Jun 17, 2026 · 49 min · 13 segments
Healthcare systems around the world are under growing pressure from aging populations, rising costs, and the increasing burden of chronic disease. In the debut episode of Biology Matters, hosts Steve…
Rowan GardnerHost
Steve GardnerHost
Steve, why are you spending all your time at the intersection of computing and biology and healthcare? I know this, I've been married to you for 30 years, but people listening don't.
the structure of it and the intersection of the form of that molecule with its information-carrying properties.
So this ability through generations to have heritable information that is driving every aspect or influencing every aspect of biology in our lives.
And I wanted to spend more time understanding that And then in more recent years, trying to figure out how this relates to the delivery of better solutions that can keep people healthier but also can find new ways of treating especially complex diseases.
And to that extent, we're very much almost at Gen 1 of our understanding of DNA and how it relates to human health, really at the end of Gen 1, I should say.
So about 25 years ago, there was a big announcement across the Atlantic, transatlantic collaboration around the announcement of the first human genome project.
how what we're made of, how our biology works, and in many cases, uncovering new ways to intervene in the biology of those diseases, finding new therapies.
And that has been incredibly useful over the last 25 years, particularly in cancer and in rare genetic disorders.
So, I mean, you're aware that that first generation of pioneers of the Human Genome Project, unfortunately, are starting to pass away.
Those who were in the genomics field at the Millennium, maybe at GSAC in Miami, would have seen Craig striding through the Fountain Blue Hotel with a whole gaggle of people behind him hanging on every one of his words.
And I think he wasn't prepared to let the academics behind the Human Genome Project go at their own planned pace.
He was somebody who held his concept of celerity, because that was the inspiration for Celera, very close.
And she sort of quoted one of Ventner's comments to her in a video interview from last year where he said, it's hard to identify a pharmaceutical drug whose development wasn't impacted by the Human Genome Project.
Steve, why are you spending all your time at the intersection of computing and biology and healthcare? I know this, I've been married to you for 30 years, but people listening don't.
the structure of it and the intersection of the form of that molecule with its information-carrying properties.
So this ability through generations to have heritable information that is driving every aspect or influencing every aspect of biology in our lives.
And I wanted to spend more time understanding that And then in more recent years, trying to figure out how this relates to the delivery of better solutions that can keep people healthier but also can find new ways of treating especially complex diseases.
And to that extent, we're very much almost at Gen 1 of our understanding of DNA and how it relates to human health, really at the end of Gen 1, I should say.
So about 25 years ago, there was a big announcement across the Atlantic, transatlantic collaboration around the announcement of the first human genome project.
how what we're made of, how our biology works, and in many cases, uncovering new ways to intervene in the biology of those diseases, finding new therapies.
And that has been incredibly useful over the last 25 years, particularly in cancer and in rare genetic disorders.
So, I mean, you're aware that that first generation of pioneers of the Human Genome Project, unfortunately, are starting to pass away.
Those who were in the genomics field at the Millennium, maybe at GSAC in Miami, would have seen Craig striding through the Fountain Blue Hotel with a whole gaggle of people behind him hanging on every one of his words.
And I think he wasn't prepared to let the academics behind the Human Genome Project go at their own planned pace.
He was somebody who held his concept of celerity, because that was the inspiration for Celera, very close.
And she sort of quoted one of Ventner's comments to her in a video interview from last year where he said, it's hard to identify a pharmaceutical drug whose development wasn't impacted by the Human Genome Project.
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