A proud Huntington’s disease gene carrier’s message to his ‘miracle baby’ daughter on her senior year in college

 

When I tested positive for the Huntington’s disease genetic mutation in 1999, at 39, I was convinced I was doomed to repeat my HD-stricken mother’s onset of symptoms in her late 40s.

 

I had tested because my wife Regina and I wanted to plan for children, who, if I had the mutation, would also have a 50-50 chance of inheriting it.

 

We decided to have a child before the availability of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which involves in vitro fertilization of embryos without the mutation. So, we had our daughter Bianca tested in the womb. Her negative result in early 2000 was one of the happiest moments of our life. She was our “miracle baby.”

 

Now, 21 years later, Bianca has started her senior year at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is finishing a U.S. history honors thesis. She has flourished in her classes and successfully taken on several leadership roles.

 

Bianca understood from about the age of two that her grandmother was ill with a genetic disease. HD transformed my mother into a mere physical and mental shadow of herself, taking her life at 68 in 2006. Four years later, when Bianca was 9, she learned that I, too, was at risk but that she was not.

 

I have been extremely lucky. I am almost 62 and was found to have no HD symptoms at my recent annual neurological checkup. I have perhaps benefited from the positive action of modifier genes and a far greater opportunity than my mother had – we had never heard of HD prior to her diagnosis – to prepare for the disease.

 

As Bianca navigates the challenges of senior year and prepares for post-college life, I want to provide her with a message of hope, challenge, and some of the wisdom I have picked up along my own life’s journey, including our family’s struggle against Huntington’s. My letter to Bianca follows after the photo below.

 

Regina Serbin (left), Gene Veritas (aka Kenneth P. Serbin), and Bianca Serbin at the Edge sky deck during a visit to New York City in August 2021 to celebrate Bianca's 21st birthday (photo by Devon Riley)

 

Dearest Bianca,

 

When you graduate next May, you and your classmates will come of age at a time of immense challenges.

 

I am impressed with how you (and so many other students of all levels) have shown great fortitude and flexibility when forced into the new reality of online learning and social distancing during the monumental disruptions of the COVID-19 crisis.

 

I was happy to see that this semester Penn has moved students back into the classroom, allowing you to recover some of the lost joy of the college years.

 

With the rapid development of highly effective RNA-based vaccines, many of us are reaping the fruits of the biotechnological breakthroughs of our era. Researchers are also exploring a variety of such genetics-based approaches as potential Huntington’s treatments. Because many of these advances promise to change our very nature, they will pose ethical dilemmas.

 

Our family has lived this in the flesh. The biomedical revolution made it possible for you to know your life will be free of Huntington’s. However, as you have learned, being HD-free does not mean being challenge-free. Far from it!

 

But the freedom from HD has enabled you to plan a life in which you can strive for academic and professional excellence, and to develop your personal qualities.

 

As you venture forth, remember always that you’re not going it alone. You can rely on others, just as you should be available to support others. Life is a collective endeavor, as our family has learned so well from the fight against HD. As I always tell people dealing with the initial shock of discovering Huntington’s in their families, “together we will beat this disease!”

 

In your drive for personal success, cherish the preciousness of time, as I have learned to do in confronting the fears of HD. Use ambition to push ahead, but don’t let it dominate your inner good. Always make time for family and friends.

 

Take time to meditate and cultivate your spirituality, because I believe that we all have such a dimension, independent of any belief system or organized religion. As you have done at Penn, find ways in your life to connect to something larger than you.

 

Bianca, I’m elated with how we have come to share many passions: for writing, the study of history, historical movies (especially war films), music, our dog Lenny, and our family.

 

Because of HD, your grandmother could barely hold you as a baby. Your “HD warrior” caregiver grandfather loved you deeply. I wish they could have shared your college years.

 

I have not wanted you to worry about me getting HD, which is a major reason that I have strived so hard to maintain good health – and to support the search for treatments that could save me from HD’s inevitable though often unpredictable symptoms.

 

You and Mom have joined me at Hope Walks and other fundraisers, and in 2017 you gave up the chance to attend your junior prom to take part in Pope Francis’ special audience with the HD community in Rome. I so deeply appreciated having you by my side during that breathtaking moment.

