EP 178: Expanding the human proteome to facilitate drug discovery with John Lepore of ProFound Therapeutics

The Genetics Podcast

This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. John Lepore, physician-scientist and CEO of ProFound Therapeutics. They discuss ProFound Tx’s mission to expand the proteome to identify novel drug targets – which resulted in the ProFoundry atlas – and the ways in which John’s diverse experiences inform his approach as a leader.

Show Notes:

0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast

00:59 Welcome to John

02:01 John’s background at GSK and his transition to drug discovery

05:45 Establishing ProFound Therapeutics to expand the proteome and identify novel drug targets

08:27 Genomic origins of newly-identified proteins and the process of finding them

09:49 Developing the ProFoundry atlas and integrating data across assays

15:27 Different approaches to inferring protein links and association to disease

17:13 Collaboration with Pfizer to find regulators in the context of obesity

18:04 Developing novel antibody-drug conjugates for cancer treatment

20:27 Clarifying causality in proteomic data

21:59 Approaching novel targets while considering industrial and business factors

25:19 John’s background as a cardiologist and how that impacts his current work

27:26 Tips for biotech companies looking to be noticed by pharma for collaborations

30:30 Considerations for investigating new and different therapeutic modalities and techniques

33:39 How John consistently reinforces the translational angle as a business leader

36:24 Closing remarks and future direction for ProFound Therapeutics

Find out more

• ProFound Therapeutics (https://www.profoundtx.com/)

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