# Magnet-Controlled Medicines — Andrew York & Maria Ingaramo

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-biology-7854092/magnet-controlled-medicines-andrew-york-maria-ingaramo
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-biology-7854092/magnet-controlled-medicines-andrew-york-maria-ingaramo.md
Podcast: [The New Biology](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-biology-7854092)
Published: 2026-05-29T16:06:00+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1c6b4041
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.transistor.fm/1c6b4041/036f89da.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-new-biology-7854092/episodes/magnet-controlled-medicines-andrew-york-maria-ingaramo
Duration seconds: 7656

## Resource

Nonfiction Laboratories is building a technology called “magnetogenetics” that promises to control proteins inside the body — such as antibodies or enzymes — 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 Astera Institute. Notes from our discussion: https://nikomc.com/essays/protein-magnets.html 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

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