 

I am thrilled and thankful to have the clarity of mind to enjoy your progress towards graduation. You have made me deeply proud.

 

Because of our and so many other families’ dedication to the HD cause, and also thanks to the researchers, I remain ever hopeful for an HD treatment in my lifetime. If that moment comes, I know that no matter where you are geographically and professionally, we will celebrate with tears of joy.

 

I hope HD strikes me minimally and very late in life, as I have seen in some cases. Together our family has seen many people with HD fight tremendously to overcome the disease, and their caregivers devote every ounce of strength. As it has throughout our journey, the hope for both my good health and the arrival of treatments will continue to sustain us ­– even beyond the start of any symptoms that might occur.

 

No matter what difficulty, please remember that I have always treasured our great moments together and watching you grow as a person.

 

No one knows what tomorrow will bring. In this moment, let’s cherish the positive, including the fact that you, Mom, and I are healthy. As your senior year progresses, I want to celebrate our joy together as you prepare to graduate.

 

Raising you has brought Mom and me greater meaning and purpose – and, above all, lots of love to share.

 

Healthy and ambitious, you are poised, with your generation, to leave your mark on the world.

 

Congratulations on your senior year! Enjoy the ride!

 

Love,

 

Dad

 

 

 

The Serbin Family Team of the Huntington's Disease Society of America San Diego Chapter's  2014 Hope Walk: from left to right, Dory Bertics, Bianca Serbin, Jane Rappoport, Gary Boggs, Yi Sun, Kenneth Serbin, Regina Serbin, and Allan Rappoport (photo by Bob Walker)

Wonder if you’ll get Huntington’s disease? Preparing for the big, ‘intensely personal’ decision to undergo predictive testing

One of the most daunting challenges facing families affected by Huntington’s disease involves genetic testing.

Huntington’s is a 100-percent genetically caused disease, and it now can be foreseen – but not yet cured or treated. All humans have the huntingtin gene, which is essential for life. HD’s devastating, ultimately deadly symptoms are caused by a specific mutation (called a “CAG repeat expansion”) in the gene. Definitive testing for HD became available after the historic discovery of the gene in 1993.

Because every child of an affected HD parent has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the expanded gene, the mere decision to test is often frightful. A positive test result for the expansion means not only that the tested person will develop HD, but carries an added burden: the knowledge that both immediate and extended family members are also at risk of carrying the expansion.

Three scenarios

A person showing no symptoms, or suspecting symptoms, undergoes a predictive test, that is, to see whether the individual carries the expansion and therefore might have HD or later develop it. (Diagnostic testing confirms whether a person already displaying symptoms has HD. Prenatal testing determines whether a fetus or embryo carries the expansion.)

These three scenarios were poignantly portrayed in the July 3 ABC News feature “Living with Huntington’s Disease.” The 15-minute program focused on the stories of Scott and Kelsey Porter and Justin Furstenberg, who received his test result on camera (starkly reminiscent of the film The Lion’s Mouth Opens.)

The report’s detailed, deeply personal rendering of the genetic testing process also illustrated how HD families rely on supportive genetic counseling and psychological and medical assistance – as well as solid scientific information – to navigate the many challenges involved.

Scott and Kelsey Porter in a Huntington's Disease Society of America video

According to recommended guidelines, individuals like the at-risk Kelsey must prepare for this procedure by speaking to a genetic counselor and a mental health professional, and should have a support person (such as a spouse or close friend) physically present throughout the process. For testing in the United States, this “protocol” was established by the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA). It was most recently updated in 2016. Testing centers should do the utmost to ensure confidentiality, especially since news of a positive test can risk changing perceptions in the workplace and elsewhere, even if there are new guarantees against genetic discrimination.

Testing centers often intentionally slow the testing process, so that there is time for the individual to reconsider the decision to be tested, to think about the potential downside of testing, and to prepare for the impact of the result. Because of survivor’s guilt and other psychological factors, a negative test result can also prove traumatic and disruptive to a person’s relationships with family and friends.

In my quarter century of attending the local monthly HDSA support group and advocating for the HD cause, the topic of predictive genetic testing and its many implications has come up regularly. My own family faced all three modes of tests over five years: my mother’s positive diagnostic test in 1995, my positive predictive test in 1999, and my daughter’s negative prenatal test in late 1999/early 2000. (Click here for details of my family’s fight against HD.)

