21: Colon Cancer Detection Technology with Founders Andrew and Erica of Geneoscopy

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Company, what they did to get started, the success and hurtles they have had, what they hope to accomplish, some of the science behind everything, and last of all, the things they are nerds about. Overall they are decent scientists.

Who they are and what they are working to fix:

“Erica Barnell (MD/PhD Candidate, Washington University School of Medicine) and Andrew Barnell (MBA, The Wharton School) are siblings that co-founded Geneoscopy, a startup focused on developing diagnostic tools to prevent, detect, and treat digestive diseases.

Geneoscopy was founded on the belief that a noninvasive diagnostic test using human RNA biomarkers in stool samples would provide a screening alternative that could improve colorectal cancer screening compliance, facilitate early-stage detection of colorectal cancer neoplasms, and reduce morbidity and mortality associated with the 2nd deadliest cancer in the United States and the 4th deadliest cancer worldwide. However, no methodology existed to reliably isolate and preserve human RNA from stool.

Over the past two and a half years, Geneoscopy has developed a nucleic acid extraction method that amplifies the human signals and degrades bacterial noise in stool. This allows for sensitive extraction of human RNA that can be used as biomarkers to noninvasively evaluate gastrointestinal health. Geneoscopy has filed three provisional patents and one utility patent to protect this technology and has leveraged it to develop a multi-target RNA biomarker panel for the detection of precancerous lesions and colorectal cancer. Geneoscopy has executed two clinical trials and tested over 340 patients, and the results of these studies have demonstrated our test’s differentiated accuracy profile, particularly for the identification of advanced adenomas (95% sensitivity). Geneoscopy is currently enrolling patients in a 1,000-patient trial to complete the development of this colorectal cancer diagnostic test, and has formed partnerships with two academic medical centers to leverage its extraction platform to develop diagnostic tests for other digestive diseases.” Taken from their post on Medium.

Brief synopsis of the episode:

In this episode, we get into how they came up with their company, what they did to get started, the success and hurtles they have had, what they hope to accomplish, some of the science behind everything, and last of all, the things they are nerds about.

Hyperlinked Show Notes Timestamps:

My top 10 Favorite sections have “**” next to the time stamps.

1. [ 02:00 ] ** Erica’s background as an MD/Phd doing rotations, and how she first got passionate about colon cancer.
2. [ 3:45 ] A talk over dinner: how the interest became a startup business.
3. [ 4:30 ] What caught Andrew’s eye about the healthcare space and the benefit of Geneoscopy.
4. [ 5:30 ] What made this idea come to the forefront over the dozens of other business ideas they thought of.
5. [ 7:30 ] With Andrew with an MBA and Erica with a MD/PhD – what is with their family and being overachievers? 
6. [ 8:30 ] Does it take an advanced background to identify a problem?
7. [ 9:30 ] **Following up with the last timestamp, what makes the best entrepreneurs?
8. [ 11:15 ] What are things that surprise them about each other that makes them proud?
9. [ 12:55 ] **Andrew compliments Erica. 🙂
10. [ 13:55 ] How things used to be and how big of an impact their technology and IP will have.
11. [ 16:25 ] **Learn about colon cancer and what in particular is unique about what they have built.
12. [ 18:10 ] **What has the response been like from physicians, and how far away are they from having it in physician’s hands?
13. [ 20:10 ] What does the day to day look look for Erica?
14. [ 23:20 ] **Preliminary IP came from Washington University and how they got the IP for their company.
15. [ 25:45 ] The relationship Academia and business have had.
16. [ 27:00 ] Grey hair fallacies, where is the biotech industry trending, hurtles, and where they work.
17. [ 30:00 ] **Their background, their thoughts on starting their first business, and how they make decision trees to map choices before they do things.
18. [ 33:15 ] How they handle being overwhelmed.
19. [ 34:55 ] An astronaut who used to take naps as the rocket blasted off, how they feel like imposters sometimes, and how it benefits them to feel that way.
20. [ 37:00 ] Ignorance as a challenge.
21. [ 38:48 ] How they would train someone to replace them to carry on while they took a leave of absence.
22. [ 41:30 ] **How they manage running clinical studies.
23. [ 43:30 ] **Book Recommendations!
24. [ 45:00 ] Guilty pleasures and what they are nerds about, such as games Erica likes and Andrew’s favorite soccer team.
25. [ 48:00 ] **Erica’s obsession with her dog Ruby. Everyone needs to listen to this section. Ruby has the most scientific and nerdy meaning to her name.