Q: In a sentence, what is LunaDNA going to do?

A: We will empower and enable individuals to share their genomic information to help fight disease, accelerate medical research and discoveries, and driver smarter healthcare.

Q: There are very well regarded professionals involved with LunaDNA. Why did so many of you leave your prominent jobs to start this startup?

A: I can only use myself as a proxy, but I believe we all saw, from our different positions and perspectives, how powerful DNA technologies have become. And how there is a real bottleneck in the ability to get that fantastic potential all the way into the healthcare and real world under the current setup that R&D is working under.

We can now sequence genomes quickly, accurately and inexpensively. However, we lack a common platform for the research and clinical translation worlds to organize themselves so that every participant is relevant, including the individuals themselves who give access to their biological and lifestyle data. Every individual holds a valuable piece of the puzzle to understand disease and health, and researchers are all in need of more data. Discovery is hindered by putting the majority of data into small silos.

The research community as a whole is expected to deliver new insights as fast and efficiently as possible, and they are best served if they have access to the different data sets that are available.

Then we all started hearing about how the blockchain can be used to keep track of where data comes from, manage who should have access to data and when, and that we can reward people who make the effort to make their data available to the research community. From there, it was clear a great team had to build that quickly.

That led to realization that we – a team representing leaders in engineering, consumer marketing, economics and science – are the right group of people to take on this exciting challenge and responsibility.

After that, it was an exciting choice to give up our otherwise very nice jobs, to get back to your question.

Q: How does the LunaDNA business model work and what makes it unique?

A: LunaDNA is the first genomic and medical research database powered by the blockchain and owned by the community. We’re leveraging the convergence of personal DNA testing popularity and blockchain as a framework for managing complex exchanges and data networks in a manner that is private and secure, and can serve up participation incentives in the form of digital transactions and encrypted currency. We established as a Public Benefit Corp to execute in a community-driven framework for the greater good of society, while still focusing on value creation. Unlike others who are exploring monetization strategies for the data or samples they possess, LunaDNA has the benefit of designing fit-for-purpose leveraging blockchain for research value and equitable partnerships with participants, and will pull in data and then structure it towards the ultimate goal of discovery.

Ultimately we see ourselves as platform and an agent.

Specifically around the Blockchain, its emergence creates a low-friction way to incentivize and deliver value for data sharing and it also allows for private, decentralized ownership in a manner that community members can trust. LunaDNA is first-of-its-kind to converge the advances in genomic testing and cryptocurrency for a medical community-owned database.

Q: Can you give us an example of how people will benefit by joining the LunaDNA community?

A: Genomics has captured the imagination. Personalized medicine messages are now mainstream. We have pockets of excellent examples of genomics improving care and saving lives, but it’s not standard care for many reasons, such as lack of greater predictive power versus general probabilities of outcomes. We believe community engagement is necessary to achieve a research platform with greater scale, information scope and individual diversity to yield more actionable medical discoveries.

People now have an opportunity to personally fight disease by joining the Luna community. If someone has a disease, their samples, healthcare info, and data are extra valuable for researchers. Healthy or sick, we all can help the world by making it easier to do disease research. In addition, there is an extra motivation factor: the Blockchain will keep track of how much impact and value your participation has now and in the future on different research projects, so you can be rewarded for your efforts. Over half of Luna will be owned by its contributors.

Q: Can you give us an example of how it will benefit researchers to get data access from LunaDNA?

A: By breaking down data silos and bringing individuals together we will more quickly aggregate enough samples to rise above the complexity of genomics and identify disease candidates. As individuals are joining the community to drive discovery, we believe that individuals will be more forthcoming in terms of the health and medical data required by researchers.

Because we are pulling in data, we have the opportunity to structure it optimally such that we minimize the effects of different formats and technologies. This will allow more seamless collaboration between researchers since the same data treatment will yield more reproducible results.

Another opportunity is for Luna to broker permissioned contributor-researcher engagement for follow up questions and next layer research thesis development. At present, a researcher is pressed to know all the questions before beginning their research. Most of the time, the samples/data are disconnected from the donor due to old systems, ways and privacy concerns, so creating a wall solves the privacy issue but doesn’t facilitate richer research, even when people want to participate.

