cc: Life Science Podcast

This webinar is also available for listening:In this live conversation, I sat down with two of my friends, both smart thinkers in life science, Elizabeth Chabe (CEO of High Touch Group) and Hamid Ghanadan (Founder of the Linus Group) to talk about disruptions in science from funding cuts and possibly tariffs.The goal of this session was to make sense of what's happening and offer perspective on how to move forward. We opened by acknowledging the massive wave of uncertainty hitting our industry: $1.8B slashed from the NIH budget, talent flowing overseas, and companies unsure where or how to invest. Elizabeth laid out how these cuts don't just stall progress now, but also limit the breakthroughs we'd expect 10 or 20 years from now. As a result, countries like France, Germany, and China are welcoming U.S. researchers with open arms—and open budgets.Hamid added critical data points from his recent reports, showing how fear and indecision are paralyzing budgets across sectors. Companies are scaling back because they don't know what assumptions to trust. That freeze is what's truly dangerous.What to do?We explored what smart companies are doing right now—rethinking commercial strategy, investing in pilot programs that break the old marketing-sales divide, and leaning into thought leadership that actually connects. One of my favorite moments was when Hamid said, “The best way to see what the future looks like is to run small experiments today.”We also talked about empathy, not as a soft skill, but as a competitive advantage. Many scientists and labs are hurting. Those who can build trust and show up with value (not just offers) are the ones who'll be remembered when budgets return. Elizabeth highlighted the fact that brands are built in a downturn. Now is the time to create content that solves problems.Another standout section was our discussion on AI. Both agreed that while AI opens up massive potential, it also exposes new risks—limited infrastructure, hidden costs, and overdependence on tools that few companies actually own.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Every day, roughly 10 people in the U.S. die from SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy), most found face down in bed. Soterya is changing that with an ML-powered bed that detects sleep position and can gently reposition a person without waking them.I spoke with Norman Wen about how ML, robotics, and thoughtful design are merging to improve sleep health, and potentially save lives. Norman is the CEO of Soterya, a company building what you might call a smart bed. Their bed, Korus, is built around a basic but life-saving idea: don't let people sleep face down. That insight led to a system that can detect and reposition sleepers safely without relying on intrusive cameras and without waking them.Embedded pressure sensors provide a real-time pressure map, which feeds into a machine learning algorithm trained to recognize body positions. While image-based AI has the benefit of massive open datasets, Norman's team is tackling the harder path: building their own data internally to preserve privacy and stay within the mattress itself.Not subscribed? Let's fix that. No spam, just good content wherever I find it.The actuation system comprises equally clever engineering. Pneumatic cells, each one both a sensor and a mover, create a modular surface that adjusts to the sleeper's position. The system is being designed to reposition users without waking them, which means it needs to recognize both position AND sleep state. And all of this runs on the device, not the cloud, for reliability in critical situations like seizure prevention. Beyond SUDEP, Norman sees a much broader opportunity: addressing sleep apnea, gastric reflux, chronic back pain, and even maternal health in pregnancy. Sleep position can affect all of these, and for people who are bedridden or aging with multiple conditions, this kind of intervention could be significant.Right now, Soterya is pursuing a go-to-market path that starts with health-conscious consumers and moves toward regulated medical devices. That approach gives them room to develop, collect data, and refine the product while still making a difference. For people who can't fall asleep wearing a device, a bed that just does the work passively may be a better answer.At a time when we are becoming more aware of the importance of good sleep, this is one path to improvement that ultimately may have a huge impact.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Recently, I've enjoyed interviewing people I have never spoken to before. Harrison Waid, the co-founder of Succession, is one of those. Shout out to Teddy Lin for connecting us. I took this as an opportunity to learn about Harrison and his business as well as a personal challenge to interview someone “cold”. OK, I did some research, so maybe “room temperature”.First of course, I needed him to explain Succession, co-founded with Nick Clare (who I hope to have on another time). They noticed life science companies struggling to translate great technology into successful market entry and sales growth. Succession was founded to address this, offering specialized services exclusively for life science sales teams – everything from lead generation and sales training to recruitment and optimizing internal systems like CRMs with automation and AI. Harrison called it a "vertical service company" for life science sales.The idea for it wasn't a sudden flash of insight but more of a "slow burn." While at Synthego and after moving to the UK, he initially thought about general consulting. He quickly found that clients wanted concrete outcomes, not just advice. The real traction came when they packaged their expertise into specific, deliverable-focused services – that's when things really took off.I'm always interested in people who come from other backgrounds outside of life science. He made his start was in software sales. A friend brought him into Synthego, a CRISPR company, initially for consulting. At that point, his knowledge of biology was that "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." But he was excited by the potential of the technology. He immersed himself in learning the science and business of biotech, leveraging online resources and learning from his colleagues. Once again, curiosity = superpower! Asking "dumb questions" is an underrated skill. Those outside perspectives can challenge assumptions and benefit both the business and the individual willing to learn.I'd prepped some questions, but the morning of our interview, I stumbled upon a recent LinkedIn post Harrison made contrasting "old" and "new" ways in biotech sales. I saw some insightful comments from people we both respect, like Owen Swift. I knew this would be worth digging into.Harrison framed the "new way" around leveraging technology to move beyond inefficient models like (old way) simply scaling headcount. I picked a few points from his post for discussion:Small, High-Output Teams + RevOps/Content/Automation: He explained how technology now allows high-performing reps to be supported by robust systems (managed by Revenue Operations) that automate much of the prospecting and research previously done by separate inside sales roles. This frees up skilled sellers to focus on closing.AI for Intent & Sequencing: We discussed how AI can go beyond basic alerts to analyze market signals, identify key opportunities, score leads, and even assist with outreach, providing reps with powerful, timely intelligence.Content & Personal Brand for Demand Gen: I strongly agree with this one. There is a compelling case for reps building their personal brands on platforms like LinkedIn. He argued, quite correctly in my view, that authentic content from individuals resonates far more than corporate posts and that companies restricting this are missing a huge opportunity.Video Outreach: I shared my own recent positive experience with video messaging, having secured a meeting from one just last week. Harrison pointed out how video cuts through the noise, humanizes interactions, and is effective for both prospecting and follow-ups. We agreed authenticity is more important than perfection.The Best Reps Get the Best Opportunities: This one may be controversial, as it goes against the idea of pure "fairness" in lead distribution. He would argue that for maximizing company revenue, it makes sense to give the highest potential leads to the reps most likely to convert them. He acknowledged territory assignments are inherently unfair anyway and suggested lower performers could develop on less critical leads. This leads to discussions about efficiency, long-term strategy, and even healthy team turnover.Compensation plans inevitably drive behavior and can always be gamed, so no system is perfect. It comes down to your goal and again, long-term strategy. As someone who hasn't formally been in sales, I can see the attraction to developing skills on low risk opportunities.If these ideas got you thinking, you might check out the SalesDNA Podcast, Hosted by Harrison and Nick. These cold conversations have been a blast and educational for me beyond the content. I have more lined up. If you aren't subscribed, now might be a good time…Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.BTW, I hope you'll consider joining me here: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Large language models (LLMs) seem to dominate the discussions, at least in my world lately. In this episode and the next, we're diving into AI on a different scale. In this episode, I spoke with Josh Hinckley, co-founder and CEO of Bioqore. AI is being applied to the way we make things — in this case, food. Josh's background in materials chemistry has led him to focus on process optimization for alternative proteins, where the challenges in the market are high: you have to make large quantities efficiently, the price point has to be realistic for consumers and on top of all that, the end product has to meet all your sensory requirements. A fancy way of saying it has to smell, taste and feel right.When you're making pharmaceuticals, small yields are fine because the value per milligram gram is high. But for food, you need much larger quantities. People aren't going to pay $100 for a gallon of milk. So alternative food companies are under pressure to optimize production at a scale biotech typically doesn't deal with.The example he gave was alternative milk. It's real milk, but produced without cows. It looks, tastes, and behaves exactly like traditional milk but doesn't require pasteurization. But moving from liquid milk to structured products like meat is a much bigger challenge, because the texture and mouthfeel matter just as much as the composition. Food isn't just chemistry, there is an emotional component to eating (memories, adventure…).That's where Bioqore's AI platform, Voyager, comes in. In contrast to traditional design of experiments (DOE) methods that can be rigid, and sometimes inefficient, Voyager uses active learning, a machine learning approach that continuously refines its model based on outcomes. Instead of running 20 experiments at every stage, you might only need five targeted ones to find your optimal process. It's smarter, faster, and cheaper.Not subscribed? Let's fix that. No spam, just good content wherever I find it.Josh broke down Voyager's process into three stages: sampling, exploration, and exploitation. First, it samples combinations of variables broadly to get a feel for the landscape. Then it explores areas where the outputs look most promising more deeply. Finally, once the model understands the system, it exploits that knowledge to hone in on the ideal process. What stood out to me was how machine learning is enabling discoveries humans would likely dismiss. Biology often behaves in unpredictable ways. Human beings are biased by our own limited experience and expectations or mental models of how things should work. Machines don't suffer from those attachments. They can explore n-dimensional spaces we can't even visualize and show us possibilities we wouldn't have believed without the data in front of us. AI is allowing us to see things where we never would have looked.Josh and his team are close to a major leap forward: they're finalizing investment rounds to support not only their food optimization platform but also rapid therapeutic development, including more efficient insulin production. In just six weeks since we first spoke, Bioqore's trajectory has accelerated dramatically.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

When I invited Max Gilbert on the podcast, I suspected the conversation might go beyond sales tactics. Max is the founder of Tiferet Consulting, but he's also a sourdough baker, amateur rabbi, armchair philosopher, and like me, a pretty bad golfer. Our conversation covered everything from startup struggles to spiritual identity and the joys of sourdough. Helping Scientists Become SalespeopleMax works with founders selling into biotech or pharma that want to make sure their first sales hire works out. Spoiler: He has seen it go bad which gave him the idea.One can imagine a founder with a science or engineering background thinking, “I'm not a sales person. I need to offload this to someone who can make calls, pound the pavement and hit a number.” The early-stage sales role is fundamentally different. It's about iteration and discovery, not just execution. So instead of trying to fit a traditional salesperson into a startup that was still finding its feet, Max found more success coaching fermentation scientists and bioprocess engineers to do the selling. They could speak their customers' language and earn trust through technical credibility. Max helps them build the confidence and process to go with it.Here is some good, if scary, news for those folks. As a scientist, you have skills that are useful in sales. Once again, your curiosity is a superpower. Sales, according to Max, is asking questions, looking at a problem from a lot of angles and figuring out how it might be solved. The challenge, as I see it, is that having developed a product or service, a founder might feel they have the answer in hand and they can't wait to tell everyone who might be interested. They end up filling the silence with features and benefits.Sales as a Scientific ProcessMaybe a better approach is to think about your product or service as a hypothesis. And every sales call tests that hypothesis by asking more questions of the prospect about what they do. What's this person struggling with? How do they think about their problems? When you listen that way, your product becomes a natural extension of the conversation. Then you can frame your product as a possible solution and let the prospect decide if they want to have another call to talk about it some more.The process becomes a collaborative journey. Are we solving the right problem? Do we even understand the problem? Can we help? And if not, Max coaches his clients to say so and maybe even refer that prospect to someone who can.Why Scientists Should Own the Sales Process EarlyOn top of all that, for the first few sales, only the founder can have the context to ask all the right questions as well as see how the answers might help refine the product or its positioning.We like to say sales is about relationships, but that can mislead people. It's not about charm or charisma. For early-stage companies, it's about using structured conversations to gather data and test hypotheses. Max frames the process like an experiment: design, build, test, learn. When you stop seeing sales as persuasion and start seeing it as discovery and iteration, it becomes a lot more accessible, especially if you've been trained to think that way already.Not subscribed? Let's fix that, shall we? Subscribe for free to receive new posts by email. (No spam. I promise.)Sales is a rollercoaster. Some calls go nowhere. Some start off promising and then you get ghosted. Founders have to keep showing up with curiosity and resilience even when they don't feel like it. That's where Max's coaching comes in. (There is a theme here.)Max's secret sauce is that he lived the resistance. Like many, he didn't start out wanting to be a salesperson. In fact, when a mentor suggested he lead sales, his first reaction was visceral rejection. (I laughed out loud as Max mimicked throwing up.) But going through that discomfort gave him a blueprint for coaching others through it. It's the classic hero's journey.He told me his coaching isn't about copying someone else's process. It's about helping each founder build their own. Picking the right structure, sticking to it, and having the mindset to carry it through especially when motivation disappears. More on that in a minute.Coaching the Whole PersonI asked Max about this quote on his website: “When we ground ourselves in the identity that transcends our own contradictions, we're tapping into our authentic self.”Max named his consulting business Tiferet, concept of harmonizing seemingly opposite forces. In a sales context, that means acknowledging both the part of you that wants to help someone and the part of you that needs to hit a number. Instead of shutting one side down, you bring both to the table and accept the tension.Disconnecting from the emotional side of selling and getting comfortable between the extremes is helpful and projects confidence.Avoiding the Trap of the Shorter, Longer WayWe wrapped up with a story Max told from the Talmud about two roads: the short, longer way (full of obstacles and distractions like LinkedIn cheat sheets), and the longer, short way that actually gets you to your destination. TL;DR: You can't hack your way to real progress. Shortcuts are tempting but costly. Where does success come from? Thoughtful, slow work. Daily practice. Making the process your own. About That Bread…Before we finished, we had to talk about sourdough. Max spends 10 hours a week baking bread. He grinds his own flour and employs some complicated fermentation processes (might be another episode), and thinks of bread as something primal and sustaining. Max's plan: feed the world with his bread and his wisdom when AI takes all our jobs. Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.I hope you'll consider joining me here: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

