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PODCAST

The Biotech Startups Podcast

The Biotech Startups Podcast by Excedr features weekly conversations with founders, scientists, and investors driving biotech innovation. Host Jon Chee dives into the challenges of building biotech startups, from pre-seed to IPO. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

science life sciences

All Episodes

28:33

🧬Surviving the Biotech Funding Crunch: Insider...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/08/14

"The whole environment of the company is about discovery and innovation, so it's really buzzing with energy."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Samir Khleif reveals how he took Georgiamune from vision to reality—building a top-tier team, advancing a pipeline of novel drugs, and keeping innovation at the company’s core. Host Jon Chee explores what sets Georgiamune apart, as Samir opens up about navigating the pitfalls of fundraising, the shift from academia to entrepreneurship, and

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24:38

🧬How One Leader United 120 Experts to Transform...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/08/11

"I always kept my lab at NCI, so I was always doing my research. But I was asked by him to lead the oncology critical path at the FDA, and I did that. I was doing that while also helping the King of Jordan develop the biotechnology strategy of Jordan and what it would take to move it forward."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Samir Khleif shares pivotal moments from his career at the crossroads of government, research, and entrepreneurship—reflecting on being chosen by FDA

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28:25

🧬 Breaking the Wall Between Science & Patient Care:...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/08/07

“The way I have grown up in the field is not only to discover basic science findings, but also to have in mind always… how can we translate this discovery into a potential drug or an approach that could be given to patients.” In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Samir Khleif shares his inspiring journey from a formative fellowship at the National Cancer Institute—where he mastered bridging basic science and clinical care—to being handpicked to build the pioneering King Hussein Cancer

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34:49

🧬 Boy Scout Values & Refugee Resilience: Building...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/08/04

"Education was the highest value in our family. It was not even a question—it was the core." In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Samir Khleif—Founder and CEO of Georgiamune—shares how his upbringing as a Middle Eastern refugee, in a family where education was everything, laid the foundation for his pioneering work in oncology and immunotherapy. Khleif recounts how formative experiences with his physicist father and the Boy Scouts instilled discipline, fairness, and a sense of

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63:56

🧬 Multi-Edit CAR T-Cells: The Crazy Science That...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/07/30

“This isn't just one gene edit—this is multiple edits, working in concert. It’s a fundamentally different chassis.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Aaron Edwards, co-founder of KiraGen Bio, shares how a Harvard Business School class project ignited the launch of a pioneering biotech taking on solid tumors with a bold, unconventional CAR T-cell therapy. He unpacks the real-world challenges of building KiraGen—navigating fundraising, assembling a strong team, and leveraging

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39:56

🧬 Non-Traditional Leadership & Knowledge Sharing: The...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/07/23

“This isn't just one gene edit—this is multiple edits, working in concert. It’s a fundamentally different chassis.”In part three of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee and Aaron Edwards dive into the realities of biotech entrepreneurship, spotlighting the power of non-traditional career paths, self-awareness, and creative knowledge sharing. They unpack how embracing new tools, fostering open debate, and democratizing information through platforms like Notion, ELNs, and social media can

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46:06

🧬 Why Most Biotech Startups Fail (And How to Survive...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/07/16

"You might not have developed it. You might not know where that is. But you're finding what that North Star is."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Aaron Edwards shares how a bold cold email launched him from Kentucky to a cutting-edge mRNA vaccine lab in Boston, setting the stage for a dynamic biotech career. He explores the culture shock of city life, how curiosity fueled his leadership, and the key lessons learned navigating academia, big pharma, and nimble startups—ultimately

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49:19

🧬 Embracing Identity & Curiosity: Being Different...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/07/09

"There was something else there that I needed to keep searching for... and that's a theme in my life."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore the formative journey of Aaron Edwards, Co-founder and CEO of KiraGen Bio, as he shares how curiosity, conviction, and challenging convention led him from a small town in Kentucky to the forefront of biotech innovation in Boston. Aaron reflects on his upbringing with pharmacist parents, the impact of early mentors, and the pivotal

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36:35

🧬 Growth Without Venture Capital: The Bootstrapped...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/07/02

"It's not a brute force approach. It's a cleverness-based approach. It's a new kind of information that lets us do new things."Host Jon Chee sits down with Ivan Liachko, founder and CEO of Phase Genomics, to unpack how clever, constraint-driven science turned a scrappy, bootstrapped lab into a genomics powerhouse. Ivan explains how their breakthrough technology—capturing the physical proximity of DNA—opened new frontiers in genome assembly, microbiome discovery, and cancer diagnostics, all

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35:30

🧬 How 3D Genome Mapping is Changing Everything We...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/06/25

