What's Up with Tech?
Tech Transformation with Evan Kirstel: A podcast exploring the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry, and how businesses can leverage them for growth, diving into the world of B2B, discussing strategies, trends, and sharing insights from industry leaders!
With over three decades in telecom and IT, I've mastered the art of transforming social media into a dynamic platform for audience engagement, community building, and establishing thought leadership. My approach isn't about personal brand promotion but about delivering educational and informative content to cultivate a sustainable, long-term business presence. I am the leading content creator in areas like Enterprise AI, UCaaS, CPaaS, CCaaS, Cloud, Telecom, 5G and more!
What's Up with Tech?
AI Meets DNA: Democratizing Precision Health
Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com
Dr. Kapoor takes us on a fascinating journey from the COVID pandemic's testing challenges to his groundbreaking work at BioAero, where AI meets genomics to revolutionize healthcare delivery. What began as an effort to speed up COVID test results evolved into a mission to solve a critical healthcare bottleneck: the months-long wait for genomic sequencing data that makes personalized medicine nearly impossible to deliver at the point of care.
"There's a secret key all of us are born with—a blueprint of our life," Dr. Kapoor explains, describing how our genetic code holds crucial information about disease risks and medication responses that remain largely untapped in current medical practice. The implications are staggering: many patients receive medications that won't work for their genetic makeup, suffering unnecessary side effects while missing potential benefits from treatments better suited to their unique biology.
The conversation explores how healthcare is evolving from its traditional reactive model toward "Healthcare 3.0"—where imaging, blood tests, and genomics create a comprehensive picture of a patient's health, enabling truly personalized treatment plans. Dr. Kapoor illustrates this with compelling examples: every seventh person doesn't respond to aspirin after a heart attack, many Asians experience side effects from high-dose statins, and diet recommendations like "Mediterranean diet" may benefit some genetic profiles more than others. With BioAero's technology, doctors can move beyond population-based averages to treatments tailored for individual genetic makeup.
Beyond clinical applications, Dr. Kapoor shares his vision for decentralized health data that empowers patients to control their own information, potentially transforming clinical trials by making them more inclusive of diverse populations. Looking ahead, he predicts healthcare increasingly delivered at home, with less reliance on hospitals except for acute care and special procedures. Countries worldwide are already implementing nationwide genomic programs, recognizing that the future of medicine lies in understanding and applying the genetic blueprint we all carry.
Want to explore your own genetic makeup? Visit BioAero's website to access a range of testing services, from gut microbiome analysis to whole genome sequencing—all delivered with a commitment to privacy and personalized healthcare that truly works for you.
Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.
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Hey everybody, fascinating chat today at the intersection of AI and genomics and precision health, with a true innovator in the field, dr Kapoor. How are you?
Speaker 2:Not bad. Thank you so much for having me on your show.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks for being here, Really intrigued by your work and mission. Before that, maybe introduce yourself a cardiologist, an entrepreneur, now an AI genomics innovator. How do I describe you and your work?
Speaker 2:Well, you can describe, as someone tells me, I'm a disruptor, so I do disrupt things for the better of the humanity. So there are things I do as a cardiologist when I start practicing. I want to improve healthy outcomes in Alberta, canada, so I disrupted how the healthcare was getting delivered and the changes were implemented and they got implemented later on. Then I saw there were gaps that exist in genomic space and we stepped up and provided the knowledge and the research we invested money in and the time and effort trying to find a way how we can improve access to healthcare based on genomics.
Speaker 2:And many people are suffering and there's a delay of access and not because of money issue. It is because people don't have timely reports coming back to them the doctors. If they don't have the reports, how can they take an action? So a lot of time. We are doing one glove fit all approach. It just doesn't work anymore into the DNA. It could have worked 10 years ago. So I'm very passionate about it. As a cardiologist, preventative medicine, expert in this area and also learned about longevity medicine, I want to understand how we can delay the onset of diseases and how we can truly provide better care to the patients. So that essentially motivated me to found the company BioAero and we are proud of the team, what they have achieved so far in a short period, and I'm super excited about this field for the future.