I had the chance to speak with Petrina Kamiya, Global Head of AI Platforms and VP at Insilico Medicine, as well as President of Insilico Medicine Canada. Insilico Medicine is what Petrina calls a “tech bio”—developing both AI platforms and therapeutic assets, with a flexible model licensing both. Their pharma.ai platform was created to address challenges in drug discovery all the way from target identification to the clinic. In just a few years, they've gone from having two core products to a suite of about 12, all built with a heavy emphasis on validation.When I think about AI in drug development, I think about all the failures in clinical trials. I've always wondered: are the molecules themselves to blame, or is the reason for so many failures rooted in the aspects that surround their testing—like patient selection, procedures, or trial design? Petrina confirmed that the two biggest reasons for failure are safety and efficacy. Many failures are turn out to be preclinical issues—either the wrong target was selected, or the molecule causes unintended side effects. AI and machine learning are being used to better predict both, by identifying high-confidence disease targets and designing safer molecules.But predicting toxicity is still a major challenge. There are models at every stage—from in silico predictions to in vitro and animal models—but each layer adds complexity, and good data to train AI models is notoriously hard to come by. A lot of data around failed molecules never makes it into the public domain because it's proprietary. That means valuable insights about toxicity are often lost, though some substructures known to be problematic are at least captured in public databases. I realize that companies need a return on their investment and even failure data has competitive value. But you have to wonder how much money is wasted chasing dead ends that could have been avoided.The other question I always have is about the mechanics of drug binding. Most approaches focus on the active site—the orthosteric site—where the protein normally interacts with its natural ligand. I asked about the possibility of other strategies like allosteric binding (where a drug binds somewhere else on the protein to inhibit function). Petrina validated that idea along with degraders, which are molecules designed to bring a protein into contact with the cellular machinery that destroys it. These newer modalities, including molecular glues, offer ways to selectively disable problem proteins without relying on traditional binding.Nothing is straightforward. Allosteric sites can offer greater selectivity, which could reduce toxicity. But finding those sites is incredibly difficult because proteins are dynamic and mobile. It's not just about structure; it's about motion within the protein itself and context.The body's backup systems—redundant pathways, mutations, and rescue mechanisms—can undermine even well-designed drugs. This is especially relevant in oncology. Proteins like KRAS have so many variants that it's not enough to design one effective inhibitor—you often need a panel of drugs to address different mutations. Petrina noted that the human body has many fallback mechanisms, which makes targeting disease pathways more difficult but also explains why drugs that seem perfect in vitro don't always deliver in the clinic.Not subscribed? Let's fix that. No spam, just good content wherever I find it.Getting back to clinical trials, AI is mostly being applied operationally right now—to optimize patient selection, identify clinical sites with the right patient profiles, and monitor for trial reporting issues. The big advantage is in stratifying patients to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. As Petrina noted, sometimes a drug works for a subset of patients, but that signal is lost in the broader trial data. That resonated with my previous interview with Kurt Mussina who used AI to identify ideal site locations based on logistics and patient demographics—a very practical, high-impact use of the technology.What if we could recover some therapies that have previously failed because it wasn't tested on the right people? AI could help salvage and reposition those compounds by uncovering hidden signals in the data. You have to believe that improvements in AI will find a few lost nuggets—digging back through data with better tools to find value that's already there.Developing therapies aren't the only application for new molecule discovery. Insilico is also working with companies in the herbicide space, and as Petrina explained, discovering herbicides isn't all that different from designing drugs for people. You still need target specificity, safety, and cost-efficiency—but at an even greater scale of production. If people or animals are exposed, or if the herbicide lingers in the environment, it has to meet a high safety bar.The unique challenge here is complexity and scale. It comes down to economics. We may spare no expense to extend a human life with doses in the milligram range. In agriculture, you're looking for a simple compound that is cheap, can be produced in massive quantities, and can be stored in almost any conditions. It's a new set of constraints.AI in discovery isn't about magic. It's about building better foundations—more accurate models, more validated data, and more thoughtful decision-making—to improve every step from discovery to clinical success.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

I've never been great at conflict. Like a lot of people, I've leaned toward avoiding it—especially in the workplace. But I know that's not a useful strategy in the long run, which is why I was excited to talk with Deb Nathan, a conflict navigation coach, on Life Science Marketing Radio.Right off the bat, Deb drew a distinction between conflict resolution and conflict navigation. Resolution implies there's a clear “winner” and “loser” or at least a compromise everyone can agree on—but let's be honest, that's not always possible. Navigation, on the other hand, is about figuring out how to work with each other even when we disagree. It's about forward momentum, not just agreement.Deb reminded me (and all of us, really) that conflict isn't inherently bad. In fact, it's often the spark for meaningful change—personally and organizationally. The issue isn't the conflict itself but how we choose to engage with it.What Is Relational Resilience?Deb introduced a concept I hadn't considered before: relational resilience. I'm used to hearing resilience in terms of the individual—bounce back, stay strong, push through. But relational resilience is about how teams manage conflict together. It's rooted in the idea that we're stronger and more creative when we work through challenges collaboratively rather than individually.She outlined several components that make up relational resilience:* Relational flexibility – being open to hearing and holding multiple perspectives, including conflicting ideas inside your own head.* Relational confidence – allowing yourself to be vulnerable, which is only possible if the team environment supports that.* Mutual empowerment – shifting from "self-empowerment" to a model where team members lift each other up.* Creativity and imagination – thinking beyond current possibilities and co-creating new solutions.* Appreciating complexity – resisting the urge to simplify when a nuanced approach is more useful. (This is probably my favorite.)* Tensionality – the ability to stay engaged with someone else's perspective while still holding your own.* Comfort with uncertainty – resisting the rush to answers when patience could produce better outcomes.* Reasonable hope – a grounded belief that things can improve with effort, even if it's not easy.It's a powerful framework, and it aligns with how I like to think: long-term, with an eye on creating something that lasts.Vulnerability as a Leadership SkillWhen we got into the topic of vulnerability, Deb made a point I've seen play out in real life. The best managers I've had were the ones who gave me space to try things—even when those things didn't work out. They made it safe to take risks. And when something failed it was a learning experience, not a career-ending mistake.Deb emphasized that leaders don't need to have all the answers or even agree with every idea. What they do need is to create an environment where people feel safe to experiment and speak up. That's where vulnerability comes in—not just for individuals, but systemically. Managers who can admit uncertainty, invite multiple viewpoints, and reflect on outcomes together build healthier, more resilient teams.Curiosity Is a SuperpowerIf you've listened to more than a few episodes of this podcast, you know I'm a big fan of curiosity. So is Deb. She described curiosity as the antidote to stagnation, a skill that allows us to continually learn, adapt, and better understand each other. Without it, we default to fixed positions, binary thinking, and conflict escalation.Curiosity means asking open-ended questions, exploring ideas we don't initially agree with, and staying open to being surprised. For leaders, modeling curiosity invites that mindset across a team. It tells people their ideas matter—even if they're different or incomplete.And while curiosity might sound like a soft skill, it has very real impacts on innovation, team cohesion, and ultimately, performance.Not subscribed? Let's fix that, shall we? Subscribe for free to receive new posts by email. (No spam. I promise.)Time Pressure vs. Long-Term ThinkingWe also talked about time pressure. What happens when you're in conflict at work but feel like there's no time to sit down and work it out?Deb's answer was clear: if you don't make time for it now, you'll pay for it later—probably with more time, stress, and friction. Trying to push through without dealing with the real issue often leads to bigger breakdowns down the line. On the flip side, making space for dialogue (even just a little) can result in more durable solutions.One of the ways to manage that time pressure, she said, is to get comfortable with not having immediate clarity. Sometimes the best thing a team can do is agree to keep talking, keep listening, and let the path forward emerge gradually.Culture, Communication, and Cross-Team CollaborationLater in the conversation, we got into cultural differences—across nationalities, disciplines, even departments. Deb's background includes working with Israeli and Palestinian teens, and the lessons she learned there are surprisingly transferable to corporate teams.The core idea: everyone brings their own lens to every conversation. We all interpret language, data, and goals differently. That's even true when we're technically speaking the same language. (I learned this while teaching sailing to someone from the UK—turns out “quite good” doesn't mean the same thing in both countries.)Within scientific companies, this plays out between technical teams and commercial teams, or between different functional areas. The solution? Again, it comes back to curiosity and creating space for people to explain their views before rushing to fix the “problem.”Deb made a powerful point: even when people don't agree, they can still work together if they respect where the other is coming from. That opens up new ways forward.From Leads to Loyalty: Marketing with Relationship in MindFinally, I asked Deb to tie this all back to marketing. So many companies still operate with a “get me leads” mentality—but in reality, lasting impact comes from relationships, not transactions.She was clear: if you want lasting value, you need relational resilience. Short-term wins might feel good, but it's long-term trust that gets you through hard times and keeps customers coming back. That mindset applies to internal culture, too. If you're only focused on extracting value from employees during their two-year tenure, you're missing the chance to build something better—something that retains talent and gets stronger over time.The Bottom LineThis conversation made me think more deeply about how we show up in teams—not just in crisis or disagreement, but every day. Deb's framework of relational resilience gives us a better way to build cultures that support creativity, growth, and real collaboration.For marketers, for scientists, for managers, for anyone in business: this isn't about being soft. It's about being smart. It's about recognizing that long-term thinking, curiosity, and vulnerability aren't just nice-to-haves—they're the foundation of meaningful progress.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

In this episode of Life Science Marketing Radio, I spoke with Oliver Pearce, VP and Head of Marketing at Epista Life Sciences. Oliver brings a unique perspective to life science marketing, having started his career in the nightlife and hospitality industry. Now leading marketing at Epista, a consultancy firm specializing in pharmaceutical quality, regulatory compliance, and commercialization, we talked about what he learned from working in the nightlife scene and events, the importance of strategic narrative and where he sees opportunities for companies to do better ( be less lazy).From Nightlife to Life SciencesOliver's career took an unconventional path, beginning in nightlife and event promotion before transitioning into life sciences. This early experience taught him the fundamentals of building engaged communities, identifying the audience and who could amplify a message—an approach he has successfully applied to his work in the pharmaceutical industry.Building a Global Community Around Trial Master FilesOne of Oliver's most impressive achievements has been the creation of TMF Week, a large-scale online event dedicated to Trial Master Files. Initially conceived as a webinar series, TMF Week evolved into a high-profile industry event with over 40 speakers and thousands of attendees.The idea emerged as a response to the need for frequent educational sessions on TMF. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated its adoption by filling the gap left by canceled in-person events and industry professionals rallied behind the event, validating its importance. Here is the part I find most interesting (and valuable). TMF Week initially launched as an unbranded event and gained credibility before becoming synonymous with Oliver's (previous) company.The event was organized with a small team and limited resources, using basic webinar tools and CRM integrations. Despite logistical challenges, it became a central platform for industry discussions and a key driver of business opportunities.The Power of Strategic Narrative in MarketingI appreciate how Oliver emphasizes the importance of crafting a strategic narrative rather than just relying on a standard value proposition. While value propositions focus on what a company offers, a strategic narrative provides a broader industry perspective and aligns messaging across sales, marketing, and leadership.Not subscribed? Let's fix that, shall we? Subscribe for free to receive new posts by email. (No Spam. I promise.)Elements of a Strong Strategic NarrativeIf you're familiar with The Hero's Journey from Joseph Conrad, you‘ll recognize how it's implemented here in a very succinct way:* Define a major shift in the industry and explain its significance.* Identify the challenges that come with that shift.* Offer a clear perspective on how businesses should adapt.* Demonstrating how your company helps customers navigate the change.This approach produces marketing that is not just about features and benefits, but about leading an industry conversation in a way that builds authority and trust. This is an approach that works regardless of where someone is in the buying cycle. It doesn't mean throwing features and benefits away, but rather provides value in an interesting way that increases the likelihood of being considered when a customer has a problem you can solve.Common Pitfalls in Life Science MarketingI asked Oli to point out where life science marketing can come up short. * Lack of Business Alignment: Marketing is often viewed as a cost center rather than a revenue driver because it isn't directly tied to sales and pipeline growth.* Overreliance on Vanity Metrics: Metrics like website traffic and lead volume don't necessarily translate to business impact, leading to misaligned priorities.* Random Acts of Marketing: Without a strategic foundation, marketing teams often engage in disconnected activities that fail to build long-term engagement.Aligning Marketing with Business GoalsOliver advocates for tying marketing success to measurable business outcomes. LEad generation may be the easiest metric to track, but this doesn't necessarily provide the best outcomes in the long run. Other metrics, while a little more challenging, can provide a better picture and improve overall results. Instead of focusing on lead generation alone, he recommends tracking:* The conversion of marketing-generated leads into pipeline and revenue.* Correlations between brand awareness efforts and increased inbound inquiries.* High-intent engagements, such as direct requests to speak with sales.By aligning marketing efforts with business goals, marketing teams can move beyond vanity metrics and demonstrate tangible value to the organization.Lessons from Nightlife Marketing Applied to Life SciencesCoincidentally, I have spoken to two people recently who have transferred their skills from an earlier time in the nightlife world to life science. Oliver's background provided him with a unique skill set, including:* Community Building: Understanding how to attract and engage audiences for an event.* Adaptability: Testing different marketing approaches and adjusting strategies based on real-time feedback.* Focusing on Outcomes: Just as nightclubs measure success by attendance, marketing should measure success by business impact rather than surface-level engagement.Life science marketing can go beyond traditional tactics and focus on strategic storytelling, community engagement, and measurable business impact. His experience proves that even with limited resources, marketers can build high-value industry events and thought leadership platforms that drive long-term success.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

