Discovery/R&D

  1. Engineering Proteins For Food Allergies With Ukko's Dr. Anat Binur 10/25/2022

    Anat Binur, Ph.D. is CEO and Co-Founder at Ukko, where she's leading an effort to create new allergy therapeutics by engineering the proteins that induce immune response in people who suffer from food allergies. The effort at Ukko is deeply rooted in computational biology. The company leverages artificial intelligence to analyze how the allergen proteins interact with patients' blood in an effort to determine the specific attributes of the proteins that trigger immune response. Then, it applies a unique combination of compute power and biology to identify and understand the changes it wants to engineer and predict the best possible designs. Learn how Ukko is fostering a culture of IT and biology collaboration and what lured this dynamic entrepreneur into biopharma on this episode of the Business of Biotech.

  2. Business of Biotech 2.0 with Ben Comer 3/27/2025

    After nearly five years as host of the Business of Biotech podcast, Matt Pillar is handing the mic over to the voice of the Business of Biotech 2.0, veteran life sciences journalist Ben Comer.

  3. Genetic Testing & Neurodegenerative Disorders With AviadoBio's Lisa Deschamps 8/29/2022

    Lisa Deschamps' story is one of determination and fortitude. She got her start in the life sciences where it begins and ends for many — "carrying the bag" in big pharma sales — then proceeded to crush the odds on her way to the C-suite at Novartis. Today, she's CEO at AviadoBio, a disruptive gene therapy startup prepping an intra-thalamic Frontotemporal Dementia candidate for the clinic with a heavy Series A in its hip pocket. On this episode of the Business of Biotech we get to know Lisa, her company and its therapeutic approach, her advocacy for genetic testing, and how she's applying her determination and fortitude to enabling more women to become life science leaders.

  4. BoB@JPM: Academia To Industry With Oncolytics' Matt Coffey, Ph.D. 2/12/2023

    The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is a target-rich environment for conversations with the leaders of up-and-coming biopharma companies, so we took the Business of Biotech on the road. On today's episode, we sat down with Matt Coffey, Ph.D., who earned his Ph.D. in 1998 and turned his doctoral thesis into a biopharma company called Oncolytics in 1999. Dr. Coffey shares on his abrupt transition from academia to industry, tells tales of the company's backstory, and updates us on its aggressive clinical activity spanning 7 wide-ranging oncology programs.

  5. ML-Enabled Drug Discovery With LabGenius' James Field, Ph.D. 7/6/2023

    We explore the intersection of tech and bio with Dr. James Field, founder and CEO of LabGenius. If you're concerned with what ML will do to — or for — your biopharma business, don't miss this episode

  6. Changing The Diabetes Care Paradigm With Arecor's Dr. Sarah Howell 7/21/2022

    While renal disease treatment technologies have seen moderate incremental improvements, there hasn't been a step-change advance in diabetes care since the discovery of insulin more than 100 years ago. Working with manufacturers of existing diabetes therapeutics in addition to advancing its own pipeline, Arecor is developing enhanced reformulations of tried-and-true therapeutics like insulin to improve a long-static standard of care. Arecor CEO Sarah Howell, Ph.D. joins the Business of Biotech for a discussion on the company's approach to improving the quality of life for some 200 million insulin-dependent patients worldwide.

  7. Precision Approach To Infectious Disease With Locus Biosciences' Paul Garofolo 1/13/2022

    Locus Biosciences CEO Paul Garofolo built his biotech leadership career on the back of an MIS degree, having learned the business from the inside out via the tentacles of the IT networks at companies including Genentech, The Broadlane Group, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Patheon. On today's episode of the Business of Biotech, Garofolo shares how a technologist's approach has helped shape the effort to develop precision therapeutics for infectious diseases at Locus, the company's decision to build its own cGMP manufacturing facility in Research Triangle, and the massive business opportunity the field addresses in the effort to overcome antibiotic resistance.

  8. BoB Live At BIO: Amber Salzman, Ph.D., Epicrispr Biotechnologies 7/2/2025

    This week's episode is one from the road, recorded in front of a live audience in Boston's Seaport neighborhood during the BIO conference (special thanks to MasterControl for making it happen). Amber Salzman, Ph.D., CEO of Epicrispr Biotechnologies (aka 'Epic Bio') explains how epigenetic editing is revolutionizing genetic medicine by controlling gene expression, without cutting DNA like traditional CRISPR technologies.

  9. Executing A Product Pivot With Vir's Mark Eisner, MD 5/7/2025

    On this week's episode of the Business of Biotech, Dr. Mark Eisner, EVP and Chief Medical Officer at Vir Biotechnology, talks about the company's post-COVID pivot into infectious diseases (Hepatitis Delta and Hepatitis B) and oncology (solid tumors), how he reprioritized the company's development candidates and assimilated Sanofi's acquired T cell engager platform, and his own transition from healthcare provider to clinical research.

  10. Antibodies For Severe Allergies With IgGenix's Jessica Grossman, M.D. 4/4/2022

    In this wide-ranging discussion, IgGenix CEO Jessica Grossman, M.D. discusses the application of and market opportunity for antibody therapy for severe allergies, the gender gap in the biopharma c-suite, why women work harder than men, what it means to be a female biopharma leader, and IgGenix's approach at isolating and re-engineering allergen-specific IgE antibodies into IgG antibodies designed to alleviate — and possibly prevent — allergic cascade.