When Ivan Liachko started working in his first molecular biology lab at age 16, he couldn't have imagined how his childhood fascination with genetics would transform into a groundbreaking biotech company. In the latest episode of talk is biotech!, host Guru Singh sits down with Liachko, founder and CEO of Phase Genomics, to explore how a revolutionary DNA analysis technique has moved from academic research to commercial success.
This engaging conversation reveals how Phase Genomics is using innovative approaches to DNA proximity analysis to unlock previously inaccessible genetic insights, solving critical challenges in microbiology, cancer diagnosis, and antibiotic resistance along the way.
The Scientific Journey: From Soviet Union to Seattle Startup
Ivan's story begins in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union), where a childhood fascination with biology blossomed into a career-defining passion. Unlike many children who dream of becoming astronauts or firefighters, Ivan was captivated by genetics from an early age.
"I just always wanted to do genetics," Ivan explains during the podcast. "I started working in a molecular biology lab when I was 16 years old. I was still in high school, and I got this Summer Fellowship for high school students and started doing lab stuff. And then I just kind of wouldn't leave them alone."
This early start led to an academic path through Brandeis University for his bachelor's, Cornell for his PhD, and finally to the University of Washington for his postdoc work. It was in Seattle where Ivan and collaborators developed the technology that would eventually form the foundation of Phase Genomics.
Ivan recalls being influenced by encyclopedias with biological illustrations during his Soviet Union days: "It had lots of biological illustrations and DNA, and it just always seemed so interesting to me." This childhood interest, combined with family encouragement, set him on a path that would ultimately lead to groundbreaking innovations in genomics.
The Hi-C Breakthrough: Revolutionizing How We Read DNA
The core technology behind Phase Genomics addresses a fundamental challenge in genomics – how to properly assemble and interpret fragmented DNA sequences. Traditional DNA sequencing is like shredding a blueprint into tiny pieces without clear instructions on how to reassemble it.
Ivan explains the revolutionary approach of Hi-C sequencing applications with a brilliant analogy from the podcast:
"Imagine you had the blueprints for a house, and you shredded them into little pieces. Technically, yes, that is the house, but it's not quite the same because you don't know where anything's going. That's what genome sequencing is like."
The breakthrough came when Ivan and his team adapted a technology called Hi-C, originally developed at the University of Massachusetts to study how DNA folds in three dimensions. Their innovation was recognizing that the DNA proximity analysis information captured by Hi-C could solve multiple biological puzzles:
"If you knew how far away every piece was from every other piece...you can arrange those pieces in such a way to say, these are supposed to be close, these are supposed to be far, and you can reconstruct that entire blueprint now."
This approach fundamentally changes how scientists can work with genetic information. While the original Hi-C technology was designed to study DNA folding, Ivan's team recognized its potential for genome assembly and other applications, transforming a specialized tool into a versatile platform technology.
Applications That Transform Research and Medicine
What makes Phase Genomics special is how their core technology serves as "a hammer that hits many nails." Their Hi-C sequencing applications have found use in several critical fields:
Microbiome Research Breakthroughs
Traditional microbiome analysis faces a major challenge – when sequencing mixed bacterial communities (like from soil or the human gut), it's nearly impossible to determine which genetic sequences belong to which organisms.
As Ivan vividly describes it in the podcast: "It's like you're getting 100 jigsaw puzzles, 1000 jigsaw puzzles, and you dumped all the pieces together and mixed them up. If you know which pieces were touching each other, then you can tell which ones belong to the same organism."
This application has positioned Phase Genomics as a leader in microbiome research breakthroughs, enabling scientists to discover new microbes and track antibiotic resistance genes within complex communities.
Cancer Genomics Diagnostics
In cancer, chromosomal rearrangements often drive disease progression, but these structural changes are notoriously difficult to detect with standard sequencing. Phase Genomics' technology offers a powerful alternative to the century-old practice of visually examining chromosomes under a microscope.
"Our technology can tell us when pieces of chromosomes are rearranging or scrambling or moving where they're not supposed to move," Ivan notes in the discussion. This capability is transforming cancer genomics diagnostics by making it easier to identify cancer-causing mutations and monitor treatment effectiveness.
Ivan explains the current diagnostic challenge: "Traditionally, how people detect those things is by looking at the chromosomes and being like, 'okay, that piece of a chromosome is a little bit longer than it's supposed to be, that looks like that piece and that piece swapped places.' It's a very old school technique—you're looking at DNA with your eyes."
Phase Genomics' approach offers higher resolution, faster results, and the ability to detect rearrangements too small to see with traditional microscopy.
Fighting the Next Pandemic: Innovative Antibiotic Resistance Solutions
Perhaps most exciting is Phase Genomics' work in developing antibiotic resistance solutions through bacteriophage research. With antibiotic resistance projected to become a leading cause of death globally, finding new antimicrobial approaches is urgent.
"Antibiotic resistance problem is on everyone's mind because it is the next pandemic," Ivan warns during the conversation. "When antibiotics stop working, it's not going to be a pandemic. It's going to be every pandemic because suddenly every bacteria becomes a deadly bacteria."
The company's massive database of bacteriophage genomes offers a promising solution. As Ivan explains, bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) contain proteins called lysins that specifically target and destroy bacterial cells:
"We have the world's largest collection of these antibiotic proteins called lysins that kill specific bacteria. And we're starting to take those and basically develop them into precision antimicrobials."
