The first day of the FOGM conference was absolutely incredible! I learned so much and heard some fascinating science, as well as met some truly amazing scientists and entrepreneurs. Here are the talks I’m most looking forward to today!

Todd Golub, MD, Speaking on Cancer Genomics

Dr. Golub has been a key member of important institutions such as the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School, and made important discoveries in the genetic basis for childhood leukemia.

Mickey Kertesz, PhD, Speaking on Circulating DNA and RNA

Dr. Kertesz is the CEO of Karius, a company dedicated to making pathogen detection easier to implement for patients. He has a PhD in computational biology and did postdoctoral work at Stanford in investigating the genetic diversity of viruses.

Ash Alizadeh, MD, Phd, Speaking on Circulating DNA and RNA

Dr. Alizadeh studies the genomic biomarkers of tumors, particularly looking at non-invasive methods of detecting cancer such as looking for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA in the blood). Shouldn’t be missed!

Jimmy Lin, MD, PhD, MHS, CSO, Speaking on Circulating DNA and RNA

Dr. Lin led the first ever exome sequencing studies in cancer and is the CSO of Natera.

Alicia Zhou, PhD, Speaking on Predictive and Preventative Genetics

Dr. Zhou studied the effects of the c-Myc oncogene in triple negative breast cancer, and currently works as the Head of Research at Color Genomics to bring population genetics to full populations.

Leslie Biesecker, MD, Speaking on Predictive and Preventative Genetics

Dr. Biesecker developed the ClinSeq® program in 2006, before the wide availability of NGS. I’m looking forward to hearing his perspective on preventative genetics.

Robert Gould, PhD, Speaking on Epigenetics

Dr. Gould has had an incredibly distinguished career. He’s currently President and CEO of Fulcrum Therapeutics–prior to that, he served as the director of novel therapeutics at the Broad Institute and spent 23 years at Merck.

Kathleen Rubins, PhD, Speaking on Our Genomics Past and Future

Dr. Rubins is the first person to sequence DNA in space! Need I say anything more?