Based on these experiences and my study of the many related issues, this article provides an overview of key steps and resources for people preparing for HD testing, in particular the predictive type.

Helpful HDSA resources

HDSA, in addition to its genetic testing protocol, provides a brochure to HD families, Genetic Testing Huntington’s Disease, that in simple language answers basic questions about the disease, testing procedures, and resources.

The brochure emphasizes a cardinal rule that I learned early in my family’s journey with HD, and which I have repeated to other HD family members coming to grips with disease for the first time:

“The decision to undergo genetic testing is an intensely personal one that cannot be taken lightly. Testing should never be forced on an at-risk individual. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. Each individual will have to take his/her own circumstances into consideration before making the decision.”

The HDSA family guide to genetic testing (copyright, HDSA)

The HDSA website furnishes valuable information on “genetic testing and your rights,” including the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). As explained on the site, GINA prohibits “health insurance companies and group health plans from denying coverage or charging a higher premium based on genetic information.” It also “prohibits employers from using an employee’s genetic information to discriminate when making employment decisions about hiring, firing, promotion, or terms of employment.”

In chapter 2 of HDSA’s A Physician’s Guide to the Management of Huntington’s Disease, leading HD specialist Martha Nance, M.D., provides additional critical information about testing and counseling. The chapter includes a detailed medical discussion of HD genetics.

A diagnosis of HD “affects the entire extended family,” Dr. Nance writes. “The person who is diagnosed with HD grieves not only for himself, but also for his at-risk children, and a young adult child caring for an affected parent understands that the parent’s disease could one day affect him.”

Dr. Nance stresses the importance of “accurate information” necessary for families to make “informed decisions” about genetic testing and family, financial, and life planning. Unfortunately, even decades after the discovery of the gene, “misinformation and misunderstandings” about HD genetics are still common, she notes.

(You can also watch a panel discussion titled “Looking to the Future: Life After Testing,” held at HDSA’s 35th annual convention, which took place online last month.)

Moving towards ‘genetic education’

In 2018, the international Huntington’s Disease Youth Organization (HDYO) added to its website a very readable “Genetic Testing Checklist,” covering key topics such as motivation for testing, coping with the test results, the testing process, and key things to do before testing, such as lining up insurance coverage (discussed below). This resource echoes many of the points made in HDSA materials.

In 2019, veteran University of Washington neurologist Thomas D. Bird, M.D., published Can You Help Me? Inside the Turbulent World of Huntington Disease, a book based on his more than 40 years’ experience seeing HD patients and their families. It includes detailed discussion of the many issues involved in what Dr. Bird calls the “genetic testing conundrum.”

Individuals contemplating genetic testing will find many valuable stories in Dr. Bird’s book. He describes the gamut of people’s reactions to testing – from individuals who have tested negative but still require a while for it to “sink in,” to (sadly) the risk for suicide among people testing positive.

“Suicide represents the cause of death in about 5-6% of persons with HD – five times higher than the national average,” Dr. Bird explains. “It can happen at any time but it is most common when a person at risk decides he or she is developing symptoms.”

Dr. Bird observes, crucially, that the “genetic test result is not black and white, all or nothing.” This reflects the latest genetic research on HD, which has demonstrated that the age of onset of symptoms is driven not just by the severity of the mutation but also by modifier genes (click here to read more).

This is why Dr. Bird stresses a comprehensive understanding of genetic counseling.

“Some people don’t like the term counseling,” he writes. “It sounds too much like psychotherapy, and they are wary of that. In fact, genetic counseling does sometimes have a heavy dose of psychotherapy, but it entails much more. Perhaps the best word would be education – genetic education.”

(I will review Can You Help Me? more fully in a future article.)

Ten key steps 

With these resources in mind, I list below ten key steps in preparing for a predictive genetic test and dealing with its short- and long-term consequences. These are my personal thoughts; this list is not meant to be exhaustive or official. Individuals should always consult their physicians. Each individual’s situation is unique.

1. Learn as much as you can about HD by studying the resources cited in this article, as well as others.

2. Join a support group, where you can learn from and share ideas with others confronting HD, as well as from facilitators and health professionals.