These bacteriophage therapeutics could provide a powerful new weapon against resistant infections without disrupting beneficial microbes, something traditional antibiotics can't accomplish. Ivan vividly describes their power: "You can take a bacterial culture that looks like a beer. You can put a bunch of lysin protein into it, and in like 10 minutes, it'll look like apple juice."
Environmental Applications: Tackling Climate Change Through Genomics
One of Phase Genomics' most innovative applications extends beyond healthcare into environmental sustainability. In partnership with the Gates Foundation, they're working on a project to reduce methane emissions from cattle by targeting methane-producing microbes in their digestive systems.
"Cows produce lots of methane," Ivan explains. "The bacteria inside their rumen chew up [grass], and they barf methane into the air. That methane is a super strong greenhouse gas."
The environmental impact could be substantial: "There are some estimates where if you knock down this cow methane by like 50%, that's the same as taking every car off the road in terms of greenhouse emissions."
Using their database of bacteriophage lysins, Phase Genomics can target and eliminate the specific microbes responsible for methane production without harming the overall microbiome of the cow. This application demonstrates how genomics innovations can address not just health challenges but also major environmental problems.
The Academic-to-Commercial Leap: Building a Biotech Startup
Ivan's journey from academic researcher to biotech CEO illustrates the challenges many scientists face when commercializing their discoveries. When he realized the potential impact of their technology, keeping it within academia felt insufficient:
"Keeping it within the academic sphere means nobody would see the light of day. It would just not go anywhere. And I was like, 'Look, we have to turn this into a commercial product. Otherwise, it's going to be basically a crime against science.'"
The transition from academic to commercial biotech wasn't simple. Ivan describes the early days of the company with refreshing honesty:
"A lot of people think of startups as these high-tech things with all these shiny labs, but really it's more like a garage full of crap. When we started our lab at the incubator, it was just the two of us. It was literally like a large closet. The desk was too low to be a lab bench, so I literally bought bricks at Home Depot and put them under the desk."
Finding the right co-founder was crucial for Ivan. His partnership with Sean, a software engineer who had been part of Ivan's Dungeons & Dragons campaign, created a complementary skill set: "I was sort of the wet lab side of the equation. He was more of the software side of the equation. We split all the other tasks among ourselves."
For scientists considering entrepreneurship, Ivan offers valuable insights about the psychological shift required:
"When you're a scientist in an academic setting, you think differently than when you're running a company. You're really incentivized to invent something one time and then go on and do something else. In business, you have to think about what other people want more than what you want."
Building Credibility: From First Customer to Growth
Like many startups, Phase Genomics faced the challenge of establishing credibility. Their first commercial opportunity came through Driscoll's Berry Company, which needed their genomic technology but couldn't use the proprietary methods themselves.
"They came and they wanted to do a bunch of genomes with us...and they were like, 'look, can you do this for money?' And so they were one of our first customers," Ivan recalls.
This service-based model allowed the company to bootstrap its growth before developing packaged kits and software. Ivan emphasizes the importance of that first breakthrough: "You need someone to start the process...You need to get someone to buy into you, to bet on you in a way early on before you have credibility."
This "snowball effect" of credibility is crucial for biotech startups, as Guru and Ivan discuss—once you have a few customers, replicating that success becomes easier, but those first clients require tremendous effort to secure.
The Future of Genomics: Transforming Health and Environment
Phase Genomics represents a perfect example of how a genomics startup can evolve from a single technology platform into a multi-faceted biotech company. While maintaining their core focus on Hi-C technology, they've expanded into therapeutic development, diagnostic tools, and environmental applications.
When asked about the future of genomics, Ivan envisions transformations across healthcare, agriculture, and environmental sciences: "I think it'll impact almost everything we do, right, our health, our food, our transportation...almost everything we can think of."
Ivan believes genomics will fundamentally change our approach to healthcare, moving from treatment to prevention: "Within the health sphere...when you have holistic understanding of everything about you, maybe you eliminate all disease, or you eliminate most chronic diseases that we don't understand. If you were able to prevent problems before they happen...if you knew more about yourself, you might be able to prevent things that right now seem to be impossible."
Entrepreneurship Insights: Lessons from a Genomics Founder
When asked about entrepreneurship, Ivan offers a humorous but insightful perspective that perfectly captures the founder mindset: "Founder is just a historical statement. CEO is a job. And entrepreneur is a mental disorder that makes you have to do this and you can't stop."
For scientists considering the leap to entrepreneurship, Ivan emphasizes the importance of team building: "Finding, getting a team around you is really important. You need somebody who will complement your skills, because you can't do everything."
He also highlights the struggle many scientists face when transitioning to business, particularly around marketing and sales: "When I was starting out for the first several years, sales and marketing to me, I was allergic to it. It feels wrong. Like, if this is good, then it should be obvious. People should just get it."
This transition from scientific discovery to commercialization requires learning to focus on customer needs rather than personal interests—a difficult but necessary shift for academic to commercial biotech success.
Watch the Podcast
Watch talk is biotech! Episode 3 on YouTube and discover how DNA proximity analysis is transforming multiple fields of science and medicine.
Listen to the Podcast
Prefer listening on the go? Stream talk is biotech! Episode 3 on Spotify.