Reimaging research is not a new idea. We are excited to be building a platform to enable this and will partner with leaders in social, legal and ethical disciplines to ensure privacy and trust is paramount.

Q: Your high-profile Illumina role and your TEDx talk made you well known in the genomics industry, but would you mind telling us about yourself, where your personal motivations comes from, and why you think accelerating medical research is so important?

A: I love the intersection of science and business because I’m passionate about putting the technology to work to solve meaningful problems. I believe engagement with the community is the best way to drive rapid and long-term adoption of technology, especially innovation that impacts our personal lives, such as healthcare. Finally, for me, health is the greatest gift we can ask for so that we can live a rich life. I’m fortunate to bring all these motivators to work every day to drive discoveries for better health and quality of life. I believe we need a revolution, not evolution, to accelerate actionable insights from research to drive a true era of precision medicine and ultimately healthier lives from which everyone can benefit.

My TEDx talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3SLHhWYxiY) was an honor and part of the growing discourse we’re sparking around genomics and community-driven discovery.

Q: Tell us about the other team members of LunaDNA?

A: Luna has a compelling cross disciplinary team of experienced leaders in engineering, science, economics and large scale consumer platforms.

This includes LunaDNA CEO and co-founder Bob Kain (former chief engineering officer, Illumina); co-founder David Lewis (life science, equity and credit investor; former director at CitiGroup); co-founder Dan Lin (Redemption Games CTO; Y Combinator alumni); co-founder Michael Witz (cryptocurrency investor; Redemption Games CEO and founder; Y Combinator alumni); and myself as co-founder and president. Additionally, Dr. Scott Kahn, former chief information officer at Illumina, is LunaDNA’s chief information officer.

LunaDNA’s distinguished advisory board includes Dr. David Barker, former vice president and chief scientific officer of Illumina; Dr. Carlos Bustamante, principal investigator and professor of biomedical data science and genetics at Stanford University; Dr. Francisco Garcia, currently the vice president of development at Illumina; Dr. Scott Kahn; Dr. Aristides A.N. Patrinos, member of the Kavli HUMAN Project’s board of advisors and former deputy director for research at New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress; Ashley Van Zeeland, chief technology officer at Human Longevity, Inc. and co-founder of Cypher Genomics; and Ed Yu, chairman of Vascular Cures and former partner at PwC Strategy&Healthcare Practice.

Q: Can you allude to how you are going to tackle this huge challenge of evolving how research is done today?

A: Researchers want new ways to ask and answer important questions, but they’ve been limited by traditional systems that have not been built for a new and much more connected world. We are fortunate to have research groups reaching out to us saying that if we can help them get access to the people they need data and samples from, then that will make a huge difference for them. We also have inbound interest from future contributors including many individuals and leaders of foundations ready to contribute information.

Q: How will you create the critical mass of data in the different disease areas?

A: Our approach is twofold. One strategy will be to reach out to the 10 million individuals who already have genomic data today, explain our mission and the immense value of discovering disease links, educate them on their role in discovery, and invite them into our community. The second parallel strategy will be to strategically partner with a few disease organizations and work together to achieve success in their specific study.

Casting a wide net will allow us to achieve critical mass in many areas over time, while at the same time working with chosen organizations will catalyze short term success in specific areas. Every success is a proof point to the value or our database, further accelerating member growth.

Q: What would you like people to do if they want to help fight disease and become part of the LunaDNA community?

A: Visit our website (www.lunadna.com) and join our newsletter so we can start a conversation!

Interview with Gabriel Bien-Willner of Palmetto GBA

Q: What does your role entail as the director of the MolDX program at Palmetto GBA?

A: The job directing MolDX is multifaceted; first and foremost the MolDX program is responsible for assessing molecular diagnostic tests on the market and makes coverage and pricing determinations for such tests and technology. This is usually done through local coverage determination policies or technical assessments.

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Interview with Peter Marks of FDA

Q: The CBER’s Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation program has been very successful, with about 100 requests for designation in the two years of its existence. Can you please tell us about the program and how it was put together?

A: The Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) Designation program came into being as part of the 21st Century Cures Act that was signed into law on December 13, 2016.

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Interview with Calum MacRae of Harvard Medical School

Q: What patient data do we need to better understand the underlying cause of disease and how to prevent it?

