New Repertoire Room Podcast Episode: Samra Turajlić on Multiomics, Kidney Cancer, and the Power of TCR-Seq

In the latest instalment of the Repertoire Room, we take the show on the road! Recorded live at the Festival of Genomics and Biodata in London, this episode features an in-depth conversation with Dr. Samra Turajlić, a leading clinician-scientist at the Francis Crick Institute and Director of the CRUK Manchester Institute.

As both an oncologist and a researcher, Samra offers a unique "bedside to bench" perspective on the complexities of cancer biology. We dive into why patients with identical diagnoses can have such divergent clinical outcomes and how advanced technology is helping us bridge that gap.

Key Highlights from the Conversation

• The "Bedside to Bench" Philosophy: Samra explains how her clinical practice fuels her research, starting with the great diversity of patient outcomes seen in the clinic.
• Deciphering Immunotherapy Response: We discuss the "imprecise" nature of current immune checkpoint blockades and how multiomic approaches—combining single-cell RNA, TCR/BCR sequencing, and protein profiling—are essential to finding reliable biomarkers.
• The ADAPTER Trial & Kidney Cancer: Samra shares insights from her groundbreaking 2021 study, proving that kidney tumours contain tumour-specific T-cells that can be "rescued" and expanded through PD1 and CTLA4 inhibitors.
• Deorphanising the Dark Genome: Looking ahead, the episode explores the Manifest program and the quest to identify what T-cells are actually "seeing" by screening thousands of antigens and exploring the dark genome.

Chapter Breaks

00:00 – Introduction: Live from the Festival of Genomics

00:47 – Meet Samra Turajlic: Clinician, Scientist, and Institute Director

02:47 – Career Path: From clinical oncology to the research lab

04:32 – Why the "bedside to bench" approach is critical for cancer programs

07:33 – The power and precision of multiomics in immunotherapy

10:59 – Key insights: Identifying T-cell memory signatures

13:33 – TCR and BCR sequencing as foundational "barcoding" tools

14:55 – Challenging the status quo: The ADAPTeR trial and kidney cancer

17:50 – What’s next? Deorphanising TCRs and the "Dark Genome"

19:51 – The "Sliding Doors" question: A career in the arts?

Listen to the Full Episode

You can find this episode on our YouTube channel or Spotify.

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