EP103: Gene Writing with Tessera Therapeutics CEO, Dr. Mike Severino

In this episode, Patrick is joined by Dr. Mike Severino, CEO of Tessera Therapeutics and CEO-Partner of Flagship Pioneering. Join us as Mike walks us through Tessera’s approach to treating genetic diseases by rewriting bases, exons, or even whole genes with a novel approach called Gene Writing. 0:00 Intro 1:00 What prompted you to join Flagship Pioneering? 3:32 How is Flagship able to innovate and invent novel therapies in ways that Big Pharma companies may find difficult? 5:00 Introduction to gene writing and the role of Tessera Therapeutics 8:22 The current limitations and challenges of gene writing 10:22 Gene knockouts vs gene writing – which is more useful for genetic therapies? 12:30 Reasons why the liver the most commonly targeted organ for gene therapies 19:00 Lipid Nanoparticles and their role in gene writing 22:45 How do you guide mobile genetic elements to write genes in the intended location? 25:20 Development of gene writing technology since 2018 28:15 The implications of gene writing for diseases like PKU, Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, sickle cell disease, and cancer 34:00 Next steps on the way to clinical trials 36:46 Using genomics and computational biology to guide measurable outcomes in drug discovery and development 40:15 Using gene writing to address rare developmental diseases 43:32 Closing remarks