I ran into Jackson Hyde, the CEO of Diaago, whom I had interviewed on Life Science Marketing Radio a few years ago at SLAS. Jackson showed me a new cold shipping unit and suggested I talk to Faizan Ahmed. That led to this conversation about his company, Invensify, and its innovative approach to cold chain logistics.With an electrical engineering background and experience in solid-state physics, he started his career in the defense industry, leading the development of a precision coordinate scanning system for night vision goggles, a project adopted by the U.S. Air Force. As you'll hear, this experience shaped his entrepreneurial mindset, exposing him to various disciplines beyond engineering, including sales, marketing, and strategic planning, .Before Invensify, Faizan co-founded Genxsys, a company that developed a rain-deflector system for camera lenses based on centrifugal force. The product allowed photographers to take clear pictures in the rain or snow without interference. Within a short period, Genxsys secured a lot of orders and was rapidly acquired. This reinforced Faizan's passion for identifying problems and developing innovative solutions.At this point, I'm struck by the difference of someone in life science workig on a single problem for years as opposed to an engineer who solves a problem and moves on. I know it's not a fair comparison between trying to understand biology and applying existing knowledge, but I find it interesting. Are you subscribed yet? If not, let's fix that.Faizan's inspiration for tackling cold chain logistics came from a personal experience. Watching his diabetic dad struggle to keep insulin at the correct temperature while traveling, he realized there was a major gap in the market. The existing solutions relied heavily on ice packs, which required precise handling, refrigeration, and compliance with transportation regulations. TSA often discarded ice packs at security checkpoints, forcing travelers to find alternative cooling methods. This inconvenience and inefficiency led him to explore better solutions for cold chain shipping.As Faizan researched the industry, he learned that pharmaceutical companies still relied on Styrofoam boxes with ice packs to ship temperature-sensitive drugs. These solutions required significant manual effort, meticulous packing procedures, and real estate for refrigeration. The approach lacked reliability, with many shipments relying on overnight delivery to minimize temperature deviations. Additionally, the use of traditional compressor-based refrigeration was impractical due to power consumption and transportation restrictions on lithium-ion batteries.Recognizing these limitations, he and his team developed a thermoelectric cooling system that eliminates the need for ice packs, compressors, and refrigerant. Their solid-state cooling technology is far more efficient than conventional thermoelectric systems, thanks to advancements in material science. The Invensify system charges in five to six hours and maintains a stable temperature (2 to 8°C) for over 100 hours without an external power source. The battery is compact, fitting into a shirt pocket, solving the power and weight issues associated with traditional refrigeration methods.Beyond the cooling innovation, Invensify integrated smart tracking features. The system includes LTE, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing users to monitor the shipment's location and temperature in real-time. This level of tracking provides pharmaceutical companies with a level of assurance that was previously unavailable. Instead of relying on periodic temperature checks when a package changes hands, companies can now have continuous visibility into their shipments.The business case for Invensify extends beyond improving logistics efficiency. In addition to financial costs, there are broader environmental concerns, such as the non-recyclable nature of Styrofoam and the energy consumption of traditional cold storage methods. Invencify's solution reduces labor costs, eliminates the need for large-scale refrigeration infrastructure, and minimizes waste, making it an attractive alternative.Faizan's insights into the business side of innovation were particularly compelling. He emphasized that a great technological innovation alone is not enough—success comes from understanding and solving customer pain points. In this case, Invensify doesn't just offer an efficient cooling system; it also simplifies logistics, enhances tracking, and provides a more sustainable option. The company's approach streamlines operations by removing the complexity of handling ice packs and reduces liability for pharmaceutical companies by ensuring drugs are maintained at the correct temperature throughout transit.Finally we discussed funding and what it takes for a startup to secure investment. Faizan highlighted three key factors: the strength of the idea, the quality of the team, and the credibility of the founders. He credited his early career experiences for preparing him to navigate the startup world. Working at a small company allowed him to wear multiple hats and understand the full lifecycle of a product—from development to sales. By the time he launched Genxsys and later Invensify, he had built strong relationships with investors and strategic angels who believed in his vision. When he pitched Invensify, he was able to secure funding quickly, thanks to his track record and well-articulated business case.Of course, having a track record of success makes raising funds easier. For first-time founders, he stressed the importance of bootstrapping to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) and demonstrating a clear market opportunity. Investors look for disruptive solutions with large addressable markets, and startups must frame their innovation in terms of its business impact rather than just its technological novelty.He also underscored the importance of understanding not just the technology but the broader ecosystem in which it operates. Invensify technology has the potential to reshape multiple industries. Beyond pharmaceutical logistics, there are applications in vaccine distribution, particularly in regions with unreliable power grids. It could also be a game-changer for individuals who rely on refrigerated medications, ensuring they have a reliable solution when traveling or facing power outages. The broader implications of a solid-state, highly efficient cooling system extend far beyond what we discussed.Innovation happens at the intersection of technology, business, and human needs. It's not just about inventing something new—it's about making it viable, scalable, and impactful. Our conversation underscored the importance of thinking beyond the immediate function of a technology and considering all the elements that contribute to its success, from logistics and compliance to user experience and market fit.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it too. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

I had the pleasure of speaking with Heather Javier, a genomic sales specialist at Roche, sales coach, and host of the Transition to Sales podcast. Heather shared her journey from working in translational oncology and stem cell research to transitioning into sales, inspired by her desire to connect, problem-solve, and align her career with her values.Heather's JourneyHeather's career started with a biology degree and a role in translational oncology at Genentech. Her early work involved managing mice for efficacy studies, followed by years in stem cell research, where her hours were dictated by the cells she was culturing.Despite her scientific success, Heather felt a gap between her work and her passion. What energized Heather was networking, problem-solving, and collaboration. Inspired by her own interactions with sales reps, she realized she could make a bigger impact in sales by addressing customer needs more effectively. After a year of networking and revamping her resume, she made the leap into sales, which she describes as the best decision she made for her family and career.NetworkingHeather believes networking is simply about resourcefulness and taking a “heart-centered approach.” During her days at UCSF, she constantly collaborated with statisticians, vendors, and colleagues to troubleshoot experiments. This mindset carried into her sales career, where she emphasized the importance of building authentic connections.Networking isn't just a means to an end; it's about helping others while advancing shared goals. For those who feel intimidated by networking, she suggests shifting your mindset: recognize that people often want to help and are energized by being part of your journey. I couldn't agree more. I have experienced this many times over many years.Transitioning from Science to SalesHeather knows scientists and technical professionals have the skills needed for sales roles—they often don't realize it. Sales, at its core, is about problem-solving, asking the right questions, and connecting solutions to customer needs.Scientists are used to analyzing variables and troubleshooting experiments. In sales, this translates to understanding customer pain points, guiding discussions with targeted questions, and tailoring solutions. Heather highlighted the importance of being prepared, leveraging technical knowledge, and staying resourceful. These are things scientists do regularly.Overcoming Fear and Building Confidence One of the biggest hurdles for those transitioning into sales: building confidence. Her advice? Treat the learning process like you would in a lab. Just as scientists train to operate new equipment, aspiring sales professionals can prepare by studying their business, asking questions, and leaning on mentors.Heather shared her own experience of transitioning into sales at QIAGEN, where she won President's Club in her first year. Her success came from applying her scientific mindset to sales—studying customer personas, analyzing data, and proactively creating business plans. Confidence, she emphasized, comes from preparation and a willingness to learn. In other words: be curious and do your homework. Isn't that what we've been doing our whole life?Not subscribed? Let's fix that, shall we? Subscribe for free to receive new posts by email. (No Spam. I promise.)Bridging the Gap Between Sales and MarketingHeather isn't the first to point out that sales and marketing often operate in silos, which can lead to missed opportunities. She urged marketers to view sales teams as their “customers” and collaborate closely to create materials that resonate with what sales reps are hearing in the field.Here is an idea she shared that I can get behind. Cultivate a sense of culture and community at conferences. Instead of relying solely on product demonstrations, create experiences that reflect the company's values and culture, helping to attract ideal clients and foster stronger connections.Connecting the Dots: Relationship Building in SalesHeather frequently mentions the idea of connecting the dots. She described her role as a connector—both within her company and with her customers. Building trust and relationships is essential, whether it's with decision-makers at a customer's organization or with internal teams like R&D and technical specialists.She stressed the importance of identifying “coaches” within customer organizations—people who advocate for your product or service and help you navigate the decision-making process. Heather's approach to connecting the dots involves bringing people together, asking thoughtful questions, seeking feedback, and leveraging internal and external resources to solve problems collaboratively.Sales Coaching for StartupsIn addition to her sales role, Heather is developing a program to coach startups on building their own sales strategies. Hiring a dedicated sales team can be expensive. Heather's vision is to help technical teams get comfortable with the fundamentals of sales. Her coaching focuses on skills like prospecting, navigating customer personas, and moving opportunities through the sales funnel, all while staying true to the company's culture and mission.For startups with a strong sense of purpose, Heather's coaching aims to channel that passion into effective customer connections.Empowering Women in SalesHeather's podcast, Transition to Sales, is geared toward women—particularly mothers—looking to move into sales roles from technical backgrounds. She provides actionable advice, free resources like resume guides, and insights into building confidence in sales. Heather's mission is to create representation in an industry that is still predominantly male, showing women that their skills and perspectives are invaluable in sales.Heather's story is a testament to the power of aligning your career with your values and passions. Her journey from the lab to sales demonstrates how scientific skills can translate into successful sales strategies, and her heart-centered approach serves as an inspiring model for others considering a similar transition.For anyone interested in learning more, be sure to check out her podcast and connect with her on LinkedIn.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

If you've been following me on LinkedIn lately, you know I spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of company culture and how marketing content can both reflect and drive culture. Done well, I believe the same content can both motivate employees and attract customers.In this episode, we'll take the impact of culture even further. Mykella Auld is the founder, Chief Culture Officer, and Executive Director of The Workwell Studio, and her work focuses on the intersection of organizational culture and societal well-being. Mykella's vision is to help organizations see culture as a strategic asset—a mechanism that not only supports employee engagement and productivity but also shapes the societal landscape in meaningful ways.The relevant question, I believe is, “How can organizational culture best work to achieve the desired outcomes, whether in the public sector, the private sector, or in any community?”Culture's Ripple EffectAfter getting a sociology degree, Mykella was working with a school district and the National Institute for Educational Leadership. A challenging legislative session on school reform opened her eyes to the impact of internal challenges. As is likely often the case, the culture within organizations and its impact often reaches as far as the services they provide (perhaps farther). The Genesis of The Workwell StudioBuilding on her experiences, Mykella pursued a master's degree in leadership and later led a research team exploring the intersection of local government policies and community well-being. This work illuminated how public institutions—schools, nonprofits, and government agencies—impact not just their immediate stakeholders but society at large. Her findings reinforced the idea that organizational culture can be a powerful tool for driving positive change both internally and externally.Strategies for Building Healthy CulturesCulture doesn't happen by accident—it must be strategically planned and invested in. Brian Thomson made the same point for life science companies in a previous episode. How does it happen. Mykella pointed out that HR departments, although essential, should not bear sole responsibility for culture. While initiatives around leadership and organizational development often fall to HR, they likely have enough to do and it might even be a conflict. Instead, she suggests organizations consider roles like a Director of Culture Initiatives to ensure dedicated focus on this critical area.Key strategies include:* Co-Creation: Building cultures that prioritize shared leadership and accountability. By involving employees in decision-making processes, organizations foster trust and inclusion.* Well-Being: Focusing on social and emotional development, trust-building, and systems of care. Health outcomes are just one facet of well-being—the broader goal is creating environments where people thrive emotionally and socially. It strikes me that this is the kind of environment where people would be most happy and productive.* Innovation: Encouraging a mindset that embraces trial and error, creativity, and exploration. Not subscribed? Let's fix that, shall we? Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Role of Public Sector OrganizationsMykella noted that public sector leaders often lack formal leadership training, perhaps due to budget constraints, which can hinder their ability to prioritize staff and culture. (I wonder if it's significantly different in the private sector. It seems most often that people who are good at their job get promoted to management without additional leadership or management training.)Additionally, public institutions tend to focus outward on their mission to serve society, sometimes neglecting the internal health of their organizations. The behaviors and norms within these institutions often ripple into the communities they serve. It strikes me as a misalignment of values if an organization trying to serve the public isn't modeling the world it hopes to create.Mykella mentioned an art piece from the 1950s illustrating how workplace dynamics influence home life. This insight remains relevant today, emphasizing the societal responsibility public institutions have to model healthy behaviors and norms. Am I naive to think we should need to be reminded to treat others, whether they are colleagues, co-workers, employees or service providers with respect?The Intersection of Public and Private SectorsHere is why the above matters. To no one's surprise, private sector leaders are having a huge impact on society in their public roles. While this trend brings opportunities for innovation, it also raises questions about balancing business-oriented approaches with the unique purposes of public institutions. From my point of view, none of us should outsource our cultural initiatives to people who don't share our values. While there are certainly successful workplaces that reflect lovely communities, I don't think that it makes sense to govern a society in the same way one would run a business. The First StepA centerpiece of The Workwell Studio's work is its cultural audit tool. This comprehensive approach gathers data and human stories to assess an organization's culture across areas like HR policies, well-being, social intelligence, and innovation. The findings provide a roadmap for organizations to align their strategies with their cultural goals.Innovation, in particular, stands out as a critical component. Fostering an innovative mindset and new initiatives requires leaders to support risk-taking, value employee input, and view failures as learning opportunities. Without this openness, efforts to build a thriving culture may falter.My ThoughtsOne might ask if it's the place of organizations, public or private to be the arbiters of culture. Fair enough. In a capitalist society, our workplaces often become our communities. For any organization, but especially large ones, there is the opportunity to shape societal culture - for better or worse I suppose. So if your mission is to make the world a better place, does your internal culture align with that?At the same time I was recording and editing this interview, I was reading a book by Matthew…. entitled Shop Class as Soulcraft. The thesis of the book is largely about the value of manual work. The author is a motorcycle mechanic with a PhD in Physics.The book explains how our educational system and workplaces are set up in some ways to devalue certain types of work.In the course of reading it, I contemplated whether I am closer to being a craftsperson or a cog in the machine. All of that got me thinking about how we justify making organizations centers of culture to some degree. That may overstate their impact.It strikes me that there are many legitimate ways of working, all of which have value, even though the satisfaction that comes from it may vary both in kind and degree. The motorcycle mechanic learns from experience and a hands-on approach. He or she is intimately connected to their work and the end product. For many organizations or businesses, however, this doesn't make sense. It takes a lot of people to design, build, procure, and ship a mass spectrometer, for example. In that situation, leadership and teamwork are critical for success, which is why I believe that thinking about culture strategically is important.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

