{"podcast":{"title":"The New Biology","slug":"the-new-biology-7854092","podcast_index_feed_id":7854092,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-new-biology","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/hAo0G-JjrmcZZfEfQhneJHE44MKbohGaiLjJQ8u6dOc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jYTRi/NTg1Yzc3YmRiZjg1/ZjNmYmNkNjAyYjFl/NjllMS5qcGc.jpg","author":"Niko McCarty","episode_count":2,"summary":"The New Biology features long-form discussions with historians, technologists, and scientists who are working on some of the biggest ideas in biotechnology, from magnet-controlled medicines to virtual cells. Supported by Astera Institute.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-biology-7854092"},"episode":{"title":"Magnet-Controlled Medicines — Andrew York & Maria Ingaramo","slug":"magnet-controlled-medicines-andrew-york-maria-ingaramo","published_at":"2026-05-29T16:06:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-biology-7854092/magnet-controlled-medicines-andrew-york-maria-ingaramo","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-biology-7854092","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/1c6b4041","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.transistor.fm/1c6b4041/036f89da.mp3","summary":"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","meta_description":"Nonfiction Laboratories is building a technology called “magnetogenetics” that promises to control proteins inside the body — such as antibodies or enzyme…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":7656,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-new-biology-7854092/episodes/magnet-controlled-medicines-andrew-york-maria-ingaramo/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-biology-7854092/magnet-controlled-medicines-andrew-york-maria-ingaramo.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}