Dr. Frudakis: DNAprint genomics is a small genomics firm that is focused on extracting value from the human genome sequence. That is clinical value, forensics value and recreational value. So we have made great progress in the forensics space and you may have heard about that through the media surrounding the Louisiana serial killer case which we helped break with genomics tests we have developed here. But our main purpose is to determine why people respond to drugs differently so that the response can be predicted beforehand. Right now we are spending most of our efforts working on solving problems associated with other people's drugs such as Lipitor or Bristol-Myer's Taxol drug. In the not so distant future, we are going to have our own drug pipeline and we will apply our talents toward solving our drugs rather than other people's drugs. But what really sets DNAprint apart from other genomics companies is that we think we are the only ones who know how to accurately determine what it is that makes people respond to drugs differently. The reason why is that we are the only company that appreciates the fact that something called population structure can be used as a tool to hone in on genomic sequences that can be used to predict response. So basically our advantage is a scientific and technical one. We do things better than even the large pharmaceutical companies do because we were comprised of young, very bright scientists who think innovation, not old school. Our founding group was comprised of a group of scientists and not a group of business people and we got the business expertise after the fact.
TWST: Let's talk about the more widely known part of what you do. With
regard to DNA, at some point you could construct a physical model of a
person ' their skin color, eye color, weight, facial features, etc.
Dr. Frudakis: Yes, and that is exactly what we will be doing for
patients, too. Instead of inferring physical characteristics of the
patient which you can easily see with the eye, we will be inferring the
response proclivity to the drugs. In the forensics field, it is about
inferring physical features and not biomedical features. We have shown
that the measurement of the population structure is crucial for that
purpose. The Louisiana serial task force was actually a multi-agency
task force that came to us for help early this year, in late-February.
They had DNA from several of the crime scenes but had no idea what their
suspect looked like. In fact they guessed he was a Caucasian individual
based on two eyewitness reports. We ran the test for them and reported
back to them that their suspect was of 85% sub-Saharan African and 15%
Native American biogeographical ancestry. To their credit, they first
had our test evaluated by outside parties ' mainly older-school
geneticists, who nonetheless saw value in our innovative way of
measuring ancestral affiliation. They recognized the value of our method
and saw this was the cutting-edge of what we are able to do with this
type of thing. So to make a long story short, they embraced the result.
They also supplied us with blind samples from people who they knew the
race of to evaluate our performance. We performed perfectly on that as
we have on 3,000 other similar trials we have conducted so far. So they
embraced that result and the began to attach more weight to leads that
were relevant for African Americans which led to them going out and
attempting to obtain a buccal (mouth) swab from an African-American
individual who had had other complaints filed against him by women. Of
course this person, Derek Todd Lee, eventually matched the crime based
on older DNA tests ' which essentially provide a bar-code for matching
people with samples from crime scenes. So the beauty of the test is that
it helped just as a laser system helps guide a weapon to its target.
This test really helped the law enforcement in Louisiana hone in on the
guy who they were interested in. So, too, it will do the same thing for
drugs and patients. It will help doctors hone in on the right drug for
the right patient ' rather than dumb bombs (i.e., dumb drugs) there will
be smart bombs (i.e., smart drugs) against disease, and our technology
for the appreciation of population structure is going to be required for
this transition to occur.
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