Many of the most difficult to treat diseases that exist today have genetic origins, and one of the most difficult things about devising new treatments is the lack of connection between the research and clinical sides of biology. Because of that, the Future of Genomic Medicine conference is one of the most interesting ones to attend, because a truly fantastic mix of PhDs, MDs, and others (which this year includes journalists, CEOs and an astronaut!) have an opportunity to present and create new connections in this community.

There are so many fascinating speakers that it’s difficult to narrow it down, but here are some to watch out for on Day 1:

Eric Topol, MD, Speaking on the Future of Individualized Medicine

Dr. Topol is the founder and direction of the Scripps Translation Science Institute and in 2016 was awarded a $207M grant to lead a part of the Precision Medicine Initiative. He is one of the organizers of the Future of Genomic Medicine and has been voted the #1 influential physician leader in the US by Modern Healthcare.

Andre Choulika, PhD, Speaking on Genome Editing

In his post-doctoral work, Dr. Choulika was one of the inventors of nuclease-based genome editing and currently serves as CEO of Cellectis. We’re very interested in what he has to say on the current state of genome editing!

Paul Knoepfler, PhD, Speaking on Genome Editing

Dr. Knoepfler is not just a cancer researcher, but also a cancer survivor. He is currently studying the epigenetics of cancer and stem cells, using many techniques including CRISPR. It will be interesting to see how he uses genome editing and CRISPR in his research! He is also an active blogger and author.

Mark DePristo, PhD, Speaking on Data Science in Genomics

Dr. DePristo was part of the team that developed the GATK, one of the most prominent softwares for processing next-generation sequencing data. He currently is the head of the Genomics team at Google.

Jill P. Mesirov, PhD, Speaking on Data Science in Genomics

Dr. Mesirov does fascinating work applying machine learning to cancer genomics to stratify cancer patients according to their risk of relapse and identifying potential compounds for treatments.

Viviane Slon, Graduate Student, Speaking on Genetics of Human Origins

It’s so great to see a graduate student speaking at a conference! Viviane studies the DNA of our closest extinct relatives. It should be interesting to see her new data!

Eske Willerslev, DSc, Speaking on Genetics of Human Origins

Dr. Willerslev is an evolutionary geneticist most known for sequencing the first ancient human genome–it should be interesting to hear his perspective on human origins!

Keep an eye out for my highlights for Day 2 coming tomorrow!