In this conversation with Elizabeth Chabe, CEO of High Touch Group and author of The Giant's Ladder: The Science Professional's Blueprint for Marketing Success, we discussed a possible convergence between science communication and marketing. Reflecting on how few living scientists are household names, she talked about the importance of storytelling in transforming scientists into figures society admires even positioning them as rockstars or cultural icons. Their lack of visibility isn't because scientists aren't engaging but because the traditional academic outlets they utilize don't effectively reach the wider public. She sees an opportunity for scientists to break free from academic journals and allow their work to inspire future scientists and communicate value to society. Elizabeth noted the healthcare sector's medical affairs professionals, who engage deeply with scientific education yet seldom achieve fame comparable to cultural figures like Neil deGrasse Tyson or Bill Nye. The challenge, she says, lies in leveraging modern marketing tools to amplify these efforts effectively. We talked about how platforms, including YouTube, offer avenues for better engagement with the public and how scientists, through storytelling and proper marketing strategies, can expand their reach. Not subscribed? Let's fix that, shall we? Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.What does this mean for companies? You might say that science is a little bit on the back foot lately. There is a definite issue of trust even as more and more of our daily lives are made better and more convenient by the discoveries of scientists. This is a topic that has been on my mind a lot lately.Companies have an opportunity, and I would argue an obligation, to elevate both their brand and society's perception of science. Elizabeth provided examples of organizations like Moderna. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Moderna focused on its broader mission of advancing RNA-based medicine. This strategic focus not only strengthened their brand but also helped reinforce trust in RNA-based therapeutics. That has likely opened up a whole new world of possible therapies but without trust, will they make it to market? Finally, where are the lines between science communication, education, and marketing and how can companies think about these activities to grow their business and, if you will, the market for science and scientific advances?Elizabeth has a framework for thinking about the nuances that I really appreciate. This segmentation—communication explains, education equips, and marketing connects—provides a foundational strategy for life science companies to build trust and competence and ultimately motivate action. Science communication is about making information digestible for non-experts, education builds understanding and competence, while marketing's goal is to foster an emotional connection and drive action. Thinking long term, science communication not only helps the public to appreciate the work you do now, but feeds a pipeline to solve problems, possibly at your company, in the future. Education naturally follows to make that happen. As marketers we should take advantage of all of the above to create those connections, build our brands and create a public that accepts science, not blindly, but with real understanding.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Last month, I went to Stanford and did four years of college in four hours. Jennifer Dionne has been on the podcast before. After showing me some amazing technology in her lab (nanoparticles - I'll share some clips on LinkedIn later) we wandered over to the Polynesian Garden to talk about her class, the Science of the Impossible. I avoided the waitlist and got the Cliff Notes version, which was enough to fill my brain for the day.Our conversation started with her path to becoming a scientist (inspired by The X-Files) and ended with discussion of deploying remote sensors in the environment to understand shark populations around Palau based on detecting their DNA in ocean water.In between, we talked about the role media plays in sparking scientific interest, how she encourages students to think about big, difficult problems and the value of “curiosity-driven” research that can lead to unexpected discoveries, such as Faraday's work with semiconductors and the accidental origins of chemotherapy. Oh yeah, teleportation was in there as well. Watch the video.In the class, they discuss scientific breakthroughs that were once thought impossible but also how to approach scientific problems that seem impossible now. What are the mindsets and the approaches that lead to progress on significant challenges?Jen suggests thinking of a conversation with future grandchildren. What do you want to say you contributed to the world they live in?So here I'll follow her model and maybe take a step forward. We start by thinking of the problem we want to solve and then the aspects of that problem that make it difficult to address now. These are not all technical challenges. It often comes down to policy and infrastructure.Are you subscribed yet? If not, let's fix that.I'd like to help build an infrastructure of public understanding for tackling long-term threats like climate change. This has been on my mind, especially since reading Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World.As early as the 1970s scientists understood the challenge of global warming caused by CO2 emissions. It was neither polarizing nor controversial. But then, as now the perception was that there are more immediate threats - economic threats like inflation or unemployment, or physical threats of disease or geo-political conflicts that demand immediate attention.Humans are very good at identifying near-term threats and dealing with them as best we can. Long-term opportunities provide plenty of motivation (usually money) and don't need much help. Long-term threats, not so much. Can we reframe those threats to become opportunities in a tangible and meaningful way?These opportunities are often called moonshots now, not just because of their lofty goals, but because of the inspiration they provide and the possibility of developing important and useful technologies on the way. One advantage for the Apollo program, besides national security considerations, was that every human being that ever lived has looked at the moon and wondered what it was like up there. The problem was relateable and easily visualized.Reversing climate change is certainly a lofty goal. But success is not easily visualized. Rather than spinning off multiple technologies that can serve other purposes, it will instead require the development of many new independent solutions that each contribute to the goal. Based on the work that Jen's lab is doing on carbon capture and environmental sensing as well as the work of others, I have no doubt the technical challenges can be solved. That leaves policy and infrastructure.Solving climate change requires not just agreement within, but also between nations. Public understanding and trust in science comes back around to the media and storytelling.The stories we tell as science marketers and communicators, like Fire Weather, are an essential component of driving the policies that will enable the infrastructure required for success. We must continue to highlight the scientific advancements and give more visibility to the people that are doing that work. Let's inspire the next generation and restore trust in science.In case you didn't catch this on LinkedIn, here is some bonus content where Jen is talking about some mind-blowing uses for nanoparticles.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it too. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Shifting our approach to feedbackIn my recent conversation with mindset coach, Margaret Jennings (MJ), our conversation started with the emotional rollercoaster created by feedback—especially when you're early in your career. Feedback, both positive and negative, is useful but can also result in a wild ride. MJ once described herself as a “floundering high achiever” in her 20s. She is a more grounded and self-aware leader today. Her insights are both relatable and instructive.Like many of us I'm sure, she once heavily relied on external validation. She was on top of her game when feedback was positive, but when it turned critical, it felt like failure. This is something that likely resonates with a lot of high achievers. Her sense of self-worth was tied to what others thought about her accomplishments, whether in school or sports. In many ways, this made her successful in the short term, but it came at the cost of long-term fulfillment.She explained that it's natural to want to please those around us—whether it's parents, teachers, or coaches. After all, as babies, this is how we secure food, love, and safety. But the problem comes when we carry this strategy too far into adulthood, to the point where our identity is solely built around what others think of us. This approach eventually leads to burnout and can limit our potential for growth and happiness.Consider the mental gymnastics we all do when we receive feedback. It reminded me of the challenge of a good golf swing: You can't perform well if you are overanalyzing every aspect of it all the time. Margaret agreed and said her turning point came when she started working with a mental performance coach. This coach helped her realize that her value didn't have to come from others' opinions; instead, she could generate her own sense of worth internally. That shift in thinking transformed the way she performed, both in work and in life.Building a relationship with yourselfMJ brought up the concept of building a relationship with oneself: We're constantly in a dialogue with ourselves, and it's crucial to make that relationship a positive one. Through practices like journaling, meditation, and self-reflection, we can learn to identify and understand our own needs and desires, leading to a more balanced and sustainable approach to both work and life. Looking back at my own life, there was a time when I had a few ideas about a career path but was relying a lot on others' expectations and evaluations of my abilities to show me the way. It took a long time to move past that. I asked Margaret about how she specifically changed the way she talked to herself, and her response was insightful. She noted that awareness is key—you need to recognize the quality of your self-talk. Is it positive and affirming, or is it critical and self-defeating? She likened this to any relationship, explaining that you need to invest time and energy into yourself just as you would with a friend or partner. You'd have a difficult time building a positive relationship with anyone else if you were constantly critical of them.It strikes me that adopting a growth mindset is your ticket off of the emotional rollercoaster. You no longer see constructive feedback as a personal attack but as an opportunity for growth. This mindset shift is vital, especially for high achievers who can often fall into the trap of seeing any criticism as a sign of failure. Not subscribed? Let's fix that, shall we? Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Embracing uncertaintyMJ talked about the importance embracing uncertainty, something that has been on my mind lately, and her thoughts on it really hit home. Our constant search for certainty is often counterproductive because so much of life is inherently unpredictable. Instead, we should focus on what we can control and accept that not everything will go perfectly. It's about shifting from an all-or-nothing mentality—where you're either a success or a failure—to a more nuanced view where growth and learning happen over time. (If you've been a listener for a while you know how much I love long-term thinking!)I think we waste a lot of time and energy trying to control things that are not in our power to control or trying to predict things that we do not have the capacity to predict.So, our focus is such a limited resource, that if we have the choice to allow it to be consumed by things we can't control, which is going to fuel anxiety and overwhelm, or we can choose to look at this situation and say, okay, realistically, what can I control here in terms of having impact and creating clarity? Then we're able to make more progress forward. We also touched on expectations and career transitions. This is where the growth mindset can make a huge difference for you. First of all, growth is about trying new things, stepping into new roles. It occurs to me that being ready for a new position and being good or great at it are two points on the curve. Our expectations for our performance at the beginning need to be realistic and not necessarily at the level of someone who did that job for 3-5 years. Being ready means you have the tools and are able to grow (there's that word again) into the role. Of course you will get better at it over time. For example, MJ is a hockey player. She described the excitement of lacing up her skates and getting on the ice for the first time. She pointed out that if she didn't expect to fall on her face before learning how to do crossovers and stop and start, it would have been difficult to achieve any success.You may have noticed I've been thinking and talking about culture within organizations a lot lately. It occurs to me that we each create a culture within ourselves that affects our ability to perform in any role we take on (leader, parent, contributor etc). MJ's advice goes a long way toward helping us ensure that is a supportive and growth oriented one that will lead to our success.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

With the life science tools industry facing a 7% drop in revenues, innovation and fresh approaches are needed to hold on to your slice of the pie. I spoke with Marina Hop, Managing Director, and Gary Brooks, Creative Director at Viveo Consulting, to explore creativity in life science marketing. Our discussion focused on how creativity can be a powerful tool to not only optimize business operations but also generate new ideas to address these challenges.In a downturn, companies often retreat into operational efficiency, cutting costs and tightening the reins. However, real growth and differentiation come from creativity—an approach that not only applies to marketing but spans across the entire business strategy, product development, and even internal team dynamics.Creativity as a Key to PerformanceMarina pointed out that while companies are focused on optimizing their operations, there's a limit to how much optimization can drive growth. “The optimization side addresses the bottom line,” she said, “but creativity really addresses the top line.”I've seen the same pattern—companies cutting budgets and focusing on short-term savings. I once asked my VP of marketing why, instead of cutting back, we didn't go full throttle to take market share when our competitors were pulling back. My guests agreed on the need to push forward with disciplined creativity, even when times are tough. As Marina pointed out, Bruker—a company that has excelled in this downturn—successfully combines operational excellence with what they call "disciplined entrepreneurialism."Balancing Operations and InnovationGary elaborated on how companies often live in two worlds: the operational world of structure, metrics, and routines, and the innovation world, driven by curiosity and experimentation. He emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance between these two worlds, especially during challenging times. “When companies struggle, they revert back to the operational side because it's manageable,” he said, but added that without creativity and innovation, growth stalls.He pointed out, creativity is not just about artistic expression—it's about connecting insights to create something valuable, whether it's a new marketing channel, product innovation, or strategy.Creative Thinking in Marketing and BeyondAround here of course, we're focused on marketing creativity, and we discussed how companies could be creative not just in their messaging, but in the types of marketing they do. I suggested that creativity in marketing isn't just about making clever ads, but about exploring new ways to engage with customers—new channels, content types, or interactions. Marina agreed, saying that creativity should permeate any generative business activity, from formulating a strategy to developing a new product.One key takeaway from this part of the conversation was that creativity shouldn't be confined to one department. As Gary put it, “It's not just marketing, it's communication.” Every interaction a company has, whether with investors, customers, or even internally, is a chance to think creatively about how you present your brand.Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Power of ObservationMarina introduced a concept that I found particularly interesting—phenomenology, the practice of observing and describing human experiences without immediately analyzing them. This practice helps stimulate creativity by encouraging people to step back, observe, and understand what's really happening before jumping to conclusions. Viveo might send teams to observe a simple activity, like how people interact in the cafeteria, and then come back and write a narrative about it.Gary emphasized the importance of observation in creative thinking, noting that many people don't take the time to observe what's happening around them. “People don't really observe people doing stuff,” he said. By focusing on observation, companies can gather insights that lead to more informed, creative solutions.One powerful example Marina shared was when Viveo worked with a client that had developed an automated sample prep system for next-generation sequencing (NGS). The company had expected this product to be a hit because it saved time and effort. But by observing how scientists actually worked in the lab, they realized the product wasn't solving the problem scientists cared most about—reproducibility. Scientists didn't mind spending extra time on manual prep because they wanted to ensure the highest quality samples for the expensive sequencing process. By shifting the marketing message to focus on quality and reproducibility rather than time savings, the company could better align with its customers' needs.Creativity as a Learnable SkillOne of the most encouraging insights from Marina and Gary was that creativity can be learned. It's not reserved for "artistic" types—it's about curiosity and observation. As Gary put it, creativity doesn't come from waiting for the “creative gods” to bless you with an idea. It's a process of grinding through ideas, experimenting, and finding connections.This process-driven approach to creativity is similar to how scientists work, which should make it especially relevant for life science companies where many marketers used to be scientists. Whether it's through exercises like observing people in the canteen or training teams to be more curious and observant in the lab, companies can cultivate creativity throughout their organization.Building a Culture of CreativityWhy not encourage creativity at every level of the organization. This includes fostering a culture of curiosity, where employees feel empowered to take risks and explore new ideas. “Safe adventures,” as Gary called them, allow teams to innovate within a structured environment where failure is a learning opportunity rather than a setback. My best boss was very good at this. I could call him with an idea and he'd say, “Let's do it.” If it didn't work as planned we just figured out why and tried something else.Establishing a culture of creativity will allow you to deliver results regardless of market conditions.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

