Some exciting news to share — we've made the world's first magnetically controlled antibody! What is a magnetically controlled antibody? It's an antibody drug that you can turn on and off, wherever you want in the body. (1/9) xitter.cf/ashleevance/status/201…

The Magnetobiology Episode: A company in San Francisco, called @NonfictionBio, is building proteins (like antibodies and enzymes) that can be controlled using small magnets. In this episode, co-founder Maria Ingaramo and scientific advisor Andrew York explain how they engineered a protein, MagLOV, that responds strongly to magnetic fields, why most prior attempts have failed to replicate, and how the mechanism of magnetically-controlled proteins actually works. They also get into the “dream” use cases, like cancer drugs that activate only at the tumor, which might have a lower toxicity inside the body. This podcast is made possible by @AsteraInstitute. I'm happy with how this episode came out. I think my interviewing skills are improving, and I'm getting better at building up context throughout the episode. Enjoy! Search for "The New Biology" on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Timestamps: 00:00 - Opening 00:54 — Introduction 01:35 — The dream 05:38 — Why magnets vs. light or ultrasound 10:05 — The physics 17:48 — On the name "magnetogenetics" 21:25 — Birds and cryptochromes 27:09 — Why is the field filled with so much junk? 29:51 — Adam Cohen's molecule 33:24 — Markus Meister’s debunking 38:06 — The experiment 46:22 — Finding the LOV domain 54:11 — Singlets, triplets, and cysteine 56:54 — What the magnet is actually doing 1:05:13 — The conformational-change red herring 1:12:46 — The Quantum Biology Institute 1:19:31 — Founding Nonfiction Labs 1:24:38 — How to convince skeptical investors 1:29:39 — What a magnetogenetic medicine might look like 1:38:50 — First clinical indications 1:45:12 — The regulatory path 1:48:01 — What the field needs 1:54:30 — Appendix: Whiteboard lecture