Agentic AI, Virtual Cell, LNP Vaccine Boosters, Engineered Organs, and Mergers
In this episode of Touching Base, the Gen editorial team discusses the latest advances in AI for life sciences, including NVIDIA’s GTC announcements on agentic AI, the deployment of 3,500 GPUs by Roche, and the emergence of open‑source autonomous agents like OpenClaw and NemoClaw. They dive deep into Zara Therapeutics’ new "Xcel" virtual‑cell model—a 4‑billion‑parameter AI trained on a 25.6‑million‑cell CRISPR perturbation dataset—highlighting its potential for predicting cellular responses and accelerating drug discovery. The conversation then shifts to lipid‑nanoparticle (LNP) innovations, featuring University of Pennsylvania researchers who engineered aromatic ionizable lipids (ARO LNPs) that preferentially target lymph nodes instead of the liver, promising more efficient mRNA therapies. Finally, the hosts cover a breakthrough in regenerative medicine: a lab‑grown, decellularized pig esophagus engineered with autologous cells that can replace a segment of a human esophagus without immunosuppression, illustrating the growing feasibility of engineered organs.
Verdesian Life Sciences’ Clare Doyle on Bio-Tech Solutions in 2026
Clare Doyle, chief scientist at Verdesian Life Sciences, outlined the company’s 2026 bio‑tech roadmap, emphasizing engineered nutrient‑delivery platforms and AI‑driven field management. She highlighted partnerships with agri‑tech startups to accelerate gene‑edited microbial solutions and noted upcoming regulatory filings for next‑generation...
DDW Highlights: 26 March 2026
In this episode, Bruno Quinney highlights three breakthrough studies: Edinburgh researchers engineered E. coli to convert PET plastic waste into the Parkinson's drug L‑DOPA, offering a sustainable route to a vital medication; scientists identified the enzyme DHX8 as a key...
A Class Action Suits Moves RICO From Mobsters to Medicine
In this episode, attorney Harrison James explains how the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), originally aimed at organized crime, is being used in a landmark civil class action against Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly over the diabetes drug Actos....
Outsmarting Resistance with Rhythm
In this episode, Immuneering CEO Ben Zeskin explains the company’s novel “deep cyclic inhibition” dosing strategy, which delivers intense, short‑duration MEK inhibition pulses instead of continuous suppression. By restoring the natural intermittent signaling rhythm in healthy cells while repeatedly ambushing...
They’ve Revived Dead Brains. And Now We Might Finally Get Some Cures
In this episode, host Volime Vesela, a physician‑scientist and CEO of Bexerg, discusses his startup’s groundbreaking work reviving dead human brains to create an intact human brain lab for drug testing. He explains how his Croatian co‑founder, Dr. Josep "Joe"...
DDW Highlights: 17 March 2026
In this DDW Highlights episode, Bruno Quinney reviews four major stories: a Mayo Clinic study linking the Parkinson's protein alpha‑synuclein to dramatically faster Alzheimer’s progression in women; a Texas A&M‑funded project testing extracellular vesicle (EV) therapy to modulate microglia and...
#384 - Special Episode — Obicetrapib: The CETP Inhibitor with Cardiovascular Benefits and Potential Alzheimer's Prevention
In this special episode, host Peter Atiyah dives deep into obicetrapib, a CETP inhibitor that lowers LDL‑C and ApoB while raising HDL‑C, and examines its renewed promise in cardiovascular disease and potential Alzheimer’s prevention, especially for APOE‑E4 carriers. He outlines...
Chris Bradley: Better Science for Longevity
In this episode, host Rizim Tom chats with Chris Bradley of MatterBio about the science of longevity, focusing on how genomic damage drives the hallmarks of aging. Bradley explains that while cells constantly renew, DNA damage from internal sources like...
Inside The Race To Reboot Human Cells - EP 60 Nabiha Saklayen
In this episode, host Ashley Vance talks with Nabiha Saklayen, co‑founder and CEO of Celino, about induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and their rapid evolution from a Nobel‑winning discovery to emerging therapies. They discuss how iPSCs can be reprogrammed from...
Editing Away Autoimmunity at the HLA Source
In this episode, Daniel Levine interviews Richard Freed, CEO of Rheumagen, about the pivotal role of HLA genes in autoimmune diseases and the company’s innovative gene‑editing approach to cure them. Freed explains how a single amino‑acid change at a conserved...
The Skin We’re In: Microfluidics, Bubbles, and Healthcare Solutions with Prof. David Fernández Rivas
In this episode, Professor David Fernández‑Rivas discusses the role of engineers as problem‑solvers and the necessity of interdisciplinary collaboration, especially between physics, chemistry, and bioengineering. He explains microfluidics—manipulating fluids at the micrometer scale—and its parallels with microelectronics, then delves into...