3. Contact the nearest HDSA Center of Excellence (or other HD or neurology clinic), where you can obtain information about testing and clinical services. You also can become involved in critical efforts towards treatments such as clinical trials and research studies like Enroll-HD. 

4. Know your rights regarding genetic testing and healthcare access under federal, state, and local law in your country of residence, and, in the U.S., learn about GINA.

5. Obtain life, disability, and/or long-term care insurance prior to testing. GINA does not protect consumers in these areas. In 1999, before testing, I was able to secure a long-term care policy with lifetime coverage. Since then, the long-term care market has gone into crisis, with many fewer policies issued, and far more limited coverage (click here and here to read more). At the time, I found it very helpful to work with an insurance broker recommended by an insurance agent specializing in long-term care who had been a guest speaker at the HD support group.

6. Set up a will, an advanced directive for end-of-life care, and, if appropriate, a living will to help protect assets. Also plan for the potential impact of HD on family finances by consulting a trusted financial advisor.

7. Research and select the testing center for your genetic test, including the cost of the procedure, which can run from a few hundred dollars to more than $1,000. (Some HDSA Centers of Excellence offer free or reduced pricing on testing. One foundation has paid for in vitro fertilization of non-HD-affected embryos but temporarily suspended grants because of the COVID-19 pandemic.) Some HD family members have criticized the quality of guidance provided at some centers. Be your own best advocate, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

8. Find a trusted family member or friend to be your support person.

9. Build a relationship with a trusted psychotherapist.

10. Become active in HDSA and/or other advocacy organizations.

With potential treatments, an expected boom in testing

As the geneticist who revealed my test results in 1999 stated, “a positive test is not a diagnosis.” Physicians and scientists underscore this point. Like me, many people live years and even decades after their test before symptoms start.

Currently, no more than ten percent of at-risk individuals choose to be tested. The vast majority fear a potentially depressing result, “and there is no means of prevention,” Dr. Bird observes.

However, as clinical trials such as the historic GENERATION HD1 proceed, the potential for the first effective treatments has grown significantly.

Indeed, doctors and HD clinics are preparing for the likely boom in testing for the HD mutation that will occur if GENERATION HD1 or trials of other possible disease-modifying treatments are successful, as people seek to learn their status before starting on a treatment. (Click here and here to read more.)

More than ever, people seeking HD predictive testing and their families will need what Dr. Bird describes as “an experienced, compassionate team to help them through this challenge.”

Ionis scientists provide initial assessment of successful Phase 1/2a Huntington’s disease trial and discuss next steps

After announcing December 11 that Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ gene-silencing drug for Huntington’s disease safely reduced the production of the toxic HD protein, company officials analyzed the firm’s successful Phase 1/2a clinical trial and discussed the next step: larger trials that are designed to test IONIS-HTT_Rx’s efficacy in alleviating symptoms by modifying the course of the disease.

I met with two lead scientists from Ionis’ HD team at company headquarters in Carlsbad, CA: Frank Bennett, Ph.D., Ionis senior vice president of research and the franchise leader for the company’s neurology programs, and Anne Smith, Ph.D., the Ionis director of clinical development and the individual responsible for the day-to-day management of the trial.

Drs. Bennett and Smith stressed that, because the two-year trial ended just last month, they could provide only an initial assessment of the results. The company plans to present detailed clinical trial findings at medical conferences in early 2018 and then publish the results in scientific journals.

Ionis will transfer administration of the next clinical trial phases to Roche, a key partner in the project since 2013. Roche now holds the license to IONIS-HTT_Rx, will lead further development, and handle all potential sales. Phase 1/2a took place in Canada, England, and Germany, but the next phase will have sites in the U.S. and other countries, to be determined next year by Roche. Ionis will continue to play an advisory role in the project.

“We are very appreciative of the community, and the patience that the community has exhibited,” Dr. Bennett said. “We understand how important this is for the HD community. We’re very pleased it’s going forward. The community has been very respectful towards the company and has allowed us to conduct this study in a way that was very robust.”

Drs. Bennett and Smith focused on how the trial revealed a reduction in the mutant huntingtin protein that “substantially exceeded our expectations,” according to the December 11 press release. The key, initial piece of trial data came from the measurement of the protein in the HD patients’ cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Other trial data such as brain scans and blood samples will become available later.