The process of content review, approval, and distribution is often perceived as a "necessary evil" in life science marketing. If you're reading this, you probably know how challenging this process can be. In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Annalise Ludtke, Senior Manager for Marketing Communications and Strategy at Vodori, and host of the Amend and Progress podcast. She offered some great insights on how to streamline and improve this process while still keeping everything compliant, fast, and efficient.Right out of the gate, Annalise laid out the core problem Vodori aims to solve: the complexity of managing content in life science organizations. Companies need to develop a lot of promotional and educational materials, and getting those materials reviewed, approved, and distributed is a complicated process. The challenge is not just about creating great content—it's about managing the feedback loops, the endless rounds of revisions, and the hurdles of compliance. Without a solid process for reviewing and approving content, life science companies can't effectively market their products. Of course, you need to make sure everything you put out there meets legal and regulatory standards. Best PracticesAnnalise shared some best practices that Vodori advocates, and these tips stood out to me as practical and actionable regardless of any platform you might deploy or none at all.* Parallel vs. Sequential Review: One of the key strategies Annalise mentioned is the benefit of parallel review processes, where all the necessary stakeholders—whether it's medical, legal, or regulatory teams—are reviewing content simultaneously rather than sequentially. This can save a lot of time because it encourages open dialogue between the different reviewers. If someone has an issue with a piece of content, they can discuss it with the other reviewers in real-time, instead of waiting for feedback to trickle in one department at a time.I appreciated her point that while parallel review might seem more chaotic at first glance, it actually fosters more collaboration. Reviewers can resolve conflicting feedback before it gets back to the content owner, which can speed things up dramatically.* Clear Ownership and Communication: Clearly defined roles and responsibilities make everyone's job easier. Annalise emphasized that it's critical for each reviewer to stay in their lane and provide feedback based on their specific area of expertise. This helps avoid confusion and unnecessary edits, which can slow down the process. Additionally, it's essential for reviewers to communicate clearly—indicating whether a comment is a required change or just a suggestion, for instance. This small change can remove a lot of friction and keep the process moving forward smoothly. Color-coding comments to signify importance is a simple yet effective way to clarify expectations. * Real-Time Collaboration: I imagine most companies now have the ability for multiple stakeholders to collaborate on documents in real-time, where everyone can log in, see the comments being made by others, and even have discussions within the document itself. This not only saves time but also reduces the likelihood of conflicting feedback, which would require another round of calls or emails to resolve.Is this content helpful?Where is the data for that claim?If someone has a question about a claim, you'd like to know where to find the data that supports it. It seems a simple idea to have a claims library. Vodori's platform allows companies to store and manage approved claims, making it easier to track where and how certain claims are being used in marketing materials. Likewise when claims are updated with new data, you'd like to know where they have been used in the past to find all the places where the claim was referenced.How does your process compare?Beyond best practices, setting goals and understanding benchmarks is another step toward making the content review process less painful. Let's invite our industry peers out for drinks after work to compare our review processes! - No one said that.Fortunately, Vodori publishes an annual Benchmarks Report that looks at various metrics like average review time and number of review cycles, giving companies a way to see how they stack up against industry standards.By comparing your metrics to industry standards, your company can decide what might realistically make the most impact and set goals for improving your review process.For instance, some teams might set goals around reducing the number of review cycles content has to go through or improving the speed at which content gets approved. Compliance is another area —perhaps setting a goal to reduce the number of compliance issues flagged during the review process. Reducing time to marketIn my experience, content was always the last thing on the list before a product launch. The impact of improving the content review process is huge. By reducing the time it takes to get content through review, life science companies can get their products to market faster, which ultimately benefits customers/patients. Vodori's platform not only helps streamline the process but also provides peace of mind by ensuring compliance every step of the way.As Annalise pointed out, the goal is not just to make the process easier for marketing teams but to improve outcomes across the board—for the company, the team, and, most importantly, the patients.Annalise's Podcast: Amend and ProgressToward the end of our conversation, we touched on Annalise's podcast, Amend and Progress, which focuses on improving content review processes in the life sciences. She's been hosting conversations with experts both inside and outside of Vodori, tackling topics like best practices, industry trends, and even the potential role of AI in content review. You should definitely check it out.Her podcast is a great example of how even niche topics can have a dedicated audience, offering valuable insights for those navigating the complexities of content management in regulated industries. I think there's a lesson here for all of us in the podcasting world—if you're solving a real problem for people, there's always an audience, no matter how specialized the topic is.Final ThoughtsI've been thinking a lot lately of my second episode way back around 2014 or 2015 about how marketing communications can change an organization. This is one of those opportunities. By taking the lead on setting standards and implementing best practices for the review and approval process, marketing can improve the work lives of their colleagues in other parts of the company as well as their own. The added benefit of developing processes with rigor lets marketing communications be seen as more than a service provider, but rather a leader in unlocking innovation and success in an organization.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Hooriya Hussain is a life science marketing leader and a fierce advocate on the National Board of Governors at the Human Rights Campaign. Before filming this video we had had only two conversations, one on zoom and one at BIO 2024 in San Diego. Both times, Hoori mentioned the idea of soul in the life sciences. I wasn't entirely sure what she meant. I was definitely intrigued. We decided to explore that on a walk and talk.Trailer:Our discussion revolved around purpose and leadership. The last year has been a tough one in life science beyond the usual pressure and uncertainty. Maybe that was what had prompted Hoori's thoughts about holding on to your soul.Before diving into that, I was curious about what it was like to grow up in Qatar as the child of immigrants and then immigrate to yet another country you knew nothing about except what you saw or heard in pop culture. She didn't say it explicitly, but I noticed that Hoori's thoughts on leadership, nurturing your own soul and understanding your purpose are deeply tied to the experiences of her youth, trying to fit in where “it just felt like anything could change anytime”.The folks that do the work to understand themselves usually have a slightly longer shelf life in science.When Hoori talks about this, I interpret that as understanding and staying true to your purpose. Satisfaction often comes from knowing the contribution you are making. Purpose is what will sustain you through setbacks, various disruptions and even layoffs. Is your purpose aligned with your work? Do you see how you fit in? I have seen this in my own career. I struggled in graduate school (limited shelf life) in part because I didn't look around to see what other options were available before I applied. Grad school seemed like the thing to do to feed my curiosity and joy of learning. It turned out that while research was interesting for a time, I wasn't driven by it in the way my friends who are successful scientists are.It was difficult to explain to my family and friends why what I was studying mattered to anyone. That should have been a red flag for me. I'm not saying it didn't matter. But one thing that mattered to me was to be able to talk about my work with people outside the lab.My path was not aligned with my purpose. I'm driven more by helping a few handfuls of people directly (and seeing the outcome) than the thousands or millions of unseen individuals who would benefit down the road from any discovery I might make. Understanding that sooner would have been helpful for me. My advisor would likely agree.Like what you see?Success in this business isn't all about the science. There are problems we can't solve yet, problems we will solve and some we got wrong, possibly for reasons unrelated to science. Leadership also matters. Hoori talked about the need to see people as intersectional beings. There are many factors that make us who we are and influence how we show up.Good leaders understand “human protocol” and can mobilize people with the idea that they are important. This is where leaders can make a difference, especially when things go wrong, by keeping the focus on solving the problem.One thing when you ask anyone is, “Talk to me about a time where you felt really good about something.” And usually it's someone else had done something for them, someone made them feel great, and people never forget that.Outside of life science, Hoori is exercising her leadership muscle on the Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign, making sure there is a place for everyone in society, regardless of differences or background. She has found her purpose and is helping others to find theirs.Our conversation seemed to be a reflection of exactly the things we were talking about. In the course of that afternoon, I began to understand who Hoori is and why she thinks the way she does because we started the conversation by talking about where she grew up and how she came to the U.S.What kinds of things keep us from knowing our purpose? As Hoori says, we often find it looking backward at our own stories to figure out the times when we were in the zone and at our best. In the meantime, we put our heads down and do what needs to be done. That is also important, but tough to sustain without purpose. You can write your own story or have it written for you. When you finish writing yours, maybe you can help someone else understand theirs.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Unlocking the Secrets of the Six-Base GenomeEpigenetics was somewhat vague when I was an undergraduate ( a long time ago). So I was curious to get an update on how we can investigate it more closely and what we are learning. I talked to Tom Charlesworth, Director of Market Strategy and Corporate Development at biomodal, a sequencing technology company focused on epigenetics. Tom explained how modifications beyond the traditional four DNA bases impact gene expression, development, and disease. What is the Six-Base Genome?Tom introduced biomodal as a sequencing technology company spun out of the University of Cambridge, focused on the interface between genetics and epigenetics. Their technology goes beyond the traditional four-base genome (A, T, G, and C) by adding two epigenetically modified bases: methylcytosine (5-MC) and hydroxymethylcytosine (5-HMC). This “six-base” approach captures critical modifications that play distinct roles in gene regulation.5-MC is associated with repressing gene expression, often keeping certain genes “turned off,” while 5-HMC is linked to opening chromatin and activating gene expression. Understanding these modifications provides a more dynamic picture of how our genes are regulated—not just by the sequence of DNA but also by chemical marks that change over time.Bridging the Gap Between Genetics and FunctionThe traditional four-base genome gives us an invaluable map of our genetic code, but it falls short of explaining how the same genetic sequence could lead to such diverse outcomes—from development to disease. Epigenetic modifications, like 5-MC and 5-HMC, offer another layer of regulation that's essential for gene expression. Tom highlighted research that illustrates the value of this additional information. He mentioned the work of developmental biologist Emily Hodges, who uses the six-base data to study chromatin accessibility during neuronal stem cell differentiation. Emily found that early changes in 5-HMC could predict chromatin opening, an insight that would be invisible if one only looked at 5-MC. This kind of nuanced view helps us understand the precise moments when genes are primed for activation, offering a clearer picture of developmental biology.Applications From Oncology to NeurologyTom described three main areas where their customers are leveraging the six-base genome: fundamental research, oncology, and neurology.In oncology, there's a growing recognition that multi-omic data—integrating genetic and epigenetic information—can improve cancer detection and treatment response. Tom shared examples of ongoing projects in Canada and Australia, where researchers are using six-base sequencing to better understand the complex dynamics of tumor evolution. By distinguishing between 5-MC and 5-HMC in circulating tumor DNA, they hope to pinpoint which DNA fragments originate from cancer cells, providing a more accurate snapshot of the disease's state and progression.The six-base genome also shows promise in neurology. Tom explained that the brain is unique because it has an unusually high level of 5-HMC compared to other tissues, yet we still don't fully understand why. Early research is exploring this epigenetic landscape to uncover new biomarkers for diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and various brain tumors. The ability to profile these epigenetic marks could lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and potentially treating neurological disorders.Are you subscribed yet? If not, let's fix that.Epigenetics as a “Life Record”: The Developmental and Environmental ContextHere's another way think about the six-base genome—as a record of a cell's developmental journey and its responses to the environment. During early development, epigenetic marks guide cells down specific paths, setting up the blueprint for tissues and organs. But later in life, these marks are influenced by external factors like diet, aging, and environmental exposures. This can lead to changes in gene expression that contribute to disease, aging, or even resilience against external stressors.We also touched on how this concept applies to reprogramming cells, such as in induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs). When cells are reprogrammed, they don't just revert to a blank slate; their epigenetic history still influences how they behave. Tom described work showing that successful reprogramming often involves restoring specific epigenetic marks, essentially rewinding the “epigenetic clock” to a more youthful state.Rethinking DNA as the Sole BlueprintTraditionally, DNA has been viewed as the ultimate blueprint for life. But the static genome represents only a portion of the story—it's the interaction with the adaptable epigenome that truly dictates how our genetic potential is realized. The six-base genome isn't just a scientific curiosity; it's another tool for decoding the complexities of life.Tom describes DNA as the “possibility space” of an organism, but it's the epigenetic modifications that trim and shape this space into the reality we observe. This nuanced view challenges us to look beyond the sequence and consider the rich layers of regulation that determine who we are and how we function.I am most excited to learn how environmental conditions like diet and maybe even experience influence the epigenome. As a bacterial geneticist, my basic model is substance A interacts with some regulatory protein to turn a gene on or off. I want to know how the epigenome records my environment. Do the conversations I have had leave detectable marks on the chromosomes in my brain? What would be the mechanism for that? Regardless of the outcome, it's fun to see the ever increasing depth of our understanding of biology.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it too. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