Speaker 1:I share your enthusiasm.
Speaker 2:So what was the aha moment that led you to launch BioAero? Well, the aha moment. So it all started with the COVID. So that would be the story. We were in the COVID times. There were challenges, Patients were suffering and people were suffering. The COVID testing PCR report was taking them two days, three days, to get the report to see if they have a positive or negative COVID. We found a technology, a lab-based old technology, converted into hybridized, into PCR-based, and we started getting reports in 30 minutes or so versus traditional 90 minutes or three hours it was taking for the PCR machines.
Speaker 2:We understood that the test needs to be delivered in a timely manner, so we invested money into technology and later we realized that COVID has many variants. There's Delta, there's Omicron, there's so many coming out. We start sequencing viruses, understanding the type of viruses mutating right now in around our community or globally. So from there we realized that sequencing is a huge gap that exists in the human genome which is much more complex than a single virus genome. We have to analyze it or sequence it. So we got the high-performance sequencer machine and my team did a whole genome sequencing. I was one of the first ones in my company to get it done along with my family.
Speaker 2:It took them three months to analyze the whole genome. At that time I said you can't work like this. The medicine cannot be delivered like this. No wonder it's not getting used because taking two three months to get the report. My own report took two three months for my team to get it done. So that's where I traveled around the globe. I started understanding how people are doing it. It doesn't matter. I went to USA, singapore, middle East, europe, uk it doesn't matter where I went. Everywhere the same problem the report was taking two to three months.
Speaker 2:It wasn't just my lab, it is just how the cumbersome the process is. A large amount of data that needs to be analyzed. That clinical report needs to be generated and manually takes that long time. That allowed me to figure out there is a market gap that exists. We are still using old technologies to sequence analyze the data, so we have to find a new way, and AI was coming up around those times, so we invest resources in that area. We understood that we need to harness power of parallel computing and multiple servers same time to be churn out large amount of data in real time. So that's where the innovation started. So, essentially, neet is a mother of innovation. Essentially, there's a NEET and there were solutions possible available. No one had tried them before. We ventured into them and that became the announcement.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. So how would you describe what BioAero does to someone, maybe outside of the healthcare industry, with a tech industry, you know, like my mother, for example? What would you describe to?
Speaker 2:her. There is a secret key. All of us are born with it, it has been given by our payments and there's a blueprint of the blueprint of our life. There is a genome and that code has a transcription of the message that needs to be unlocked. That can tell us a lot about our body and about my family's health and about everyone else around me. So if I can unlock that, so then I can decide if the treatment they're getting is the right treatment and if there is something could be coming in the future that could be intercepted and perhaps they could live healthier longer and perhaps they get the right treatments.
Speaker 2:And if there's a history of some cancers, so they could be then deleted out of their code. And if there are some rare diseases in the family, they could be stopped happening in the family. So all of those applications are possible today and that's what BioAero is doing. So BioAero can help analyze that code that everyone is born with it either it could be in the gut microbiome or the skin microbiome or the oral microbiome or the whole genome and help them understand in a reasonable manner what that code means to them and to their family and for their kids, and also to see if the medication they're using is the right medications.
Speaker 2:Many times people get side effects, they take unnecessary medications and they waste their money and time and their health. So rather they would get to the genomic way. They'll get the right approach the first time without becoming a guinea pig, and they have less side effects and better success rate by taking those medications. And I'm hopeful with this message your mother will be happy and want to take the next step and want her to get tested and want you to get tested.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a wonderful thought. I certainly will take you up on that. So you're covering the full health data stack, as it were, from the genomic sequences to the microbiome testing, anything else? What does that mean for not just patients in terms of the preventative capability, but also the payers in our system?