Why Asia Is the Emerging Epicenter for Global Biopharmaceutical Progress
In this episode, Daniel Levine talks with Feng Nying Zhang, a partner at McKinsey Shanghai, about Asia’s rapid rise as a global hub for biopharmaceutical innovation, highlighted by a McKinsey report showing the region’s share of innovative drug pipelines jumping...
DDW Highlights: 3 March 2026
In this episode, Bruno Quinney highlights four major developments: a long‑acting injectable HIV regimen (cabotegravir + rilpivirine) that cut virological failure risk by nearly half versus daily oral therapy; SolasCure’s ORES wound gel, which accelerated debridement 22‑fold and healing seven‑fold in chronic...
Where Life Science Meets Litigation
In this episode of Inside Biotech, host Karish Manchugani chats with Tim Dabrowski, a Berkeley‑trained patent attorney at Mintz, about his unconventional path from a physiology degree to biotech IP law. Tim explains how his scientific background informs his work...
Mike White: Academia and Genomics in the 21st Century
In a recent Unsupervised Learning episode, Razib Khan interviews Washington University genetics professor Mike White about his lab’s work on the biophysical architecture of regulatory DNA. White’s interdisciplinary approach combines functional genomics, synthetic biology, computational biology and deep‑learning to predict...
AI for Scientists, FDA Reverses Course, and Advances in Cancer Therapeutics
The episode covers three main business stories: Tamarin Bio’s $13.6M Series A to build an AI model‑coordination platform that makes tools like AlphaFold accessible to wet‑lab biologists; the FDA’s reversal on Moderna’s mRNA‑1010 seasonal flu vaccine, spurring a modest stock...
Drug Dealin Ep. 9: Using AI to Find Novel Treatment Options
In Episode 9 of Drug Dealin, hosts Kenny and Shibu demonstrate how patients can use publicly available tools like ClinicalTrials.gov and AI language models to uncover novel treatment options, focusing on a hypothetical Parkinson’s disease case inspired by a TV...
Reprogramming Cancer From Within
In this episode, Dr. Aaron Vinnie shares his journey from a leukemia survivor to a Columbia University hematology‑oncology researcher, advocating a shift from traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy to precision strategies that rewire malignant blood cells. He explains how hematologic cancers stem...
DDW Highlights: 17 February 2026
In this 16‑minute DDW Highlights episode, host Bruno Quinney recaps five major drug‑discovery stories from the past week, focusing on a breakthrough study linking specific biomarkers to improved cancer survival rates and the launch of a multinational consortium tackling chronic...
Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan on Transforming a 250-Year-Old Company
In this episode, a16z partner Jorge Conde interviews Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan about reshaping the 250‑year‑old conglomerate into a focused medicines company, a move he estimates will unlock $180 billion of value. Narasimhan outlines Novartis’s three platform pillars—cell and gene therapies,...
Women in Science, Robotics, Automation, SLAS, and Lilly Updates
The episode opens with a celebration of Women in Science Day, highlighting the historic origin of the term “scientist” and the push for greater female leadership in biotech. Medra CEO Michelle Lee discusses how the company is merging robotics with...
🔬Beyond AlphaFold: How Boltz Is Open-Sourcing the Future of Drug Discovery
In this episode, Gabriele Corso and Jeremy Wohlwend discuss how structural biology has moved beyond AlphaFold's single‑chain predictions toward modeling complex interactions and generative protein design with their open‑source Boltz suite (Boltz‑1, Boltz‑2, and BoltzGen). They explain that evolutionary co‑variation...
A One Two Gene Therapy Punch to Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
The episode explores EnGene's experimental gene therapy, detalimogene, for treating non‑muscle invasive bladder cancer, a condition affecting half a million new patients annually. Ron Cooper, EnGene's CEO, explains how the therapy uses a non‑viral vector to deliver a dual payload...
DDW Highlights: 10 February 2026
In this 15‑minute episode, DDW host Bruno Quinney recaps five major stories from the past week, highlighting breakthrough cancer therapies that promise greater efficacy and safety, and new research aimed at enhancing brain function in Alzheimer’s patients. He also touches...
Reprogramming T Cells to Cross the Brain’s Border
In this episode, host and guest Michael Roberts, co‑founder and CEO of Adaptin Bio, discuss the difficulty of delivering biologic therapies across the blood‑brain barrier for glioblastoma patients. Roberts explains Adaptin’s platform, which reprograms a patient’s own T cells to...
5 Key Findings to Becoming a Great Scientific Mentor with Riley Elmer
In this 36‑minute episode, host Riley Elmer breaks down five essential principles for effective scientific mentorship, emphasizing the importance of aligning values, seeking mentors beyond just technical expertise, and using productive tension to foster growth. He shares personal anecdotes that...
Tissue Engineering
The winners from NASA’s Vascular Tissue Challenge are taking their Earth-based research to space.
