Ep#009: Cell-free DNA as a Precise Diagnostic Marker of Infectious Diseases with Dr. Tim Blauwkamp

In episode 9 we dive deep into the topic that could not be more relevant today - diagnosis of infectious diseases. Our guest on this episode is Tim Blauwkamp, the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Karius, a company that leverages genomics and AI to develop highly-accurate diagnostic tests based on cell-free DNA sequencing. Karius has recently raised a stunning Series B round of $165 million to further the transition of their test to clinic.
Tim did his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Michigan, where he studied genes involved in nitrogen assimilation in bacteria. He then continued as a PostDoc first in Michigan and then at Stanford researching the mechanisms behind WNT signaling and its role in cell differentiation. He then joined Moleculo as a Head of Molecular biology. Moleculo was acquired by Illumina and Tim was responsible for bringing to life the technologies that made it possible to generate long and accurate sequencing reads. About six years ago, Tim co-founded Karius together with Mickey Kertesz. Tim and his team have achieved enormous progress during the last years, bringing the diagnostic tests to clinics that are already changing the lives of patients.
Together with Tim, we have talked about::
◦ The story behind Karius
◦ Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) as a blood biomarker of infection
◦ Why DNA sequencing has an edge over classical microbiology methods
◦ The challenge of isolating microbial cfDNA from blood
◦ Untangling cfDNA sequencing data with AI
◦ Why Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is hard to detect using NGS
◦ Diagnosing sepsis based on microbial cfDNA
◦ Clinical evidence as a key to healthcare innovation
◦ Working with payers to spread the use of innovative diagnostic tests
◦ How cfDNA screening can become a cornerstone of next-generation medicine
Get in touch with Tim:
◦ LinkedIn: Tim Blauwkamp
◦ Twitter: @timblauwkamp
◦ Web (Karius): http://kariusdx.com/
◦ Email: [email protected]
Make sure to download the full show notes with our guest's bio, links to their most notable work and our recommendations for further reads on the topic of the episode at pmedcast.com