Speaker 2:Thank you for asking that question From the peer system what the system has been built in medicine, patients have to develop a disease and then or a symptom of the disease and the doctors will have to be seeing the patient and trying to diagnose the disease. Many times the guesswork we don't have 100% accurate tests. There's no test in medicine that is 100% accurate. I can tell you why we have the disease. I haven't come across yet. We always have hypothesis. Yes, it's inflammation that could be triggering the heart attack, but lipid particles, along with other things that play the role. But there's more to the story. We believe that genetics also plays a role and also type of diet we eat. That also plays a huge role and we always tell people eat a healthy diet. What is a healthy diet? We tell people eat a Mediterranean diet. Okay, what does a Mediterranean diet mean? Can people even afford? How they are individually reacting to Mediterranean diet? Maybe, perhaps for an Indian person, maybe the different kind of diet they should be using versus a Mediterranean person, the Mediterranean diet is better for them. So there are many biases how we interpret that data and how the researches are done. They usually focus on the diseases and they're trying to figure it out how many people survived this clinical trial, how side effects happen and if there's actually a value by approving this drug. But after that there are many side effects. Patients suffer but we find a reasonable number and we said this drug probably will be safe for this population and start prescribing it. And then along the way, patient come to us. They're having a dry cough from blood pressure medication or swelling in the legs. They cannot tolerate statins in the high dosages. Muscle aches and pains are happening or they're not responsive to aspirin. They're still getting the heart attack. But it's still giving them the same drugs. Everyone right now today getting still aspirin, beta blockers, ace inhibitors, statins, plavix, maybe Berlinda and a bunch of other few cocktails. Everyone gets that after heart attack and we know that every seventh or 10th person in the hospital today is not going to respond to statins or, sorry, to aspirin. They're not responding to aspirin and we also know that many Asians and if they get a high dose statins they'll not like it. They will not respond to high dosages, they will stop taking it. And we know that many patients will not respond to ACE inhibitors as much. They get dry cough. So we understand now.
Speaker 2:Genetically we all are different. But imagine, instead of taking guessing game just by the look of it, if I'm african-american or I'm a south asian, perhaps I should not take this kind of drug. If I'm a chinese, perhaps I should not take a hydrostatin. But how do you tell who's not responded to aspirin? Because every seventh and tenth person is no responder.
Speaker 2:So you have to start looking into genetic testing. You have to start understanding the drug we are taking are the right drugs. We are giving them and they have no side effect. There's a data. It's a well-published data. There's nothing, no new science there. But what the problems are? The science has been already established, but the delivery of scientific data or the guidelines have not been done yet. Why? Because it's hard to access data, hard to access these testings. Since we can't access the test, why then order it? Let's give the medication.
Speaker 2:I'll give you one practical example. If there is a free MRI available to you, but this MRI report will come back after three months, will you ever even take it? Will you ever even order the test? If you're a doctor, probably not, even as a CT scan that is available. But the report will come back after three months, will you even order the test. You will not order the test. Same with genetic and genomic tests are right now. Today, doctors don't have an access to the report on tiny manner, so they don't order the test. Patient doesn't get an access to continuous technology. What do they do? They suffer through the disease and the side effects from the drugs as a pair. If we can cut this time period, as we have done for MRIs and a CT scan, start giving them clinical reports, genomic reports, in real time when it matters. When the patient is from the doctors, the doctor can take the right call at the. So peer saves the money.
Speaker 1:It's a wonderful vision, just a question of how quickly we can get there. Let's talk AI and diagnostics. I'm guessing your average patient. There's just no use of AI in diagnostics. But how is BioAira using machine learning to not just detect but prevent disease? What's your approach there?
Speaker 2:Well, first approach is a large amount of data and humans are the biggest variable. If you're coming to see me early in the morning as a doctor, I probably am more alert by the end of the day. If I had a busy day, probably I'm rushing to my clinic and I'm very busy, perhaps missing out many data sets which I have not seen. So I'm going with the gut feeling and probably have 50% right, 50% wrong to help diagnose a problem for you. So this is a present healthcare system because doctors do get tired. There are many variables that play a role.
