Cell & Gene: The Podcast

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Episode 132 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast features Host, Erin Harris' conversation with Diakonos Oncology's President and COO, Jay Hartenbach. Together, they explore how the company is advancing a patient-derived dendritic cell therapy designed to generate a stronger immune response against difficult-to-treat solid tumors, including glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer, and refractory melanoma. Their discussion also covers early clinical signals, outpatient administration, and the manufacturing and automation steps needed to make personalized cell therapies more scalable for broader CGT audiences.
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For episode 131 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, we’re sharing a recent "Better Biopharma" roundtable that Erin Harris had the opportunity to join alongside her Life Science Connect editorial colleagues. Hosted by Tyler Menichiello, this conversation brings together chief editors from across the Life Science Connect network to take a midyear look at what’s shaping the pharmaceutical and biotech landscape in 2026. Featuring perspectives from Katie Anderson, Jeff Buguliskis, Ben Comer, Ray Dogum, Rachel Grabenhofer, Dan Schell, Anna Rose Welch, and Harris, this is a valuable listen for anyone looking to better understand where the industry is headed, and how CGT fits into that broader trajectory. https://www.bioprocessonline.com/solution/better-biopharma
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In Episode 3 of our in vivo-focused special series of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, Ascidian Therapeutics' Founder, President, and CEO Mike Ehlers, M.D., Ph.D., explains how the company is advancing a new class of genetic medicines built on RNA exon editing to durably correct disease at the transcript level without permanently altering DNA. He also shares why in vivo therapies still need to prove precision, durability, and predictability before they become mainstream, and why the field must move beyond proof of concept to reproducible clinical performance across patients and diseases. He discusses the importance of patient selection, tissue specificity, and matching editing efficiency to biological thresholds, and much more. 
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In episode 2 of this four-part in vivo-focused special series of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, Host Erin Harris sits down with Gopi Shanker, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Beam Therapeutics, for an in-depth conversation on the rapidly evolving landscape of in vivo gene editing and precision genetic medicines. Dr. Shanker discusses how next-generation base editing technologies are advancing beyond traditional CRISPR approaches by enabling precise single-base changes without creating double-stranded DNA breaks. They discuss the growing momentum behind in vivo delivery strategies, including targeted LNP technologies designed to reach tissues beyond the liver, as well as the operational and patient-centric advantages these approaches may offer compared to ex vivo therapies. 
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In episode 130 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, Dr. Naji Gehchan, Chief Medical and Development Officer at Kyverna Therapeutics, joins Host Erin Harris to outline the company’s mission to apply CAR T-cell therapy beyond oncology to treat severe autoimmune diseases, highlighting promising Phase 2 data from its investigational therapy, Miv-cel, in stiff person syndrome (SPS). Dr. Gehchan explains that Miv-cel works by deeply depleting pathogenic B cells and enabling a broad immune reset, differentiating it from conventional therapies that require ongoing management. As Kyverna advances a rolling BLA submission, Dr. Gehchan positions this milestone as potentially historic, both for SPS patients and for the broader cell therapy field, signaling an inflection point where CAR T could transform autoimmune disease care in the same way it has oncology.
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