IONIS-HTT_Rx and other Ionis drugs are antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs, artificial strands of DNA), which alter the expression of genes. In August 2016, Ionis and its partner Biogen actually halted a Phase 3 trial of an Ionis ASO in infants with spinal muscular atrophy (a motor neuron disease) because the drug was extending their lives. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved the drug, with the commercial name SPINRAZA, in December 2016.

In October, Ionis and Biogen won a biotechnology prize for SPINRAZA (click here to read more). Ionis is also collaborating with Biogen to develop a drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Dr. Frank Bennett (left) with Gene Veritas (aka Kenneth P. Serbin) and Dr. Anne Smith (photo by Kristina Bowyer, Ionis)

Following are key excerpts from the interview.

Compelling changes in mutant huntingtin levels

GV: How did patients react to the intrathecal administration of the drug, that is, via a spinal tap?

AS: We didn’t hear from any of the physicians that there were any difficulties. There was probably some nervousness, but there were few side effects, and that ones they had were manageable. I think it’s telling that all 46 patients completed the trial.

GV: What was observed in the HD patients in this trial?

AS: We’re still in the process of getting these next waves of data in. That will come out over months. It’s important to recognize that the trial just ended in November. But at this stage we did see a promising safety profile, meaning that we didn’t have any clinical concerns with the drug.

We saw clear, compelling changes in mutant huntingtin levels in the CSF. It was sort of gravy in this study. It’s designed as a safety study. We didn’t know when we entered the study whether we’d be able to even measure mutant huntingtin in CSF. But it is the best evidence of target engagement that we have – meaning that it is evidence that the drug is doing what it ought to do.

We were pleased that the assay [lab test] was developed to the point that we could use it to measure mutant huntingtin. The test is relatively new and fortunately came online at about the right time that we needed it.

The label from the first vial of the Phase 1/2a clinical trial, administered in London, September 2015 (photo by Gene Veritas)

GV: The reductions of mutant huntingtin “substantially exceeded” your expectations. To what extent?

FB: When we began the program with Roche, we picked a target level of reduction of mutant huntingtin in CSF, and, based upon that, we would decide to go forward with the program [into the next phase].

We put the mutant huntingtin data at the top of the list, because it was the data that was going to drive a business decision from Roche, but also, importantly, it was the data that would help them design the next study. So we prioritized that as being the first thing we would look at. It’s the basis for telling us what are the doses that we should be using for the next study.

GV: So can you specify the amount of mutant huntingtin reduction?

FB: We’re going to save that for a medical meeting.

Phase 1/2a too early for improving symptoms

GV: You project from your pre-clinical animal studies that the level of reduction in the brain itself should be greater than what is seen in the CSF, correct?

FB: Yes. An important nuance for the community is that the level of reduction that we’re seeing in CSF is not a one-to-one correlation with the level in [brain] tissue, which is where you want the drug to be working. We haven’t proven it in patients, but we’re very confident that it will translate [into higher levels of reduction in the brain].

AS: We’ve tested this drug in several species and are able to understand that relationship between what you see in CSF versus what you see in [brain] tissue, which is why it was really important this assay [CSF measurement] was online. It really is a window into the brain.

To understand that relationship in animals, the animals have to be sacrificed, to measure the level in the [brain] tissue. So we won’t ever ‘prove’ it in humans, so to speak, but we have a good understanding of it through the animals. And that it’s consistent from species to species is comforting. We can draw a conclusion about what’s likely happening in the human.

GV: Many in the HD community want to know: in this trial, did you see any signs of disease modification? Were there any hints at all from the doctors or from the data?

AS: We get anecdotal reports from physicians, but this is a population with a high placebo effect. These are motivated and excited physicians and patients as well. So I wouldn’t read anything into that. It’ll be several months before we have an understanding, though I would really caution any expectations along those fronts, because this is a short-term study.

We’re not expecting to see any sort of disease modification, just because of the way the study was designed. We dosed for three months, but it wasn’t even full drug effect for three months, because you build up the effect. This is the precursor to what would be long-term dosing.

GV: Have you observed whether there was also a reduction in the wild type (normal) huntingtin protein that all HD patients also have?

