Biotech Insiders

Hear from Lou Kassa, CEO of the Hepatitis B Foundation, Blumberg Institute and PABC, and Dr. Chari Cohen, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation, as they discuss potential and actual federal cuts and how they could affect the life sciences, nonprofits and much more.In the second half Ed Tate, head of communications, talks with Emma Dolen, PhD student at Harvard University, about her social media post about the federal cuts that went viral.  A snippet of Emma's social media post:As major news outlets seem to be focused on other stories recently (Kendrick vs. Drake feud anyone?), I wanted to draw attention to a decision that the federal government made on Friday, Feb. 7 that directly impacts my life and will soon impact yours. On that day, the NIH under the new administration decided to cap indirect research costs at 15%. Okay, so what does this mean and why should we care?Many biomedical research projects in the U.S. are funded by the NIH. When a researcher applies for an NIH grant (an extremely competitive process) and gets funded, the specific lab and project gets that money to conduct the specific research. This is known as direct research costs. In addition, the institution where the research is conducted gets more money on top of that. These additional funds go towards electricity, janitorial staff, compliance, accounting, safety measures and more. These are called indirect research costs. Currently, the NIH and institutions negotiate on how much indirect research costs the institution will get with their grants. This number can range from 10% to 70% depending on the institution. So, for example, if a researcher gets a $100 grant from the NIH, they get $100 of direct costs for their particular project, and their institution gets an additional $10-70 of indirect costs on top of that, effectively resulting in $110-170 of research funding. Now, after the federal government's decision, that number will be capped at 15%.  This will impact all NIH-funded research institutions, but as I do not know the financial details of every school and institute, I will tell you how it will affect me:I am a PhD student at Harvard researching a protein implicated in brain cancers such as glioblastoma and pediatric gliomas. The goal of my project is to learn more about a particular protein that we think has the potential to be a target for brain cancer drugs. I have built tools to accelerate the research of this protein and learned about how it works. One of the tools I have built will allow my lab and others to more easily search for drugs that will work on this protein and hopefully kill brain cancer cells in patients. That work is in jeopardy…

Our latest podcast episode is LIVE!

In this episode, Lou Kassa talks with two influential women in the life sciences. First, we hear from Rebecca Grant, senior director of Life Sciences and Innovation in the City Philadelphia's Department of Commerce. She discusses Philadelphia's strengths in biotech compared to other locations. Next, we have Katie Diaz, chapter chair of Women in Bio Philadelphia and managing partner at the Dan Diaz Biotech Breakfast Club. To learn more about how you can engage with the Breakfast Club, click here. If you're interested in Women in Bio, you can contact Katie via katherinediaz8428@gmail.com. 

Episode 8 kicks off with Lou Kassa, CEO of the PABC, Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute, and Tim Kelly, vice president of Norwood Construction, describing how the partnership with Central Bucks School District got started. Following that conversation, listen to Alex Gorsky, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson give an encouraging talk to the 2023-2024 CBSD students. 

Episode 7 features a conversation between Lou Kassa, CEO of the PABC, Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute, and three top executives in the investment industry: Kathie Jordan, managing director of Ben Franklin Technology Partners; Dean Miller, president and CEO of Philadelphia Alliance for Capitol and Technologies (PACT); and Lorenzo Pellegrini, managing partner of Hatch Biofund. To learn more about the current investment environment in the life sciences and other factors driving the biotech industry's growth in the region, please give it a listen. 

We've got three fascinating conversations: one with serial, successful entrepreneur and scientist Ren Capocasale, another with Dr. Allen Reitz, CEO of Fox Chase Therapeutics Discovery Inc., and a third with a stellar Bucks Co. native and emerging scientist who did our high school summer program and a college internship at the PABC. This episode is sponsored by Pofabro Communications. 

The PABC “is like a smart phone with a bunch of apps in it,” says Maria Middleburg of Serologix, a longtime member of our center! Hear more from her and Dr. Scott Willett, director of academic affairs at the Blumberg Institute and mentor to young scientists in a new episode of Biotech Insiders!  Learn more on our podcast sponsor, Pofabro Communications here! Interested in sponsoring an episode? Reach out to alaina.schukraft@hepb.org for more information! 

Lou Kassa, CEO of the Hepatitis B Foundation, Blumberg Institute & Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), talks with Dr. Lillian Chiang, CEO of Evrys Bio, about the company's start and what's to come! Also, we have Dr. Timothy Block, co-founder of PABC and its sister organizations, with Dr. Thomas Shenk, Founder of Evrys Bio, focusing on the scientific path the company is taking. Finally, we have a "Where are you now segment?" featuring Miranda Song, a former PABC intern currently at the University of Maryland. Learn more on our podcast sponsor, Pofabro Communications here! Interested in sponsoring an episode? Reach out to alaina.schukraft@hepb.org for more information! 

Lou Kassa, CEO of the Hepatitis B Foundation, Blumberg Institute & Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), and Edward Tate, director of communications for those organizations, talk with Sanjay Batra, CEO, of WeThrivv & VIAS Partners, on his scientific journey. Also, we have Dr. Timothy Block, co-founder of PABC and its sister organizations, with Aykan Karabudak, Head of Immunology at Emergex Vaccines, on what led Aykan to a career in science and his position now. 

Gov. Shapiro not only toured the PABC with DCED Sec. Rick Siger, he met with CEO Lou Kassa, others on our leadership team, and the CEOs of several PABC-member companies 

Our first episode offers a conversation between Dr. Timothy Block, founder of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), and Lou Kassa, who is CEO of the PABC, Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute. Lou has been running the PABC for the past seven years. The podcast also provides a bit of biotech news from the region and a perspective from Madison Charnigo, a graduate of Central Bucks High School East now at Purdue University on a prestigious Beering scholarship. Madison studied and worked at the PABC!