Joe Pickrell
@joe_pickrell
Statistical geneticist. CEO @gencove.
New blog post! "What happens when genome sequencing data is ‘too cheap to meter’?" Some speculation on the coming changes in the genomics industry as sequencing costs resume their decline gencove.com/blog/what-happ…
It’s so disheartening to read the same headline every year for five years. Less than half of patients with metastatic breast cancer receive germline genetic testing for BRCA1/2—disallowing them from potentially receiving PARP inhibitors and tailored screening of the family.
Despite clear guidelines, germline genetic testing remains underutilized in patients with metastatic breast cancer. In our new study published in JCO Precision Oncology, we evaluated >15,000 patients with metastatic breast cancer and found that fewer than half received germline…
To the 23andMe Community, I am incredibly excited and humbled to share with you that TTAM Research Institute (TTAM), a new non—profit medical research organization that I founded and lead, has completed the acquisition of 23andMe. I formed TTAM and pursued the acquisition of…
There are some hardcore, dig-into-the-undigitized-archives-and-try-to-piece-things-together-from-account-books history research projects about the financial history of technology that nobody is tackling... 1/
For the past 30 days, I conducted a self-experiment to see whether microdosing Ozempic has an off-label effect of boosting discipline and willpower saraht0n1n.substack.com/p/microdosing-…
In my most recent post, I dive deep on ctDNA testing and why it stands to profoundly change oncology. This is an area where my own thinking has evolved recently.
People started talking seriously about sequencing every newborn about 16 years ago. Here it is (maybe). telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/2…
Today, we are thrilled to announce that @VerveTx has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by @EliLillyandCo From 2018 to 2025, Verve moved a new concept (a one-dose future for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease) and a new medical technology (in…
Endometriosis is an incredibly interesting disease 5k words, 23 minutes reading time covering one of the strangest conditions ive ever heard about link: owlposting.com/p/endometriosi… very grateful to @shilpap_ for initial inspiration for this piece + reviewing it!!
The time of day that immunotherapy is given seems to really, really matter. Why? note: a recent randomized study (quote given blow) presented at a major cancer conference found that giving immunotherapy in the morning instead of the evening led to a 2x higher survival rate.…
Interesting analysis of 'human knockouts' in a south Asian population "Exome sequencing and analysis of 44,028 British South Asians enriched for high autozygosity" medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
"Longevity Is Now a Factor When Picking an Embryo for IVF" Seems there's a nice niche for "consumer" genetic testing among couples doing IVF -- that's one of a handful of times in a person's life when they *really* care about their own genetics. wsj.com/health/embryo-…
The micropipette—that ubiquitous tool found in laboratories around the world—was invented by a 32-year-old German postdoc in 1957 after a particularly productive two-day tantrum. That first device, made by Heinrich Schnitger, had “all the essential features of the modern…
Interesting GWAS on accumulation of aging-related mitochondrial mutations biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
As we all age, we accumulate mtDNA mutations, but what underlies this hockey stick pattern? See our new pre-print: we treat mtDNA SNV burden as a "trait" and use GWAS to uncover the mechanism in blood. Led by newly minted MD-PhD @rahulg603 w/ @LabNeale. shorturl.at/IqYY8
European sperm donor conceived at least 67 children from 46 families born between 2008 and 2015. Turns out he has a p53 mutation--> Li-Fraumeni cancer syndrome. Now 10 of children have cancer (brain tumor, lymphoma) and 13 others have the mutation. cnn.com/2025/05/27/hea…
We've known how to provide ourselves w/ freshater for centuries--and w/ good clean water, even in the most crowded and dirty cities, since World War I. Yet we don't. Welcome to the world's most immediate--and most infuriating--environmental crisis. (By me) thenewatlantis.com/publications/h…
Clues are emerging about the ghostly clan that settled eastern Asia and left a genetic legacy in people today go.nature.com/3ZlC1Qk
A set of non-coding genetic variants -- mutations in RNA genes-- cause neurodevelopmental disorders by disrupting alternative splicing across the genome nature.com/articles/s4158…
Interesting perspective relevant to the question: how valuable is one person's genetic information? The 23andMe sale price suggests a very precise number: $17 (obviously a tongue-in-cheek calculation given huge caveats and assumptions, but still)
$17 per customer is how much @23andMe was sold for. What the big takeaway here is that until genome sequencing is less than data cost, we won't have a biotech singularity moment. Extrapolating some cost curves, looking like the early 2030's when we'll get to the $17 per…
Regeneron to buy bankrupt genetic testing firm 23andMe for $256 million reuters.com/business/healt…