Summary:
This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Heiko Runz, medical geneticist and VP of Neuroscience at insitro. They discuss Heiko’s path into therapeutic genetics, how collaboration and data integration across biobanks led to his discovery of a protective variant for age-related macular degeneration, and the role of cell-based models in drug discovery.
Show Notes:
0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast
00:58 Welcome to Heiko
01:41 Heiko’s career path and how he became interested in medical genetics and therapeutic development
05:49 Connecting the dots across biobanks for genetic discovery
08:23 Heiko’s discovery of a potential gene target for age-related macular degeneration
15:29 The challenge of biobank recontact and why it’s essential for follow-up studies
18:57 The opportunity for smaller companies to follow up on large-scale genomic discoveries
23:00 Advances in cell-based models for neuroscience drug discovery
24:40 Heiko’s role in the development of tofersen for SOD1 ALS
28:50 Targeting TDP-43 in ALS through large-scale cell-based phenotyping and drug discovery
30:36 Using cell-based phenotypes to functionally test disease mechanisms and validate variants
33:58 The potential of AI for refining phenotypes and generating drug hypotheses
36:47 Heiko’s advice to early career professionals interested in the field of genetics and drug discovery
38:26 Closing remarks
Find out more
insitro (https://www.insitro.com), study on CFHR5 (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61193-3)
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