Speaker 2:Ai helps us in many different ways. We have built a next-generation health record system. What it does? It reads our chart notes, it reads our lab systems and puts data together. It's like having your junior medical resident who gathers all the information and helps us triage those patients so they can be seen earlier. Or perhaps there are other variables which a doctor is not able to look at it. Perhaps there are other variables which a doctor is not able to look at it, so they can nudge and bring those analysis interpretation forward. They can summarize the notes and charts. For us becomes much easier to document it and also dictation and transcribing is becoming more automated. So what does it? Doctor can spend more time talking to the patient and less becoming the receptionist or typist, so they can focus on clinical care. Ai is like an, and from a genomic perspective. Are you there?
Speaker 1:Yes, gotcha, yep, hello. Yes, got you, yep, hello. Yes, continue, yep Hello.
Speaker 2:I can hear you. I think I've lost you. I cannot hear you.
Speaker 1:I can hear you, so you can keep going Can you hear me?
Speaker 2:There was a call came in between, my wife's call came in between, and even though it didn't do no disturb, but somehow she got through it. I don't know how, so I cannot hear you at all. Okay. I can see your face moving, but I cannot hear you, okay.
Speaker 1:Can you log back on maybe?
Speaker 2:Hi, can you hear me? Now I can hear you. Yes, now I can hear you.
Speaker 1:yes, I can hear you yep testing one, two test, test test.
Speaker 2:Should I log in again?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, log in again.
Speaker 2:I can hear you now.
Speaker 1:I can hear you all right, no worries, no worries. So, um, let's shift the question a little bit to this idea of proactive care, predictive care versus reactive. So how do you have to change your practice, the way you do medicine? What needs to change in medical education? That's quite a different approach, that's quite a different approach.
Speaker 2:Thank you for asking. It's an amazing question. Education needs to be changed. So far, harrison International Medicine book has a very tiny chapter on genetics. There's no chapter on genomics, no chapter on multiomics. The science has moved.
Speaker 2:We understand that there are certain mutations when we're born with it that define how we react to certain diseases. Sometimes we may have a mutation of a genome, but you're seeing the whole environment around that genome or the gene that triggers a reaction. So in preventative medicine, what I practice, I look at the whole genome. First I look at the patient, making sure there is no high-risk variants they have they inherited. Then I look at any other mutation they might have acquired along the way. Then I look at their gut microbiome data to see if they have any high risk pathogens in their gut and if that pathogens could be linked to certain disease such as IBD, ibs, cancers and in different areas. And from there I then step up next level called pharmacogenomics. So I look at genetically which drugs are good or bad for them.
Speaker 2:Along with when I use this base of foundation of this data, then I have another layer of the data with a basic blood test we do. It is lipid panels, glucose panels, hemoglobin, et cetera. Then I have the ultrasounds imaging together. So when I combine them together I have much more data sets. I have imaging data, I have a biomarker data from the blood lab, blood testing labs, I have a genomic data. Based on that I can make a more personalized program for the patient. If there's a high risk for prostate cancer, perhaps I should be paying more attention to their prostate, not just having a genetic recommendation for them. If there's a potential risk of colon cancer or certain surgeon syndromes, then they should be getting colonoscopy much earlier, at much younger ages. Then I'll make more personalized programs for them, not just based on the guidelines but what matters to them. So, using the information that we have well-established, evidence-based now, adding that genomic layer and providing care based on that. So we need to rewrite our curriculum again, we need to rewrite our textbooks again and all the disorders we have in Harrison's book of internal medicine or any other medical book along the way, the genomics should be the basis, as a foundation, and then you build the other layer of investigation. We, as the doctors do, then come up with a conclusion to decide how we can provide better care to the patient and perhaps we can intercept the disease and we truly can intercept the disease.