A: Medicine at present is highly underdetermined and data poor. To be precise, one must be comprehensive, so medicine (with our consent) will use not only what we currently conceive of as biomedical information, but also data from across our lives.

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Headlines from PMWC 2019 Silicon Valley

A big ‘Thank You’ to all of our presenters and attendees for celebrating 10 years of precision medicine progress with us! PMWC 2019 Silicon Valley was attended by 2000 participants from 35 countries, which included over 400 speakers in 5 parallel tracks!

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Interview with Ken Bloom of Ambry Genetics

Q: Tell us more about your organization/company. What patient population are you serving and which services are you specializing in?

A: Ambry Genetics is a recognized leader in high quality complex genetic testing. We seek to find the genomic cause or contributors to rare diseases, abnormal phenotypes and hereditary disorders.

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Interview with Lee Pierce of Sirius Computer Solutions

Q: What is the state of big data and analytics in healthcare, and how to best use the reams of data available?

A: More than ever, Healthcare organizations are achieving measurable value through use of their data and analytics assets. There is more raw material available than ever to create value. This raw material is the data flowing from internal systems and applications and also from devices and systems external to healthcare organizations.

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Interview with Anita Nelsen of PAREXEL

Q: There are various new, emerging technologies that bring us closer towards a cure for life-threatening disorders such as cancer, HIV, or Huntington’s disease. Prominent examples include the popular gene editing tool CRISPR or new and improved cell and gene therapies. By when can we expect these new technologies being part of routine clinical care?

A: Today’s emerging technologies are making the promise of individualized treatment a reality.

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Interview with Ilan Kirsch of Adaptive Biotechnologies

Q: The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded recently to James Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their work on unleashing the body’s immune system to attack cancer, a breakthrough that has led to an entirely new class of drugs and brought lasting remissions to many patients who had run out of options. The Nobel committee hailed their accomplishments as establishing “an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.” What is your first-hand experience the impact that those new drugs had on patients?

A: For decades cancer was viewed as solely a cell-autonomous condition.

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BMS buys Celgene | Lilly buys Loxo Oncology – Does this Signal a Return to Strong Deal-Making Activities in 2019?

Bristol-Myers Squibb’s blockbuster $74B deal to buy Celgene creates an oncology powerhouse amid industrywide excitement about the rapidly evolving science and explosive growth of the sector. The agreement could signal a return to deal-making for the pharmaceutical industry in the $133B global oncology therapeutics market.

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Interview with Gini Deshpande of NuMedii

Q: What need is NuMedii addressing?

A: NuMedii, has been pioneering the use of Big Data, artificial intelligence (AI) and systems biology since 2010 to accelerate the discovery of precision therapies to address high unmet medical needs. Artificial Intelligence approaches are a natural fit to harness Big Data as they provide a framework to ‘train’ computers to recognize patterns and sift through vast amounts of new and existing genomic

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Interview with Minnie Sarwal of UCSF

Q: Genomic medicine is entering more hospitals and bringing with it non-invasive technology that can be used to better target and treat diseases. What are some key milestones that contributed to this trend?

A: Completion of complete sequence data from the human genome project, and the advances in proteomic, microRNA and epigenetic assays added a layer of pathway biology to the understanding of human diseases.

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Interview with Shidong Jia of Predicine

Q: Once sequencing has been validated as a clinical solution via trusted workflows, and coinciding with the technological developments driving costs lower, we can expect accelerated human genome profiling for clinical Dx. How soon, do you think, will we see accelerated growth and what can we expect?

A: We will see accelerated human genome profiling for clinical Dx in 2019 and the coming years as more biomarker-based cancer drugs are gaining approval.

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Interview with Iya Khalil of GNS Healthcare

Q: Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have sent vast waves across healthcare, even fueling an active discussion of whether AI doctors will eventually replace human physicians in the future. Do you believe that human physicians will be replaced by machines in the foreseeable future? What are your thoughts?

A: I think that there’s a lot of speculation and uncertainty around AI, but I don’t foresee a time when we won’t need physicians.

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Interview with Ilya Michael Rachman of Immix Biopharma Inc.

