Faculty Feature: Dr. Dan-Avi Landau 

For this newsletter’s Faculty Feature, Yanyang Chen (SVG Newsletter Editor) and Nick Bartelo (SVG President) had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Dan-Avi Landau, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Associate Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Core Member of New York Genome Center. Dr. Landau specializes in fundamental principles in evolutionary biology and biological regulation of mammalian cells through the study of cancer, with the goal of devising therapies that directly anticipate and address tumor evolution. He completed his postdoc at Harvard before joining Weill Cornell Medicine in 2015. He is the co-founder of C2i Genomics, which measures the whole genome sequence of 2-3 ml of blood, enabling informed and timely treatment decisions. Their company leverages a cloud-based platform to perform tumor burden monitoring on a global scale, leading to the development of a personalized medicine approach to cancer.
 

SVG: What inspired you to co-found C2i Genomics? Have you always thought of translating the academic research in your lab into clinics? 

Dr. Landau: We started out with a cool idea that we realized could answer urgent needs of patients. We initially had some discussion with other biotechs in the space. However, they were already invested in their products and had less bandwidth to pursue things outside of the box and orthogonal. That inspired myself and my co-founder (a postdoc in our lab) to spin off a new entity. 

SVG: What is the role of C2i Genomics in healthcare intervention?

Dr. Landau: The platform is unique in the sense that it’s a software service model. We partner with institutions, health care provider networks, and pharmaceutical companies around the world by providing them with a fairly straightforward data production protocol, and then they can start producing data in their own centers. They can upload the data into the cloud with the data physically located within their countries, limiting the tricky situations of moving data across country borders. We then run our software on these data and provide different clients with outputs. The outputs will be used in different ways, either direct patient care or clinical research. 
Compared to a centralized model, where someone has to send you the samples for processing, we can start a collaboration with Singapore, India, or anywhere around the globe much faster and more straightforward. We started this project on a whiteboard in 2017, and fast forward we’re at the beginning of 2023. Within 6 years, the company deployed across continents, participated in advanced clinical trials, and collaborated with pharmaceutical companies. Seeing something go from a crazy idea on the whiteboard all the way to high impact within a short period of time is both exciting and empowering. 

SVG: The massive datasets of C2i Genomics is unparalleled. How does the company plan to utilize these invaluable data for R&D?

Dr. Landau: We pioneered the concept of whole genome sequencing of the plasma as an alternative to the prevailing paradigm of targeted panel sequencing. Our immediate goal is to provide real time information to clinicians and patients about the state of the disease and to optimize therapy.
We also are excited about leveraging this kind of data for discovery data mining. We're capturing germline variability more than you could with panels, so that gives us an advantage for data mining and discovery.

SVG: What advice would you give to graduate students and postdocs interested in starting a biotech company with their research?

Dr. Landau: The key is to focus on the science. You have to bring in some kind of deliverable that has the potential to be a game-changer. For instance, our business model does not involve shipping samples to a centralized lab, allowing worldwide expansion. You must be open-minded as to in what arena your invention or discovery will flourish the most.
The business side will be learned as you progress. You must have a good pitch deck, be able to communicate very effectively the unique added value, compare your technology to what's out there, highlight your key assets and strengths, and assemble a team. You all have an advantage that you can create an impressive team with your graduate school peers. The opportunities for intellectual and personal growth around starting a company and bringing your vision to life are exciting!