The Genetics Podcast
EP 149: Sequencing 33 million samples to support the UK’s COVID-19 response with Tony Cox, CEO of UK Biocentre
Episode notes
0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast
01:00 Welcome to Tony
02:00 What Tony was expecting going into the role of CEO at UK Biocentre, and how the COVID-19 pandemic changed his plans
03:38 Receiving a phone call from the UK government in March 2020 asking the UK Biocentre to stop all of its projects and focus on sequencing COVID-19 samples
05:12 The UK Biocentre’s scale-up process, including how many samples the UK Biocentre sequenced over the course of the pandemic
09:30 The biggest changes that enable sequencing to scale from 1,000 to 100,000 samples per day
13:33 What Tony has learned about how best to implement an accelerated, unified effort to deliver for public health
16:17 The organization’s current focus on large-scale genomics projects such as Our Future Health
18:50 The challenges which need to be overcome to deliver the Our Future Health project
22:19 How UK Biocentre preserves it samples and the logistical challenges involved
24:04 The types of projects that involve the largest-scale levels of sampling and storage
28:12 Figuring out how to integrate a preventive, sample-based approach to healthcare within the parameters of cost and scale
29:27 The future proofing of sample storage techniques
31:33 The importance of consent structure and how to utilize long-term serial sampling
33:24 The upcoming technology or projects that most excite Tony
36:19 Closing remarks
Find out more
ukbiocentre.com