since 2006. She has recently written a piece on the new VALID Act that includes responses from various members of the community.

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Laura comes to us from her flat in New York, Nathan is stuck in San Diego, but they are here and ready to discuss what a month ago was a warning and now is a full blown world crisis. What have they faced personally? What are their thoughts on testing? And what are some of their early big picture reactions as to how this will all go down?

We make some time for some Corona-free science as well.

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More than one in two hundred people have an inherited form of heart disease. But most don’t know it.

Often on Mendelspod we talk about cancer genomics, but in the area of cardio, too, genetic testing can save lives.

Amy Sturm is the Director of Genomic Counseling and Screening Program at Geisinger Health Systems. There she has led the effort to return the results of cardio genetic tests to over 1,000 patients.

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Lisa Alderson has been helping to build genetic testing companies for a while. In 2016 she co-founded her own company, Genome Medical, a tele-genomics firm to help patients and providers understand genetic testing results.

Anyone in the genetic testing industry will know that Genome Medical’s offering addresses a burning need. As Lisa remarks in today’s show, genetics is complicated.

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