A Billion Dollar Bet on AI-First Drug Development
In this episode, Marc Tessier‑Lavigne, co‑founder and CEO of Xaira, explains how the company is using an end‑to‑end AI platform to overhaul drug discovery by tackling three core bottlenecks: target selection, molecule design, and patient stratification. Xaira trains high‑dimensional "virtual...
E202: Recent Advances in LLMs and How They Will Impact Science and Pharma Research
In this episode, Javier Tordable, founder and CEO of Pauling.ai and former Google technologist, explains how modern large language models have evolved into autonomous AI agents capable of executing multi‑step scientific workflows, from literature synthesis to hypothesis generation and computational...
GLP Podcast: Everybody’s Wrong About RFK, Jr.’s Dietary Guidelines
In this episode, Dr. Liza Lockwood and Cameron J. English dissect the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which promote "real food"—full‑fat dairy, fruits, vegetables, and more protein—while still limiting saturated fat to under 10% of calories. They explain how media...
Finding New Targets on the Surface of Misfolded Proteins
In this episode of The Bio Report, host and guests discuss Immuto Scientific’s novel approach to drug discovery that targets disease‑specific protein conformations rather than genetic sequences. CEO Faraz Choudhury explains how the company’s AI‑driven structural surfaceomics platform maps the...
E201: The Small Molecule Revolution: ProPhet's Tom Shani on AI-Powered Drug Discovery
In this episode, Tom Shani, CEO and co‑founder of ProPhet, explains how AI—particularly machine learning models, transformers, and novel molecular representations—is transforming small‑molecule drug discovery by tackling slow timelines, high failure rates, and massive R&D costs. He shows how AI...
Inside MUTU System: Clinical Validation, Real Outcomes, and a Global Mission to Transform Core & Pelvic Health for Women
In this episode, Wendy Powell, founder of the MUTU System, discusses how her digitally delivered pelvic health platform achieved clinical validation and delivers measurable improvements in core and pelvic floor function for women. She explains the rigorous validation process, the...
An Effort to Detect and Treat Alzheimer’s at Its Earliest Stages
In this episode, Daniel Levine interviews Valerie Daggett, founder and CEO of AltPep, about the company's strategy to detect and treat Alzheimer's disease at its earliest stage by targeting toxic α‑sheet oligomers with synthetic peptide therapeutics and companion diagnostics. Daggett...
From One Voice to Many: Gabriella Rubert, Riley Conover Elmer & Karishma Chhugani
Gabriella Rubert reflects on her tenure as host of the Inside Biotech podcast, discussing the challenges of translating complex science into engaging stories and the responsibility that comes with science communication. She emphasizes the power of storytelling to bridge biotech...
A Year of Biotech Bytes: The Stories, Lessons, and Laughs Behind the Mic
In this retrospective episode, host and guest Mary Louise Smith reflect on Biotech Bytes' first year, sharing how the podcast began, the power of simple conversations for generating ideas, and the role of AI in streamlining work. Mary offers behind‑the‑scenes...
844: Applying Physics and Nanotechnology to Understand Mechanics and Shape in Biological Systems - Dr. Sonia Contera
In this episode, Dr. Sonia Contera discusses how physics and nanotechnology can illuminate the mechanics and shape of biological systems, from molecular assemblies to whole organs. She explains her interdisciplinary approaches—such as nanoscale imaging and mechanical probing—to study pancreatic tumors,...
GLP Podcast: Evolutionary Mismatch. Is Civilization Wrecking Our Health?
The episode examines the evolutionary mismatch theory, arguing that modern industrialized life bombards humans with chronic low‑level stressors unlike the intermittent challenges faced by our hunter‑gatherer ancestors, leading to physical ailments such as hypertension, immune decline, and reduced fertility, as...
Editors’ Choice: Top Stories of 2025
In the year‑end episode, GEN editors review six headline biotech stories, highlighting AI’s expanding role in drug discovery, a landmark success for Baby KJ in cell‑gene therapy, and the turbulent year for Sarepta’s DMD gene therapy Elevidys, including patient deaths...
GLP Podcast: Ketamine—Miracle Depression Treatment, or Recreational Nightmare?
The episode examines ketamine’s rise from a battlefield anesthetic to an FDA‑approved treatment (esketamine) for treatment‑resistant depression, highlighting its rapid antidepressant effects and potential to reduce suicidal thoughts. Experts discuss the drug’s significant risks—including addiction, dissociation, blood‑pressure spikes, bladder damage,...
Determining the Cause and Severity of Sepsis with a Point-of-Care Test
In this episode of The Bio Report, host Daniel Levine interviews Tim Sweeney, CEO of Inflammatix, about the company's TriVerity point‑of‑care test that rapidly distinguishes bacterial from viral infections and gauges immune response severity in sepsis patients. Sweeney explains how...
