Learn more about Antonio through the following quick questions:
Good morning Antonio. What do you do at GenomSys, and what are you currently working on?
Hello, I am the Android developer here at GenomSys. I am in charge of designing and developing the Android version of GenomYou, our mobile app, to make personalized medicine available for everyone. Currently, I’m working on the creation of the user interface format of the report.
What is your take on personalized medicine and what role does GenomSys play in that?
I think in the future, we will not be calling medicine personalized medicine, as medicine will evolve into a more personalized state. We already see this specialization – or let me say personalization – in science, so why wouldn’t medicine develop in this direction. We at GenomSys want to do our best to accelerate this and maybe become a strong accelerator in the genomics field, just as Microsoft became for the specialization in computer science.
What is the most significant benefit of GenomSys’ ISO-certified standard for genomic data (MPEG-G), in your opinion?
As a developer, standardization of data is something that makes every time my life easier. Through a standard, the work around it becomes more efficient, more reliable, and of course, faster. We saw this in any other industry transforming into the digital era. Additionally, around the standard, a particular community evolves that shares the experiences to help others succeed and sometimes gives room for other innovations that none of us had thought of before.
Genomic data and data privacy challenges. What is, in your opinion, a way to solve this issue?
I think that privacy, in this case, is very important because your genome is literally yourself. So having this core information accessible only to myself or each individual themselves is the first step in the right direction. One of the simplest ways to solve this issue is to have your information at any time with you and not in some big and centralized – which is more attractive for attacker datacenter 😉.
Why did you join GenomSys?
One Year ago, I was tired of the Banking and Insurance World. I was looking for a new chapter of my developer career and GenomSys was an incredible new world. The unique vision of democratizing the way we think about our genomic data and genomics, in general, appealed to me very much. After a brief call with Alessio (CEO of GenomSys), I fell in love with the project. And as a Birthday Gift to myself (yes, I started working at GenomSys on my Birthday), I wrote the first lines of code for the GenomYou app, which deals with the biological code of life – our DNA.
Why did you join GenomSys then and what is, in your opinion, the most important thing that GenomSys offers today?
At the time, I was looking for new opportunities in new fields. When Marco and Claudio (both founders of GenomSys) told me about GenomSys and its work on genomics, I almost immediately fell for it. GenomSys is paving the way to bring personalized medicine to everybody, focusing both on the professional user’s and end user’s perspectives. For me, this wide spectrum approach can ultimately enable us all to leverage the information stored in our genes for better health.
When you’re not programming at GenomSys, what do you do in your free time?
A lot of nerdy stuff to be honest. I enjoy the game “pen and paper”, a game in which participants take on fictional roles and experience an adventure together through storytelling, to digital dynamic models such as the video games Drone and 4WD car. Also, I like to go boulder climbing and spending time with my friends in our favorite pub(like HIMYM or Friends).
Do you listen to podcasts or do you prefer reading books? What are you currently reading?
Both of them and also I use audiobooks. Currently, I’m reading the 10th book of “the wheel of time” saga, a fantasy novel cycle by Robert Jordan and the latest Episode of the Barbero podcast. This podcast includes the collection of the best lectures and conferences of Professor Alessandro Barbero on more or less known aspects of History, from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary Age.
Do you have a favorite chromosome and why is this your favorite one?
I think it’s the 8th. If I remember it correctly, it was one of the most mutate and involved in Human Brain evolution when comparing humans and chimpanzees. It is assumed that the high mutation rate and the direct relation to the brain are direct evidence for the evolution of the human brain from the chimps.[1].
Find out more on chromosome 8 and the divergence between humans and chimps here.
What is your favorite base in the DNA (adenine, guanine, cytosine or thymine)?
Thymine. When I was young, I had a test during science class, and one of the answers was thymine. I correctly wrote the answer, which ultimately gave me a good mark in class, so this is the reason why thymine is still my favorite. So that’s my banal answer since I’m a computer scientist and not a biologist. 😉
If you have any further questions for Antonio or about GenomSys, please feel free to contact us.
[1] Tabarés-Seisdedos R, Rubenstein JL; Rubenstein (2009). “Chromosome 8p as a potential hub for developmental neuropsychiatric disorders: implications for schizophrenia, autism and cancer”. Mol Psychiatry. 14 (6): 563–89. doi:10.1038/mp.2009.2. PMID 19204725. S2CID 11118479.