FB: There isn’t a good assay [lab test] for measuring wild type at this point. We have the samples, and once the assay is robust enough, we’ll look at it. The team is working on it, as well as others.

GV: Were there any surprises in the data that you’ve seen so far?

FB: It’s only surprising that it’s worked as we predicted it would [laughter]. Oftentimes when you go from pre-clinical to clinical, things don’t quite work out as well. But the drug is doing what it should be doing, which is lowering mutant huntingtin in cerebrospinal fluid. I think it’s all very positive from that perspective.

Phase 2 versus Phase 3

GV: What have you learned that will be helpful in planning phase 2?

FB: We asked a lot of the sites and the patients – because we collected a tremendous amount of data from them – for data that will be useful in designing a Phase 3 trial. We wanted to figure out which of the clinical outcome measures, which of the imaging measures, is actually reproducible, robust, and sensitive, to make sure it’s not “noisy” data.

AS: Another important learning will be whether there are differences from site to site. In a multi-site, multi-country trial, if a particular test just doesn’t translate well to German, for example, then we’ll have learned that. We can spare Roche from collecting data that are difficult to interpret, because they’re difficult to operationalize across sites and countries.

GV: You said “Phase 3” and not Phase 2. Why?

FB: Yes. At this point, Roche has not made a final decision on the next step. One of the options being considered is going right to a Phase 3 study. There’s a trade-off. You can do a smaller Phase 2 study – get more data that make it more probable that you’ll be successful for the Phase 3 – or you can go directly to a Phase 3 study. Those are the decisions that Roche is looking at right now very carefully.

The plus side is: if they go right to Phase 3, it would accelerate getting the drug to market. When we’ve reviewed with them the size of the study and the time of the study, there’s not a big difference between doing a Phase 3 and doing a more traditional Phase 2 first. It’s more expensive to go right to Phase 3, but it would save a lot of time.

GV: For an entity such as the FDA, is it okay to go from a Phase 1/2a to a Phase 3?

FB: The FDA will pay a lot of attention to the safety of the drug which – so far, knock on wood – looks very good. And then they leave it to the sponsor whether they want to risk the program. They may advise – because they ultimately want the drug to be successful, too – that this isn’t the best thing to do, but ultimately that’s the drug company’s decision. Roche will engage with the FDA.

GV: What is leading Roche to think it could maybe go directly to a Phase 3?

FB: It’s safety and tolerability [shown in Phase 1/2a], and the fact that we now know what dose of the drug produces this level of huntingtin lowering. Without that, they wouldn’t be able to go to Phase 3, but with that data, you could say that “this dose” should then produce “this level” of huntingtin lowering.

GV: Going straight to Phase 3, how much shorter would the whole program be?

AS: It’s definitely in the years.

FB: Yes, because if they were to do a Phase 2 study first, it would probably take three years to enroll and run. Roche wants to get this drug to patients as quickly as possible, assuming it works. They understand the disease. They understand the need for the patients.

GV: Whether Phase 2 or 3, when would the next study begin?

FB: I would anticipate towards the end of next year.

An important milestone

GV: What is the historical significance of the Ionis breakthrough?

FB: It’s an important milestone for the Huntington’s community. The mutation in the huntingtin gene was described in 1993. This is the first drug to go into clinical trials that is directly on target. It addresses the cause of the disease. We’re extremely excited that we’re actually seeing this basic science and all the work that NIH and other agencies have funded over the last 25 years now being translated into something that could actually have an impact for Huntington’s patients.

This bodes well for other neurological diseases. It has potential to markedly change how we treat those diseases. Perhaps this technology platform [the Ionis gene-silencing approach] would be beneficial for them as well. For patients out there overall, this is extremely important.

(For additional information about next steps in the IONIS-HTT_Rx program, click here for a Q & A with Dr. Ed Wild, an advisor and investigator of the program. You can also read a FAQS from the Huntington's Disease Society of America by clicking here.)

(Disclosure: I hold a symbolic amount of Ionis shares.)

(In the video below, watch my report on the December 11 Ionis announcement.)

News from Ionis: drug reduces toxic Huntington's protein, trial may jump straight to Phase 3! from Gene Veritas on Vimeo.