Speaker 2:I was speaking to some scientists in Italy a couple of days ago and we're talking about how a diet can use as a a transcription-inhibiting system. So if you take the right diet, you can literally inhibit the message of certain genes expressing. Already, brazil has done a study on this area in young people with high cholesterol. When the certain type of diet was given to them, they saw the impact of gene expression in those young adults there. We have seen studies happening globally in this area. So definitely diet plays a huge role.
Speaker 2:We need to incorporate that. We cannot just say don't go talk to a dietician. We have to empower people. The dietician should have an access to genomic data. They should have an access to AI tools so they're able to personalize a. They should have an access to AI tools so they're able to personalize a nutrition plan. I call it Nutrition 3.0 or the Healthcare 3.0. So first healthcare was imaging-based. Then healthcare became a blood testing base. Now we have to add healthcare with genomic base. When you add all three layers together now you have a full picture of the person.
Speaker 1:Amazing. I'm looking at your website. You mentioned something called decentralized health as a trend. You're watching. What does that mean exactly and how are you enabling that?
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of times the data is centralized in certain repositories. It's a patient's data and many countries, including Canada, by law this patient owns the data. But it's a repository managed and owned by a clinic or healthcare systems, and sometimes it becomes very difficult for patients to access their own data. So someone else is using their information, profiting from the information and they have no say. So imagine if the patient has't access to their information, and not only just from one hospital, but from all the hospitals, wherever they went around it, and so they could literally take a call when it matters to them. So if someone is accessing this information unauthorized, they would be alerted, and if someone wants to buy their data or the information, they can then profit directly from that. So this way will build trust and the more bigger data repository will be created and people will be more empowered.
Speaker 2:It becomes much easier to enroll in a clinical trial, because many times, clinical trials don't include visible minorities in many countries, don't include people from low socioeconomic status. They get missed out, and so even the clinical data coming out is biased. So what it does is it levels the field. Everyone becomes equal. So it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. If someone wants to enroll in a clinical trial, it becomes much so. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. If someone wants to enroll in a clinical trial, it becomes much easier for them to get enrolled and from a pharma company perspective it's easier to find those patients.
Speaker 1:Well, it's a great opportunity to leverage things like the blockchain as well for privacy and data protection. You know so. When it comes to health care in the US, as you know, health insurance is really a workplace benefit for many of us. If you're an employer, an enterprise watching or listening to this, can they work with you to make Precision Health a benefit for, make their employees healthier and, hopefully, happier?
Speaker 2:We'll be honored to help them and we'll be happy to help them. Just give us a call if they have a problem how to implement a genomic-based healthcare, how to move into Healthcare 3.0. We'll guide them, hold their hand. If they need technologies either AI-based panomic technology for real-time analysis of a large amount of data, or if they need help in upgrading their lab infrastructure, we'll be happy to share knowledge with them. If they need any help with the living of healthcare based on the new technologies, we'll be happy to guide them along the way. If they truly want to protect the data, especially for the future, quantum threats coming in play, with lots of cybersecurity breaches are happening, and they want to add on blockchain-based data security layer we do have in-house team We'll be happy to provide them how they can start backing data in multiple Clouds with a block encryption, so this way the data is private, protected and people feel safe.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, yeah, so many ethical considerations. We saw the meltdown of 23andMe and what that meant for people's genomic data, including myself. It's out there. God knows what's going to happen. Genomic data, including myself, it's out there. God knows what's going to happen. So, as a health tech company in Canada a beautiful part of Canada, by the way how do you take this mission and vision globally? How do you scale, not just in North America, but internationally? Is it just money or do you need something more?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for asking this question. For any startup, the vision is one thing and the technology is the other thing, and the last thing that matters is meeting the right people, more than any money or any funding we can raise. Yes, money does play a role, because you need to hire the right talent who can help us grow, but meeting the right people matters most than anything else. So I like to travel. I am traveling globally and finding people who are converted in this area. Already they believe in this area, they're practicing medicine, so they are the early adopters. So I like to meet with them, understand their challenges and their successes and perhaps I can replicate those successes globally. So I spent some time learning with them. So I reached out to various hospitals institutions, asked them if they're looking for these kind of solutions, and we are open to collaborations, joint ventures, and we signed MOU in Saudi company in Boston last week. We do have a huge interest in UAE, europe, uk, usa.
