The Genetics Podcast
EP 178: Expanding the human proteome to facilitate drug discovery with John Lepore of ProFound Therapeutics
Published: 13 March 2025 at 11:00 Europe/London
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Episode notes
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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