#417 ASHG 2026: Electronic Genome Mapping, AI in Genetics, & the Future of Research

For the third year in a row, DNA Today is bringing you inside the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting, and this year, we've taken our genetics coverage international! We're reporting from beautiful Montréal, Canada, where thousands of geneticists, researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders gathered to share the latest breakthroughs shaping the future of genomics. From cutting-edge technologies to big questions about the future of genetic medicine, there's no shortage of exciting science to unpack. And don't worry, we're bringing you all the highlights, no passport required, eh?

In this episode, host Kira Dineen takes you behind the scenes of ASHG 2026 through two special segments recorded at the conference.

First, we stop by the Nabsys booth to chat with Founder and CEO Barrett Bready, MD, about how Electronic Genome Mapping (EGM) is advancing our ability to detect structural variants. We explore how the technology compares with traditional approaches, its emerging applications in hematologic malignancies, and the latest research Nabsys is showcasing at ASHG.

For our second segment, we're live on location! DNA Today teamed up with Wiley's Advanced Portfolio to co-host a special brunch featuring a live podcast recording right from the conference. With breakfast on the table and big questions on the menu, Kira moderated a conversation with leading genetics researchers and publishing experts about the discoveries, challenges, and opportunities shaping the field. From translating genetic findings into new therapies and harnessing AI to accelerate research to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and rethinking the role of scientific publishing, this discussion goes beyond the conference presentations to explore where genetics is headed next.

Whether you joined us in Montréal or are experiencing the conference from afar, consider this your front-row seat to some of the conversations shaping the future of genetics. We're serving up fresh science with a side of maple syrup, because when it comes to genetics, there's always more to discover, eh?

Nabsys Segment Guest
Barrett Bready, MD (linkedin.com/in/barrett-bready-52b4837) is Founder and CEO of Nabsys. He is passionate about the impact that advanced technology can have on the understanding of disease as well as on its diagnosis and treatment. He has raised $150 million to realize a new way of analyzing DNA that uses proprietary solid-state electronic nanodetectors to analyze very long molecules, with an initial focus on genomic structural variation. Barrett is an adjunct professor at Brown University where he lectures on the rapidly evolving business of life sciences. He serves as a commissioner of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, a major land redevelopment initiative in downtown Providence, RI with a focus on life sciences and other high-technology sectors. He has received numerous awards including, in 2011, Rhode Island Innovator of the Year, and in 2018, a career achievement award from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Barrett graduated from the highly competitive Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) at Brown University where he received an M.D. and an Sc.B. in Physics and won the undergraduate physics award (the Lindsay Prize) and the Galletti Prize for physics in medicine.

Nabsys Discussion Topics

• ASHG 2026 conference highlights and a presentation on electronic genome mapping (EGM) in hematologic malignancies

• Why genomic structural variants matter in cancer and rare disease

• How traditional sequencing and cytogenetic approaches may leave gaps in detecting structural variation

• Nabsys’ electronic genome mapping as a high-resolution, top-down approach to studying genome structure

• How EGM uses electrical detection to read sequence-specific tags on long DNA molecules

• Identifying deletions, insertions, inversions, and translocations by comparing tag patterns

• How EGM relates to traditional cytogenetic methods such as FISH and karyotyping

• The nanochannel detection process and how DNA molecules affect ionic current as they pass through

• Nabsys’ relationship with Hitachi and the potential to scale the technology

• Nabsys’ goal of expanding access to structural variant detection and single-molecule insights

• ASHG posters on CRISPR-Cas9-mediated assay specificity and EGM applications for copy number variants in constitutional disorders

• The potential for EGM to combine modalities and increase diagnostic yield over time

Wiley Advanced Genetics Panelists
Yuming Hu, PhD (linkedin.com/in/yuming-hu) serves as the Editor-In-Chief for Advanced Genetics, which is a peer-reviewed, broad-scope, open-access journal dedicated to advancing gene-related research with a recently expanded scope. It includes not only human, animal, plant, and microbial genetics, genomics, and epigenomics, but also topics that employ genetic, omics technologies, bioinformatics, computational biology, and artificial intelligence as toolboxes for discovery and innovation. Dr. Hu received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Wageningen University and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Ghent University. She worked as a Research Assistant at the University of California, Davis, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Tsinghua University. She joined Wiley as a scientific editor in 2022.

Nadav Ahituv, PhD (linkedin.com/in/nadav-ahituv-50a37559) is a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and the Director of the Institute for Human Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his PhD in human genetics from Tel-Aviv University working on hereditary hearing loss. He then did his postdoc, specializing in functional genomics, in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the DOE Joint Genome Institute. His current work is focused on identifying gene regulatory elements and linking nucleotide variation within them to various phenotypes including morphological differences between species, drug response and human disease. His lab was one of the co-developers of massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) that allow for high-throughput functional characterization of gene regulatory elements. In addition, he pioneered cis-regulation therapy (CRT), the use of gene regulatory elements as therapeutic targets for haploinsufficient disorders, and adipose modulation transplantation (AMT), a novel cancer cell therapy.

Brandon Lê, PhD (linkedin.com/in/bmle) is a genetic epidemiologist deeply passionate about biomedical research and uncovering the genetic etiologies of rare human genetic disorders, as well as a science communicator experienced in translating findings from bench to bedside. He has worked in sickle cell disease (SCD), essential tremor (ET), epigenetic aging, glaucoma, and bipolar disorder (BPD), and his training is in genetic epidemiology, statistical genetics, and computational biology as applied to analyzing large biological datasets. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics (VIPBG) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA investigating the genetic etiology of bipolar disorder.

Panel Discussion Topics

• The panelists introduce their backgrounds in plant molecular genetics, psychiatric genetics, functional genomics, gene therapy, and publishing.

• A presidential symposium on science communication prompts discussion about making genetics more accessible to people outside the field.

• The panel highlights the value of clear, audience-friendly language—for example, using “variant” rather than “mutation” when speaking to the public.

• Panelists reflect on communicating genetics across different levels of expertise, including for conference attendees outside a session’s specific subfield.

• A session on research beyond GWAS covers biobank …