A year ago, Mark Herbert, VP of Biopharma Business Development at Varda Space Industries, joined me on one of the most popular episodes of this podcast. Today, he's back with some exciting updates on Varda's latest mission, which involved launching a satellite and conducting pioneering drug manufacturing experiments in space. From overcoming regulatory hurdles to making groundbreaking discoveries, Varda's journey is a glimpse into the future of pharmaceuticals—and it's happening above our heads.Launching and Landing: The Mission to SpaceMark began by describing Varda's June 2023 launch, where they became the first company to send a satellite with re-entry capabilities on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Varda was one of 35 satellites on the launch, but the only one designed to return to Earth. After orbiting for eight months, the spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere and landed at the Utah Testing and Training Range. The mission took longer than expected due to the complexities of obtaining a re-entry license from the FAA—a groundbreaking process as they were the first to go through it.While in orbit, they reproduced terrestrial experiments using their custom-designed hardware. One of the key achievements was rediscovering a new form of ritonavir, a widely studied HIV drug, which had experienced stability issues in the past. This discovery and the successful replication of these results in orbit demonstrated Varda's ability to conduct controlled pharmaceutical manufacturing in space—a major leap forward in drug development.Navigating Challenges: The Complexities of Space Re-EntryThe mission wasn't just about science—it was also a complex regulatory and logistical feat. One doesn't just bring a satellite back whenever and wherever you like.There is a lot of planning required for the re-entry, from coordinating with the FAA to clearing commercial airspace over the Western United States during their 35-minute descent. The spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere at Mach 25, a speed that necessitated strict safety protocols to avoid any conflicts with other air traffic.Varda's spacecraft had to endure extreme temperatures during re-entry, reaching three times the surface temperature of the sun. The team licensed the protective shield licensed from NASA, allowing them to maintain a stable internal temperature throughout the process. This ensured that the drug samples remained intact and unchanged during their return to Earth—a critical validation for future missions.Small Capsule, Big Impact: The Benefits of Space ManufacturingThe whole purpose of manufacturing in space is to solve formulation challenges. In microgravity, Varda was able to manipulate ritonavir's crystal forms in ways that are impossible on Earth. Beyond the chemistry, the technical and logistical challenges of this mission, honestly, blow my mind. The spacecraft's small size belies the complexity: inside, the “huggable” capsule maintains the temperature within a one-degree range, even while moving from sunlight to shadow multiple times every day in orbit.To ensure they could isolate the effects of microgravity, the team included controls—different forms of ritonavir that were stable on Earth. This careful experimental design allowed Varda to confirm that the re-entry process did not alter the drug samples, proving that drugs manufactured in space could be brought back without compromising their integrity.Looking Forward: Expanding Horizons in Space-Based Drug ManufacturingVarda's success presents new possibilities in space-based manufacturing. Currently, their focus is on small molecule crystallization. By 2025, Varda plans to expand into solvent-based applications, allowing them to test a broader range of small molecules. By 2026, the company hopes to launch biologics—complex molecules used in cutting-edge therapeutics that often face formulation challenges on Earth.Mark spoke about how Varda's work could eventually transform biologics manufacturing. For instance, many biologics are currently restricted to intravenous administration because of stability issues tied to Earth's gravity. Microgravity could help overcome these limitations, enabling new formulations that are more convenient and accessible to patients.Hypergravity: A New Tool for Drug DevelopmentHow does one determine that gravity influences the crytallization of any particular molecule? Draw the curve for the effect of increased gravity and extrapolate backward. Varda has developed a hypergravity platform at their El Segundo facility, which allows them to study the effects of increased gravity on pharmaceutical processes. By simulating up to 5G conditions, Varda is able to screen molecules and processes terrestrially, providing valuable data before investing in the high costs of spaceflight. This approach not only maximizes the chances of success in orbit but also adds a new dimension—literally—to pharmaceutical research.Hypergravity serves as a negative dataset, helping researchers anticipate how microgravity might alter their processes. By tweaking the “gravity knob,” Varda can better design experiments that leverage the unique conditions of space to create novel drug formulations.Future Vision: Monthly Missions and New FrontiersVarda's ultimate goal is to conduct space missions on a regular cadence, with plans to have quarterly launches through 2026 and the potential for monthly missions if the demand arises. Their focus remains on pharmaceuticals, particularly small molecule crystallization and biologics. Varda's platform is designed to make space accessible for drug development, offering new tools to researchers looking to solve problems that Earth's 1G environment cannot.Beyond the immediate applications, Varda's work represents a paradigm shift in how we think about drug development. As Mark pointed out, this technology could enable the creation of entirely new therapeutics that would be impossible under Earth's gravity. It's a thrilling prospect—one that could redefine the future of medicine and bring treatments manufactured in orbit into everyday healthcare.Final ThoughtsVarda's journey is not just about the technology—it's about opening up new possibilities for researchers and patients alike. As someone who grew up during the space age, I never imagined that some day, we could be receiving treatments that were made in space. This is just the beginning, and Varda is leading the way into a new era of drug manufacturing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

I spoke with Brian Thomson, HR consultant and leadership coach, about leadership, hiring, retention, and culture in early-stage life science companies. Brian's practical insights offer a roadmap for building and sustaining a thriving company from the ground up.The Importance of Modeling the Right BehaviorsFrom the beginning, Brian emphasized a key concept: intentionality. In his view, leadership is not just about making the right decisions; it's about being intentional in how you model behaviors and build culture within your organization. This is particularly crucial in the fluid environments of startups, where the pace is fast, and the stakes are high.He pointed out that it's not about whether a particular culture is right or wrong—what matters is that it's intentional and authentic. This intentionality shapes hiring, retention, and performance management, all of which are crucial for the long-term success of a company. He argued that strategic planning should not just be a buzzword but a disciplined practice that informs every decision, from the type of culture you want to build to the kind of people you need to hire.The Rule of Threes: Core Competencies in StartupsBrain has a rule of threes when it comes to what founders of early-stage life science companies need to focus on: disruptive science, a strong core team, and a high degree of intentionality around culture. While it's easy for founders to get fixated on the science—because it's their passion and it's measurable—the other two elements are just as critical.This resonated with me, especially considering how often we see startups with groundbreaking science but no clear direction on how to build a team or a culture that can sustain the business. The science might make headlines, but it's the culture and the team that will drive the long-term success of the company.Strategic Planning: More Than Just a ProcessBrian's sees strategic planning as more than just a process; it's a foundational practice that lends clarity, focus, and discipline to an organization. He mentioned that in his role as a coach, he often works with early-stage organizations to develop a strategic plan that is as concrete as possible. The goal? To ensure that at any given moment, everyone in the organization knows the top priorities.Be very disciplined. Be very focused. Make your plan. Make it as concrete as possible. At any given time, if I go and ask two of your employees, anywhere in the organization, “What are the number one and what's the number one and what's the number two topmost priority that the company has at that moment?”If they can't answer that, it indicates to me that you haven't done a good enough job of being very clear and being very focused. This approach to strategic planning directly feeds into the hiring process. By being clear on the values and culture you want to create, you can ensure that the people you bring into the organization are aligned with those goals. Hiring isn't just about finding people with the right skills; it's about finding people who will thrive in the specific culture and environment of your company.Like what you see?Hiring: An Internal Competency, Not a Task to OutsourceMany startups make a mistake by outsourcing their hiring processes. Hiring is too critical to be left to an external agency, especially in the early stages of a company's development. The first 10 to 15 hires set the tone for the entire organization, and if those hires don't align with the company's culture and values, it will create long-term issues.Brian argued that hiring should be an internal competency, with the leadership team taking an active role in the process. This ensures that everyone who joins the company is fully aware of the environment they're stepping into, whether it's a messy startup with lots of ambiguity or a more structured environment.The Value of Transparency in the Hiring ProcessBrian shared a story from his time as Chief People Officer for a small biotech spinout during the Great Resignation. Despite the mass exodus of employees across industries, his organization navigated that period with zero regrettable turnover and zero R&D turnover. The secret? Radical transparency.From the first conversation with potential hires, Brian and his team were upfront about the realities of the company's environment. This honesty helped attract the right people—those who were excited about rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty—and it also helped filter out those who weren't a good fit. Brian emphasized that transparency in the hiring process not only attracts the right talent but also helps candidates self-select out if the environment isn't right for them.Retention: A Balancing ActWhen it comes to retention, 100 percent retention isn't the goal, nor is it ideal. A little turnover can be a good thing, as it brings in fresh perspectives and prevents complacency. However, the key is to ensure that the turnover is natural and doesn't result in the loss of essential talent.Brian talked about the importance of building a talent engine within the organization—an environment where employees are developed and prepared for their next roles, whether within the company or elsewhere. This approach not only boosts retention but also enhances the company's reputation as a place where people can grow and develop their careers.The Power of a Coaching CultureFinally, we talked about the value of creating a coaching culture within an organization. Brian argued that this is one of the most effective ways to develop talent and increase engagement. Instead of relying on traditional training programs, which can be expensive and often ineffective, he advocates for on-the-job learning and continuous development through coaching.In a coaching culture, managers act as mentors, helping their employees navigate their careers and develop the skills they need to succeed. This not only empowers employees but also creates a more dynamic and engaged workforce. This approach doesn't require a huge budget—it's more about a shift in mindset and behavior.Final Thoughts: Intentionality Is KeyAs we wrapped up our conversation, the theme that kept coming back was intentionality. Whether it's in strategic planning, hiring, or building a coaching culture, being intentional about your decisions and actions is crucial for the success of any startup. The best companies are those that are clear about who they are, what they value, and where they're going.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