Q: The Nobel Price in Medicine was awarded recently to James Allison and Tasuku for their work on unleashing the body’s immune system to attack cancer, a breakthrough that has led to an entirely new class of drugs and brought lasting remissions to many patients who had run out of options. The Nobel committee hailed their accomplishments as establishing “an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.” Besides CAR T-cell therapy what do you think next generation immunotherapies will look like to successfully combat cancer?

A: The next generation of immunotherapies will build on the insights discovered by immunologists like James Allison and Tasuku Honjo and extend them to modify the body’s response to tumors.

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Join me to Kick off PMWC Silicon Valley in the Santa Clara Convention Center, Focusing on Every Element of Precision Medicine

My team worked in collaboration with Bill Dalton, Kim Blackwell, Atul Butte / India Hook Barnard, Nancy Davidson and Sharon Terry to create a program that touches every component of precision medicine while bringing together all of its key stakeholders. Leading participating institutions including Stanford Health Care, UCSF, Duke Health, Duke University, John Hopkins University, University of Michigan and more will share their learnings and experiences and their successes and challenges, as they make precision medicine the new standard of care for all.

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Johns Hopkins
University Of Michigan

The Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC), in its 17th installment, will take place in the Santa Clara Convention Center (Silicon Valley) on January 21-24, 2020. The program will traverse innovative technologies, thriving initiatives, and clinical case studies that enable the translation of precision medicine into direct improvements in health care. Conference attendees will have an opportunity to learn first-hand about the latest developments and advancements in precision medicine and cutting-edge new strategies and solutions that are changing how patients are treated.

See 2019 Agenda highlights:

  • Five tracks will showcase sessions on the latest advancements in precision medicine which include, but are not limited to:
    • AI & Data Science Showcase
    • Clinical & Research Tools Showcase
    • Clinical Dx Showcase
    • Creating Clinical Value with Liquid Biopsy ctDNA, etc.
    • Digital Health/Health and Wellness
    • Digital Phenotyping
    • Diversity in Precision Medicine
    • Drug Development (PPPs)
    • Early Days of Life Sequencing
    • Emerging Technologies in PM
    • Emerging Therapeutic Showcase
    • FDA Efforts to Accelerate PM
    • Gene Editing
    • Genomic Profiling Showcase
    • Immunotherapy Sessions & Showcase
    • Implementation into Health Care Delivery
    • Large Scale Bio-data Resources to Support Drug Development (PPPs)
    • Microbial Profiling Showcase
    • Microbiome
    • Neoantigens
    • Next-Gen. Workforce of PM
    • Non-Clinical Services Showcase
    • Pharmacogenomics
    • Point-of Care Dx Platform
    • Precision Public Health
    • Rare Disease Diagnosis
    • Resilience
    • Robust Clinical Decision Support Tools
    • Wellness and Aging Showcase

See 2019 Agenda highlights:

    • Five tracks will showcase sessions on the latest advancements in precision medicine which include, but are not limited to:
      • AI & Data Science Showcase
      • Clinical & Research Tools Showcase
      • Clinical Dx Showcase
      • Creating Clinical Value with Liquid Biopsy ctDNA, etc.
      • Digital Health/Health and Wellness
      • Digital Phenotyping
      • Diversity in Precision Medicine
      • Drug Development (PPPs)
      • Early Days of Life Sequencing
      • Emerging Technologies in PM
      • Emerging Therapeutic Showcase
      • FDA Efforts to Accelerate PM
      • Gene Editing / CRISPR
      • Genomic Profiling Showcase
      • Immunotherapy Sessions & Showcase
      • Implementation into Health Care Delivery
      • Large Scale Bio-data Resources to Support Drug Development (PPPs)
      • Microbial Profiling Showcase
      • Microbiome
      • Neoantigens
      • Next-Gen. Workforce of PM
      • Non-Clinical Services Showcase
      • Pharmacogenomics
      • Point-of Care Dx Platform
      • Precision Public Health
      • Rare Disease Diagnosis
      • Resilience
      • Robust Clinical Decision Support Tools
      • Wellness and Aging Showcase
  • Luminary and Pioneer Awards, honoring individuals who contributed, and continue to contribute, to the field of Precision Medicine
  • 2000+ multidisciplinary attendees, from across the entire spectrum of healthcare, representing different types of companies, technologies, and medical centers with leadership roles in precision medicine
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