"If you get a new kind of information, suddenly you can do something with it that you couldn't do before at all."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Ivan Liachko shares how scientific curiosity and unexpected collaborations took him from DNA replication research in yeast at Cornell to a breakthrough in 3D genome mapping and the founding of Phase Genomics. Embracing Hi-C technology at the University of Washington, Ivan and his team unlocked a new kind of biological information,

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31:29

🧬 Startup Survival Skills: Resilience, Frugality &...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/06/18

“Every time you think you’re right and somebody puts you in your place and you learn from it, eventually you’re like, that guy gave me the greatest gift… You learn to love it.” In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Ivan Liachko, CEO and co-founder of Phase Genomics, delivers an unfiltered look at the realities of building a biotech company, revealing how the mental toll of leadership, managing egos, and embracing frugality shaped his journey from academia to entrepreneurship. Through

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35:43

🧬 Passion Is Chaos: Grit, Curiosity, & the Biotech...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/06/09

"Passion is chaos. You're doing unreasonable things sometimes for reasons you can't explain to anyone why. That's just what I want.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, host Jon Chee sits down with Ivan Liachko, CEO and co-founder of Phase Genomics, to reveal how a childhood passion for genetics, relentless family support, and Ivan’s trademark persistence—“better to be annoying than forgotten”—helped him break into science as an immigrant and rise to biotech leadership. Ivan shares

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39:27

🧬 AI, Mentors & the Future of Biotech: Teambuilding,...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/06/05

“It's the partnership all the way down, and everyone needs to be around the table to enable the ecosystem.” In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Johnny Hu reflects on his path to becoming a Principle at Menlo Ventures, what it's been like returning to gene editing after years away, and how he's thinking about unlocking true platform potential in life sciences. He also shares his outlook on early-stage biotech, the importance of mentorship, intellectual range and curiosity, and what's

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37:06

🧬 Biotech Investing Unlocked: Mindset Shift, Risk,...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/06/02

"Sometimes you don't know what you don't know. And frankly, this is a journey that's long, and you'll learn a lot of things along the way. A lot of things, it's the first time you'll be doing that thing. Your job as an entrepreneur is to ultimately listen, then decide, and own that decision.”In this episode, Johnny Hu, Principle at Menlo Ventures, takes us inside his journey from scientist to venture capitalist, revealing how adapting to new mindsets, operational discipline, and calculated

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38:05

🧬 The Shelf Life of Innovation: CRISPR, Biotech...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/05/29

"Every technology has a shelf life. It’s just true, right? And, so, is that shelf life years? Is it months? Is it weeks? Is it days? You know, has it actually already been surpassed? That’s just progress, right? That’s great”In this episode, Johnny Hu, Principal at Menlo Ventures, unpacks his journey through neuroscience research at Genentech and Cambridge, the electrifying early days of CRISPR, and the fast-moving Boston biotech scene, revealing how academic culture, tool-building, and

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43:54

🧬 NASA, Harvard & Biotech: A Journey to Investing at...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/05/26

“Every startup starts the journey at zero, and you’re just building from scratch. Day by day, you do a little bit better, and eventually, you look back and realize how far you’ve come.”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we dive into the formative journey of Johnny Hu, Principal at Menlo Ventures, tracing his path from a childhood spent on a UK university campus to the heart of biotech investing. Johnny shares how early exposure to academia, a move to Alabama near NASA’s Marshall

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44:58

🧬 Simulating Life & Accelerating Discovery: Deep...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/05/22

"If you really want to understand biology, you need to be able to represent it in the computer. If you can’t model it, you can’t really predict its behavior”In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Michael Antonov, Co-Founder of Oculus and Founder & CEO of Deep Origin, returns for the fourth installment of his series to share how his vision for holistic biological simulation evolved from Formic Labs into Deep Origin. Michael discusses the challenges of building a unified R&D platform for

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28:11

🧬 Debugging Aging: How a VR Pioneer is...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/05/19

"My mind is analytical – so I wondered ‘what is the most exciting, impactful thing I could do?’ I felt we’re all growing older, so where is the technology of aging? How well do we understand the biochemistry of us as humans?"In this episode, Michael Antonov, Co-Founder of Oculus and Founder & CEO of Deep Origin, shares his bold leap from pioneering virtual reality to tackling the complexities of human aging and biotech innovation. Driven by a lifelong curiosity about biology and the mysteries of

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36:14

🧬 Building Oculus: Innovation, Grit & the $2 Billion...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/05/15

"We were a small team, just a handful of people, trying to solve problems that had stumped the industry for decades. Every day felt like we were building the future from scratch."In this episode, Co-Founder of Oculus and Founder & CEO of Deep Origin, Michael Antonov shares the inside story of how he and a small, driven team transformed virtual reality from a niche dream into a billion-dollar industry. From his early days at Scaleform to the rapid growth of Oculus, Michael recounts overcoming

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42:16

🧬 The Borrowed Computer That Built Oculus - An...

The Biotech Startups Podcast ·

2025/05/12

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.

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164 results

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