When I first heard about hydrosomes, I honestly thought, “That can't be real.” Hydrosomes are microscopic bubbles that stay in water without coalescing and rising to the surface. Then I met Nick Jackowetz, the Senior VP and Principal Scientist and the team from Hydrosome Labs at BIO 2024 in San Diego. They answered my questions and I invited Nick to be a guest on the podcast to share the story with you. Hydrosomes are also known as ultrafine bubbles, and they have incredible potential for many applications. If you've ever wondered how something as seemingly simple as a bubble could revolutionize fields like agriculture, cosmetics, and even fermentation, then this episode is definitely one to tune into.Nick started by breaking down the basics of what makes these ultrafine bubbles so unique. We're talking about bubbles so small that they're measured in nanometers—around the size of a virus particle. To put that into perspective, imagine a champagne bubble, which is already tiny to the naked eye. Now, pack a trillion of these ultrafine bubbles into that single champagne bubble, and you start to grasp just how small we're talking about. It's mind-boggling, right? These bubbles don't even float like the ones we're used to; they stay suspended in solution because they're not governed by the same buoyancy rules. This leads to some pretty wild implications for how they can be used.Even the physics of these bubbles changes at such a small scale. For instance, the pressure inside these bubbles can reach up to 30 atmospheres, which is 30 times the pressure we experience in our everyday environment. This intense pressure doesn't make them pop as you might expect; instead, it opens up new possibilities for gas delivery in various applications. Imagine being able to deliver oxygen directly to cells in a way that's more efficient and targeted than ever before. Because the bubbles have an enormous collective surface area, believed to be charged, the team is looking at how they attract and move nutrients around. While the concept has been around since the 1980s, the science has only really taken off in the last decade. The early research mainly came out of Japan, where these bubbles were first studied in applications like agriculture and aquaculture. It turns out that these tiny bubbles can help grow plants more effectively by delivering nutrients and gases directly to the roots. Are you subscribed yet? If not, let's fix that.I was curious to learn about potential applications. One area that's particularly exciting is their potential in consumer packaged goods, especially in cosmetics. Imagine being able to deliver active ingredients like vitamin C or retinol more effectively into the skin without the need for added chemicals. That's exactly what these ultrafine bubbles can do. By improving how these ingredients penetrate the skin, we could see a new wave of cosmetic products that are not only more effective but also safer for consumers.We didn't stop there. The potential for these bubbles in the beverage industry is another game-changer. Picture your favorite sparkling water, but instead of regular carbonation, the drink is infused with ultrafine bubbles. These tiny bubbles could enhance flavor profiles, reduce the need for added sugars, and even change the overall sensory experience of the drink. Nick mentioned ongoing research into how different gases inside these bubbles—like nitrogen or nitrous oxide—could create new taste sensations and improve the mouthfeel of beverages. The idea that you could enjoy a sweeter taste with less sugar is not just intriguing; it could have significant implications for the health-conscious consumer market.For life sciences, the interesting application is in fermentation processes. These bubbles could play a crucial role in making fermentation more efficient, which is especially important as industries increasingly rely on fermentation not just for food and beverages but also for producing pharmaceuticals, enzymes, and other valuable compounds. The idea that you could boost the growth and productivity of cells in a fermentation tank just by adding these bubbles is something that could have wide-reaching benefits, particularly for biotech companies looking to optimize their production processes without the need for expensive new infrastructure. To be clear, it's not just putting bubbles in the media. The effect, in addition to transporting oxygen, is enhanced by how the hydrosomes attract and transport nutrients.One of the most exciting projects Nick mentioned is a preclinical study on how these bubbles might affect the gut microbiome. Early evidence suggests that drinking water infused with ultrafine bubbles could positively impact gut health, potentially altering the microbiome in ways that benefit overall health. This could lead to a whole new category of wellness products that deliver health benefits just by changing the way water is consumed.Of course, there are still challenges ahead. One of the biggest hurdles is accurately measuring these bubbles, especially as they get smaller. The equipment needed to detect and analyze these tiny bubbles is still catching up with the science, which makes it difficult to fully understand their potential. But as technology advances, we can expect to see more precise tools that will allow scientists like Nick to push the boundaries even further.Whether it's improving the efficiency of fermentation, enhancing the delivery of cosmetic ingredients, or even opening up new frontiers in drug delivery and gut health, ultrafine bubbles are something to keep an eye on. I'm excited to see where this technology goes next, and I hope to have Nick back on the podcast in the future to update us on the latest developments. I'm particularly interested in what RNA analysis might tell us about how gene expression might change in cells grown in hydrosome-infused media. Stay tuned. But for now, enjoy the episode. Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it too. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Issa Kildani is the founder and principal consultant at Ambrosia Ventures. Our conversation centered on his journey from metabolic and cardiovascular research into the consulting world. Even if you are not planning on becoming a consultant, one can learn a lot from his approach to acquiring skills and building relationships with customers.Transitioning from Research to ConsultingYou don't need an MBA to become a consultant. I'm sure it helps in some areas, but there is a lot to be said for rolling up your sleeves and figuring it out. Issa started his career in metabolic and cardiovascular research as a graduate student at Vanderbilt University. He eventually realized while working at startups that his longer-term goal was to help people and companies rather than stay at the bench.Transitioning into consulting requires a diverse skill set, including project management, strategic thinking, and analytical skills. There was a lot to learn but he saw a path to make it happen by being self-driven and inquisitive, eager to learn and explore new areas, one of which was strategic thinking. Strategic ThinkingI'm always interested in what it means to think strategically. Issa shared his experience at a neurofeedback and biofeedback startup in Michigan. Working closely with the CEO, he learned the importance of strategic thinking by understanding different markets and thinking ahead about potential expansions. With multiple opportunities for expansion, how do you choose where to focus? Issa considered what were the emerging markets and where that would put them 5 years down the road. So you want to jump on it just now, you know, like the AI and machine learning, things like that in drug discovery.These are hot topics, but which one is going to take you a lot further in the company and what's your long-term vision? Does it align to your long-term vision? Do you plan on selling five years from now or do you plan on growing to a bigger company? Those are the kind of decisions that play into it and help them align to that strategic goal. Understanding Industry DynamicsBeyond understanding markets, one also needs to understand how the industry works. There are many components to the life science ecosystem. Issa talked about the unique challenges faced by biotech companies, such as funding issues, regulatory hurdles, and clinical trial recruitment problems. In the early stages, refining their pitches and helping them communicate their value more effectively is a key for success. At later stages, the focus might be more on regulatory issues or broader strategic goals. My overall impression is that Issa is very good at talking to potential customers and figuring out in detail what their current challenges are. That is a skill in itself.Building Relationships and Winning BusinessIssa takes a very long approach to building relationships and winning business. He emphasized understanding clients' needs, being genuinely interested in their success, and maintaining long-term relationships. It can take a long time to land a client. Issa's process involves regular check-ins, understanding the client's challenges and milestones, and providing insights so potential clients can understand the value he brings to help them achieve their strategic goals.The Value of MentorshipWe talked about the value of mentorship. He described how his mentor, who was also his boss, played a significant role in his development as a consultant. By being upfront about his desire to learn and improve, Issa received invaluable guidance and feedback that helped him fine-tune his skills. The key thing here was simply to ask. Sometimes this may seem like a bold move. “Can I really ask a senior executive to be my mentor?” (It's not the only way but as an older parent, I can tell you nothing gets your attention faster or makes you feel better than when a young person asks for your advice.)Even if they don't have time to be your mentor, it will put you on their radar as someone who is looking to do more for the company. You can't lose. If you take away nothing else from this message, being curious and asking for advice will take you a long way regardless of your goal. I challenge you to find some one and talk to them this week.Opportunities and Challenges in Smaller Biotech EcosystemsIssa is based in a smaller biotech ecosystem, Ann Arbor, Michigan. While smaller ecosystems may lack the resources and investment opportunities of larger hubs like San Francisco or Boston, they offer a chance for a consultant to make a significant impact. Add to that the possibility of connecting with larger hubs and applying those insights locally, you can make a difference to foster growth and innovation in these emerging ecosystems.The Broader Implications of ConsultingFrom my own experience, the best thing about being a solopreneur or consultant is the opportunity to see what's happening across all of life science. If you are the person who feels that life at the bench is too slow or too narrow, this may be the path for you. I enjoy the feeling of helping others in life science directly. I may not find the cure that affects millions but I get to build relationships and see the value I bring t people I actually know. At the same time, I know they are helping millions.For anyone considering a career in consulting Issa's journey offers valuable lessons. Check out Issa's website and blog for more insights and resources.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

In this episode, I spoke to Cassandra Rix, the owner and chief leadership coach at The Resonance Coach. Our conversation centered around understanding individual motivations and expectations within group efforts, especially in the context of company acquisitions. I think you will find the insights applicable to many situations at work and at home.Cass's Background and ExpertiseCass has spent over 20 years working with businesses either in the process of being acquired or on the tail end of an acquisition. She specializes in service agencies selling expertise and time, such as consultancies and communication specialists. Her focus now is on helping founders looking for investment or seeking an exit strategy, and the businesses interested in investing in them. She believes that many acquisitions fail despite thorough due diligence because the underlying human motivations and behaviors of the individuals involved aren't fully understood.Understanding MotivationsWhile people may outwardly agree on a common goal, such as selling a company, their underlying reasons can be very different. These differences will show up during times of significant change (after the investment or acquisition). Everyone's motivations are influenced by their own personal experiences and beliefs, which drive their decisions and behaviors.Cass's own interest in understanding motivations stems from her background in sales and marketing, where she worked with buyers and wanted to comprehend why people made specific purchasing decisions. Our beliefs drive our behavior, and it's crucial to recognize that we often make assumptions about others' motivations based on our own perspectives. We expect them to act the way we would. I'd like to look deeper into this in future episodes.If you find this helpful, it kind of makes sense to subscribe, doesn't it?The Challenges of AssumptionsIt's risky to assume that everyone's motivations are similar. Cass used the analogy of wearing someone else's shoes – just because you're in their shoes doesn't mean you understand their journey. This is especially relevant in business settings, where assuming that all founders or team members share the same motivations can lead to conflicts and dysfunction.Cass illustrated this with an example of how misaligned expectations can derail an acquisition. For instance, if one founder decides they have enough financial security post-acquisition and leaves, the remaining team dynamics can be severely disrupted:So the things that fall apart there is, well, we all think we've agreed to sell this business or invest, have investment in this business so that we can carry on. What does carry on mean? What if that means that one person has generated enough income in the acquisition process, not to need to stay throughout the earn-out. And suddenly you go from a leadership team or founding team of four to three or three to two. What if the other two people in that business were beautifully balanced by that third individual? And so the relationship that they're left with is dysfunctional. They don't really like each other. They don't know how to communicate with each other. They've never had to without that third person as a foil. And probably the most flawed thing is the assumption that the rest of the business, whether you're talking about another twenty people, fifty people or thousands of people, the assumption that those people don't know.This scenario can lead to conflicts and a decline in business performance, which affects everyone's livelihoods.The Role of Vulnerability and Communication As individuals climb the corporate ladder, they often create personas that might not align with their true selves. This can lead to exhaustion and dissatisfaction, as they try to maintain an identity that doesn't reflect their genuine motivations.Cass said that vulnerability is not a weakness but a strength. When leaders and team members are open about their true motivations and feelings, it fosters understanding and empathy. She shared that when people reveal their authentic selves, it often leads to relief and better teamwork. This openness can help teams navigate change more effectively, as everyone understands each other's perspectives and can support one another.Practical Implications and Real-World ExamplesCass pointed out how small habits and cultural norms, such as which hand you use to hold a fork, can shape our perspectives and lead to emotional attachments about how things should be done. If we feel that strongly about cutlery, imagine the intensity of our feelings about approaches to business where the stakes are much higher. Translating this to business settings, she explained how deeply ingrained beliefs about success and behavior can affect decision-making and team dynamics. Differing motivations for making money can lead to misunderstandings. Some people might want to make money to retire early and spend time with family, while others aim to leave a legacy or achieve a prestigious position. These differing goals and expectations can create friction if not openly discussed and understood. Whether you are the acquiring/investing company or the company being invested in, understanding these things can make a huge difference in your long-term happiness (money, legacy…).The Courage to Be DislikedOur conversation concluded with a serious reflection on the importance of self-awareness and the courage to be true to oneself. Cass recommended the book "The Courage to Be Disliked," which explores the concept that what others think of us often reflects their own beliefs and insecurities. She encouraged leaders and individuals to focus on their own motivations and well-being rather than constantly worrying about others' opinions.Her final thought: "The most liberating two words in the English language are 'let them...'" Letting go of the need for external validation and embracing one's true self can lead to greater fulfillment and success, both personally and professionally.Let them.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

In my recent conversation with Larry Kaplow, we talked about brand strategy in the life sciences, why, when and how.Defining Brand StrategyWe kicked off the discussion with Larry describing the danger of not having a strategy. In a world overloaded with information, a brand has to cut through the noise and make its value clear. Even if a company has groundbreaking technology, it's easy to be overlooked if the brand strategy isn't aligned with the audience's needs. People—whether researchers, investors, healthcare professionals, or patients—are primarily concerned with their own interests.A brand is the sum of all associations that audiences have about a company. This definition, which he credited to Uli Applebaum, highlights that every touchpoint, from sales calls to investor decks, contributes to building these associations. As a result, a deliberate and intentional strategy is crucial for creating consistent and meaningful connections with the audience.Simplifying the Brand MessageLarry argued that while nuances might change, the core brand message should remain consistent. He likened it to owning a space in the audience's mind—when they think of your company, they should think of one defining characteristic. This consistency makes it easier for the audience to remember and relate to the brand.Here is a real-world example. Thermo Fisher faced the challenge of convincing diverse audiences to switch from traditional methods to mass spectrometry in toxicology. By identifying two primary audience groups—those looking to grow their business and those pushing the boundaries of research—they could tailor their brand message to resonate broadly. This approach allowed them to lead with a brand-focused message about pushing toxicology forward, which connected with all their target audiences. It took doing some homework to get there. This involves understanding the audience's motivations, barriers, and pain points. Larry shared another example from a different company in the medication management space in hospitals. The initial tech-focused message wasn't resonating. Hospitals were resistant to new technology because new tech often means a lot of work. By shifting the narrative to focus on patient and hospital safety, they aligned their message with what was truly important to their audience. This not only made the brand message more relevant but also helped position the technology with respect to existing budgets for safety initiatives.Personality Archetypes for Commoditized ProductsBrand personality archetypes can differentiate a company in a commoditized market by mirroring what's important to them or by representing something they aspire to be. For instance, McDonald's uses the "Innocent" archetype, creating a sense of happiness and nostalgia. In contrast, Burger King has struggled with consistency, resulting in a less impactful brand presence. As I look at it, BK is focused on the burger, McDonald's is focused on the experience.Crafting a Long-Term Brand Vision for InvestorsIf we think about smaller biotech firms, even prior to commercialization, crafting a long-term brand vision is crucial, especially when communicating with investors. Larry noted that investors are people too, influenced by compelling narratives. Investors looking for long-term returns want to see a cohesive brand strategy that promises sustainable growth and market relevance. A strong brand story in the investor deck can be as important as the technical details. The other lesson here is knowing what kind of investor you have or are looking for.Brand Architecture - Balancing Messages Across Different LevelsWe wrapped up the conversation by discussing how to balance messages across different levels—company brand, technology, and specific applications. Larry differentiated between brand architecture and communication structure. Brand architecture involves categorizing and integrating different brands, especially post-acquisitions, whereas communication structure focuses on maintaining a consistent brand story across various touchpoints.He highlighted the importance of having a comprehensive brand position that can be communicated at all levels, from the high-level mission and vision to the detailed technical aspects. This consistency not only strengthens the brand but also adds credibility and value over the long term.Final ThoughtsLarry's insights were a masterclass in brand strategy, particularly for the life sciences sector. His emphasis on consistency, relevance, and the importance of doing the homework provides a clear roadmap for any company looking to strengthen its brand. For me, the takeaway was clear: a well-defined and consistently communicated brand strategy is essential for cutting through the noise and making a lasting impact. And for those in the biotech space, understanding and addressing the needs of all your audiences, including investors, is key to building a strong, sustainable brand.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

