PodCompanions
Discussions: 2026-W43 — page 55
Discussions added each week. These are publication dates here; the original episodes may be older.
- 9:20–14:18
Kimmel discusses mutation constraints and host–pathogen competition, then considers why humans do not make antibiotics like microorganisms.
- 22:28–27:13
Kimmel rejects a single simple cause of ageing and describes NewLimit’s aim of changing gene regulation through transcription factors.
- 35:13–38:11
Kimmel describes single-cell measurements and computational prediction as ways to search a large space of transcription-factor combinations.
- 41:42–45:23
Patel and Kimmel compare gene regulation and neuroscience with machine-learning mechanisms before asking how pathogens and medicines affect transcription factors.
- 58:20–1:03:04
Kimmel argues that improving one tissue might benefit others, but states that ageing reprogramming medicines do not yet exist.
- 5:00–9:20
Patel and Kimmel discuss speculative explanations of intellectual achievement and Kimmel introduces a qualified kin-selection argument about longevity.
- 1:40:21–1:44:40
Kimmel qualifies his dataset claim and discusses pharmaceutical partnerships; Patel closes by disclosing a small investment in NewLimit.
- 27:13–30:52
Kimmel distinguishes youthful expression profiles from useful cell function and stresses retaining identity and checking potential harms.
- 1:36:01–1:40:21
Patel and Kimmel discuss spending categories and speculate that effective preventive medicines could reduce intensive healthcare use.
- 18:00–22:28
Kimmel explains how gene duplication can permit new functions while preserving an existing copy.
- 1:28:02–1:31:32
Kimmel describes NewLimit’s narrower modelling problem, selected cell types and proprietary data strategy as steps toward a broader ambition.
- 0:00–5:00
Kimmel considers selective pressures and constraints that might explain limited longevity, using optimisation as an analogy.
- 1:09:35–1:14:35
Kimmel explains Eroom’s Law and discusses why drug-development economics differ from his expectations for AI investment.
- 38:11–41:42
Kimmel argues that developmental transcription factors provide useful experimental controls, while presenting evolutionary optimisation as an analogy.
- 50:07–53:04
Kimmel describes lipid nanoparticles and viral vectors, including targeting limits and the distinction between delivery and downstream expression control.
- 53:04–57:57
Kimmel proposes engineered immune cells as future delivery systems, discusses CAR-T comparisons and acknowledges compartments they cannot readily reach.
- 14:18–18:00
Kimmel uses CRISPR and TRIM5alpha as examples of historical host–pathogen interactions while acknowledging limits to his antibiotic speculation.
- 15:00–19:07
Church describes transcription-factor experiments for cell identity and suggests testing combinations rather than assuming single-gene control.
- 29:07–34:07
Patel questions the gap between cheaper biological tools and treatments; Church offers uncertain forecasts about future designs and approvals.
- 1:04:07–1:09:07
Church proposes laboratory and exploration evidence for life’s origins while cautioning that negative findings would remain inconclusive.
- 49:07–54:07
Church prefers narrower scientific AI and questions whether hypothetical superintelligence would safely accelerate biology.
- 1:24:07–1:29:07
Church describes how Boston’s concentration of research institutions, industry and collaborators helped his laboratory’s commercial work.
- 1:29:07–1:33:45
Church describes kindness and multidisciplinary experience in recruitment, then offers a conditional optimistic vision of biology and AI.
- 44:07–49:07
Church distinguishes predicted protein shape from function and proposes alternating computational design with experimental testing.