Speaker 2:So we are looking to grow globally. We want to be in every country because the problem is universal. We are 8 billion plus people on this earth and all of us should be getting healthcare delivered through genomics and multi-genomics way, and we can do that today healthcare delivered through genomics and multi-genomics way and we can do that today. So I would like to work with anyone who can help us open those doors and want to talk about their own personal research project or the personal struggles they're having at home and they're not getting the right answer from the doctors. I would ask them to reach out to BioAero. We'll be happy to. If you don't have an answer, we'll work with them to find that answer.
Speaker 1:Incredible. What a great opportunity to collaborate. And what's your sort of vision for, you know, three to five years? What sort of opportunities will be looking at then for health monitoring, I guess digital twins, gosh, no. What kind of AI models we'll have? It's a very exciting time.
Speaker 2:Well, what I'm envisioning is that there will be countries whose healthcare will be delivered through genomics and that will be happening in Saudi Arabia, uk, some other parts of Europe. They are going ahead. The UK already announced that every newborn will be getting a whole genome sequencing. We have a 10-year program. Being the first developed country to implement that. Saudi Arabia is implementing genomics for everyone. Emirates have done a whole genome sequencing for themselves. Qataris, bahrainis, kuwaitis they all are coming on board. Chinese are also ahead of it. It's just a matter of time. So I will see Americans coming on board. Chinese are also ahead of it. It's just a matter of time, so I will see Americans coming on board. So is Canadians and other parts of Europe joining hands when they start to see value coming out of NHS and many different parts of the world?
Speaker 2:And in three to five years, I do see that healthcare will be shifting more towards data focus and AI-based healthcare delivery will be more using variable data coming to doctor offices, integrated. We'll be looking at environmental data the type of air we are breathing in, the type of water we are drinking and the food we are eating. We'll have more awareness about that. The AI agents will play a role, so we'll be having more interaction with them. People will be learning more about their health and body, understanding what the ingredients are going inside the packaging, what they actually mean, and AI agents will be guiding them and advising them. These foods are good or bad. So the healthcare will be really different and there will be smart devices Over the next five to 10 years.
Speaker 2:What I see? That healthcare will be delivered from homes. There'll be less reliance on hospitals, less reliance on coming to the clinical side. It'll be more home care will be delivered wherever the patients are, so healthcare will be available 24 hours and blood testing will be easily available less requirement for going to lab for the blood testing, for the basic blood test or the cardiac blood test, biomarkers. So huge disruption is coming and the need for a big brick-and-mortar hospital or clinic will go down. It'll be just based on acute care or the procedures that cannot be done in homes. Those will be done in those clinics and hospitals, but most things will be delivered in people's homes.
Speaker 1:Incredible. What if I'm an individual or family listening, can I go to BioAero and get my genome sequence as well and access your services directly from the website?
Speaker 2:Yes, please. Anyone can go to the website and they can access gut microbiome, skin, oral, vaginal. They can get access to epigenetic testings and many more tests are going to be available soon. And one thing I want to mention to your listeners that we don't sell people data and we respect your privacy and we do have a strong standards to protect your privacy and we are not into data selling business. We are in healthcare. Our goal and mission is to make sure you get the best healthcare service possible.
Speaker 1:Well, wonderful. I can't wait to try it myself and many family members interested. Please look us up when you're next in Boston. And thanks for joining. Appreciate your time and the amazing enthusiasm you're sharing here.
Speaker 2:No, thank you so much for having me Really appreciate that.
Speaker 1:And thanks everyone for listening, watching, sharing this episode and also check out our Tech Impact and AI Impact TV show now on Fox, business and Bloomberg. Take care everyone.