At BIO2024, I spoke Sam Clark, CEO and founder of Terran Biosciences, about their development of new long-duration dosage forms for the treatment of schizophrenia . We discussed the development of prodrugs, the potential of psychedelics, and the journey of founding a biotech company. The Genesis of Terran BiosciencesSam's journey into biotech was personal. Growing up around friends and family members with severe mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and Alzheimer's disease, he saw the limitations of existing treatments. Through his studies at MIT and Columbia, he recognized the slow pace of development and the significant side effects of available medications. Existing treatments for mental illnesses have many unpleasant side effects from cause weight gain to Parkinsonian symptoms and hormonal disruptions. All of that led to his decision to found Terran Biosciences hoping to transform the standard of care.Terran's PipelineTerran's lead asset, TerXT, is a novel combination of prodrugs of xanomeline and trospium, compounds that have been around for a long time, but with less than ideal pharmacokinetics. They also have Idazoxan XR, an adjunctive treatment for schizophrenia, and several new forms of psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA with differentiated pharmacokinetics aimed at making these treatments more accessible and affordable.Sam explained the significance of prodrugs in their approach. Unlike simple reformulations, prodrugs are entirely new compounds created by attaching a side chain to the original molecule. This attachment improves pharmacokinetics, allowing for more effective absorption and longer-lasting effects. For example, the older compounds xanomeline and trospium, which need to be taken twice daily, have been modified into prodrugs that can be administered once daily or as long-acting injectables with multi-month durations. This innovation not only simplifies the regimen for patients but also leverages the FDA's accelerated 505(b)(2) pathway, potentially bringing these new treatments to market faster.Overcoming Development ChallengesCreating effective prodrugs is no small task. Sam described the extensive process, involving a team of world experts and over 200 FTE chemists working tirelessly. They designed over 10,000 prodrugs, synthesized 700, and conducted 500 preclinical studies to refine their approach. This massive undertaking, though challenging, has led to promising results.Are you subscribed yet? If not, let's fix that.The Potential of PsychedelicsI also wanted to explore psychedelics, a field that has generated significant interest in recent years. Terran is developing new forms of MDMA, psilocybin, and 5-MeO-DMT, aiming to improve their pharmacokinetics and make these treatments more accessible. Sam highlighted MDMA's potential, currently under FDA review for treating PTSD, with a decision expected soon. (Right after we spoke, the FDA advisory panel recommended rejecting approval for MDMA. The decision has not been made yet.) By creating new forms and leveraging the 505(b)(2) pathway, Terran aims to overcome patent barriers and ensure these treatments are affordable.Insights into Brain FunctionI am particularly curious about anything we can learn about neurobiology from studies around these therapeutic compounds and psychedelics. Here is the challenge: Psychedelics, for example, act on multiple receptors. Teasing out different pathways in the brain is complicated. Functional MRI studies of people undergoing psychedelic trips show reproducible changes in brain pathways, suggesting potential mechanisms but the circuitry is complicated. There are no simple answers yet.The Journey of a First-Time FounderI asked Sam about his experience as a first-time founder. Terran's success is in large part due to its corporate structure, modeled after fast-moving Silicon Valley companies. By avoiding traditional hierarchical structures and instead utilizing a flat organization with world experts leading sub-teams, Terran has managed to solve complex problems efficiently.Team building has been essential to Terran's achievements. Sam's approach involves creating specialized teams for different facets of a problem, ensuring a comprehensive and collaborative effort. “Workflows” for the WinI have seen a pattern in several interviews recently. Changing a process can have as big of an effect on solving a problem (and creating success for a company) as developing a new product. In this case, it's a bit of both. The problem being solved by TerXT is the patient regimen. Prodrugs with longer-duration pharmacokinetics make adherence easier for the patient. At the same time, I appreciate the enormous amount of development effort that went into creating those prodrugs. A different approach to assembling teams and managing them is also a significant change in the workflow that will have an impact.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it too. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

In this episode, recorded at BIO2024 in San Diego, I had the pleasure of speaking with Martin Brenner, the CEO and CSO of iBio. Our focus was the challenges and innovations in developing antibody-based therapeutics, particularly through their AI-driven discovery platform. Martin shared his insights into the current landscape and future directions of antibody therapies, touching on key aspects such as target selection, engineering challenges, and the role of AI in optimizing therapeutic antibodies.The Challenges of Developing Antibody TherapiesAntibodies have revolutionized therapeutic approaches over the past two decades, with numerous successful drugs already approved. However, as Martin pointed out, we've now picked much of the low-hanging fruit. The target space is becoming increasingly complex, with most approved antibodies focusing on a small set of targets. For instance, about 40% of all approved antibodies target PD-1. While anyone can now develop a PD-1 antibody, the real challenge lies in identifying and effectively targeting novel, more complex antigens.Another significant challenge Martin highlighted is improving the safety and therapeutic window of antibodies. Highly potent antibodies, particularly in oncology, can cause severe side effects. Enhancing the safety profile while maintaining efficacy is a critical area of ongoing research.Potency vs. Therapeutic EffectivenessIt turns out that the best-binding antibody isn't always the most effective therapeutic. For example, in bispecific molecules, where one arm binds to a tumor cell and the other to an immune cell, the tightest binding isn't always ideal. Overstimulation can lead to cytokine release and toxicity. Instead, finding the right balance in binding characteristics is crucial to avoid adverse effects.Traditionally, the goal was to find an antibody that binds quickly and stays bound indefinitely. However, this might not always be the best approach. Understanding on and off rates of antibodies is important for delivering the desired response. Novel technologies now allow us to screen for these characteristics early, optimizing therapeutic effectiveness and safety.Are you subscribed yet? If not, let's fix that.iBio's AI-Driven PlatformiBio focuses on generating small, high-dimensional data sets to train their models. Their technology starts with an epitope steering engine, which creates engineered epitopes that precisely reflect the surface of target proteins. This innovative approach allows for targeted antibody development, even against challenging targets.For example, iBio can create PD-1 agonists that activate receptors instead of merely blocking them. This capability opens up a new realm of possibilities in antibody therapies, particularly for complex and hard-to-target proteins.Discovering New Biology Through TargetingOne of the most exciting parts of our conversation was discussing how iBio's platform not only targets known regions of proteins but also helps uncover new biological functions. By addressing the entire protein surface with engineered epitopes and screening them, iBio can identify antibodies that reveal new aspects of a protein's role. This approach not only enhances therapeutic development but also contributes to our broader understanding of biology.Smart Antibodies and MaskingMartin explained their concept of smart antibodies, which are designed to be inactive until they reach the disease tissue, like a pro-drug. This masking technique, particularly useful in tumor biology, involves connecting a mask to the antibody with a linker that is cleaved off by enzymes in the tumor environment. This method allows for higher precision in targeting and reduces side effects by ensuring the antibody is only active in the intended tissue.For example, targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can be problematic due to its expression in the skin, leading to side effects. Using a masking approach, iBio can target EGFR in tumors while minimizing impact on the skin, potentially allowing for higher dosing and improved efficacy.Optimization and Rapid DevelopmentiBio's approach to optimization sets them apart. Traditional methods like phage display create large libraries of molecules but require significant time to identify and develop drug-like characteristics. In contrast, iBio uses machine learning to create localized diversity in a smaller, more manageable library. This method mimics the diversity of large libraries while maintaining high developability, drastically reducing optimization time from months to weeks.Focus Areas and Future DirectionsI asked Martin about what areas they are focused on with their pipeline. iBio is currently focusing on cardiometabolic and immuno-oncology areas. Their preclinical pipeline includes promising targets in immuno-oncology, with plans to partner these developments strategically. Additionally, Martin's background in diabetes and obesity research has driven their pivot into cardiometabolic diseases, aiming to develop drugs for those indications that avoid muscle and bone loss, crucial for the aging population.Other molecules, single chain antibodies from sharks or human heavy chain alone may eventually form the basis of new therapies for more complex targets.For me, the attraction of this approach is the broader look at the target molecules to survey all the possibilities beyond developing a small molecule that fits in a binding site and the benefit of everything we learn about biology that may lead to new discoveries in the future.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it also. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

In this episode of CC Life Science, I had the pleasure of hosting Neil Spooner, the founder and chair of the Patient-Centric Sampling Interest Group (PCSIG). Neil shared his insights into patient-centric sampling and its potential to revolutionize healthcare and clinical trials.Introduction to Patient-Centric SamplingNeil began by explaining the concept of patient-centric sampling, which prioritizes the patient's needs over traditional methods that often inconvenience them. Traditional methods like venous phlebotomy or standard urine collection are designed with the analytical labs, clinicians, and logistical chains in mind rather than the patients. For patients, that means they have to have to take time out of their day, possibly missing work or school, to visit a clinic for sampling.This is an added burden for patients, particularly those with chronic conditions requiring frequent testing. I shared the example of a family member, who had leukemia and needed to visit the hospital twice a week for tests. This was a significant strain not only on her but also on family members. Neil explained that patient-centric sampling offers a more convenient alternative, allowing samples to be collected at a time and place that suits the patient, whether at home or any other location.Benefits for Clinical Trials and HealthcareI was curious about what this approach would mean for clinical trials and healthcare. Neil pointed out that easier and more flexible sampling methods could improve patient recruitment and retention in clinical trials. It could also help gather data that is currently difficult to obtain, such as samples taken during a clinical event like a migraine. This approach not only enhances data collection but also broadens the patient pool to include those who might otherwise find it difficult to participate due to geographical or physical constraints.Current Research and Stakeholder EngagementBring this concept to life isn't just about workflows and analytical science. Marketing plays a big role as well. And I don't just mean promotion. I mean understanding the needs of everyone involved. Neil explained that the PCSIG is actively engaging with various stakeholders to understand their concerns and benefits regarding patient-centric sampling. They are doing market research to identify key stakeholders in different use cases, such as clinical trials, therapeutic drug monitoring, diagnostics, and drug testing in sports. By having conversations with these groups, PCSIG aims to educate and address their concerns while identifying potential benefits and gaps in the current system.Addressing the Resistance to ChangeOne of the significant challenges discussed was the resistance to change within the healthcare and clinical trial sectors. Neil ponted out the importance of finding passionate individuals within organizations who can champion the adoption of new sampling methods. These individuals need the support of their superiors and a network of like-minded professionals to overcome the inevitable hurdles that come with implementing new technologies.Are you subscribed yet? If not, can we fix that?Technological and Logistical InnovationsWe spent a little bit of time discussing sample formats and logistics. Currently labs doing routine analyses operate large analyzers that are set up for huge volumes of a standard set of tubes. Neil provided insights into the technological and logistical innovations required for patient-centric sampling. He mentioned various devices that can collect blood samples through finger pricks or from other body parts like the arm or thigh, often producing dried samples that can be mailed to labs. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the feasibility of such home-based testing, showing that logistical systems can adapt to handle new sampling methods.Impact on Drug Testing in SportsI was surprised to hear about the application of patient-centric sampling in drug testing for sports. Chain of custody is crucial here to ensure the integrity of the samples. Neil explained that while athletes would still need to be witnessed during sample collection, blood sampling could be a more comfortable and less invasive (in terms of witnessing) option compared to urine sampling. Ultimately it's likely to be complementary to urine testing. It does bring benefits for the athlete. It can make ongoing monitoring more practical for providing valuable data for athletes' training and health.Sponsorship and Future PlansFinally, we touched on the PCSIG's funding and sponsorship. Neil explained that the organization aims to keep sponsorship levels low to encourage broad participation, including startups and companies from less affluent regions ensuring that no one sponsor has outsized influence on the direction of the group. Sponsors benefit from visibility on PCSIG's platforms and involvement in the sponsors' advisory group, which helps shape the group's activities. Sponsors recently voted on nine proposed activities, and the top two priorities would soon be announced.Reducing the burden on patients needing frequent testing alone makes this effort worthwhile in my opinion. The benefits for recruitment and retention in clinical trials and drug/health monitoring in sports are icing on the cake.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it also. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

David Ormesher, the CEO of CGLife, and I had a conversation about communicating science broadly to the public and within the scientific community. David went immediately to the power of storytelling in making science approachable. He highlighted the hero's journey, the narrative arc used in literature and film, as a powerful tool to engage various audiences, whether they are scientists, physicians, patients, or the general public.That narrative of the hero's journey applies to patients and caregivers as well as scientist looking for breakthroughs. Not only can it help demystify science but it can also create emotional connections that make complex scientific concepts more relatable and engaging for the general public.I think it's important for society to understand and appreciate the work of scientists as well as understand how science is done especially when the details might not seem immediately relevant to them. By highlighting the human element and the persistence required in scientific exploration, we can help the public understand that scientists are ordinary people with an extraordinary commitment to solving complex problems. This can shift the public perception from seeing science as something inaccessible to recognizing it as a collective effort aimed at improving lives as well as simply appreciating the universe we live in.What does this mean for life science marketers? David gave us a complete primer on the journey of a new medical product from inception to market launch. I was roughly aware of the roles various teams play in bringing a new drug to market. He covered the spectrum and filled in the details for me. Market insight, brand development, and market shaping involves understanding the needs of both physicians and patients, conducting extensive research, and building awareness through unbranded communications. As has come up several times over the years on this podcast, the importance of early engagement with healthcare professionals and patients before a product is approved can not be overstated. It helps ensure that by the time a drug is approved, there is demand and a well-informed audience.It's that ability to personalize content that is also key. And this is where not only the agencies of the future that we need to help shepherd these products from clinical development through approval, launch and growth, they need to understand the science. They also need to understand that digital component of targeting, segmentation, (and) personalization. Data and analytics play a critical role in this process. By capturing and analyzing data from the early stages, companies can refine their marketing strategies, personalize content, and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. This data-driven approach ensures that the communication is relevant and impactful, reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time.One aspect I found particularly interesting was the preparation for day zero – the day the FDA approves a new drug. David described having all the marketing materials ready, including a “day one” website and direct email marketing. At the same time, a launch team needs to be prepared to very quickly make any changes required for labeling, etc. when the approval comes along. Finally, we touched on the challenges of educating physicians about the latest medical advancements. For a doctor who completed medical school 20 years ago, and has been seeing patients all day every day, keeping up to date is near impossible. Highly targeted communications including bite-sized, relevant, and easily accessible content, such as short video interviews and 3D animations can help physicians keep up with the latest developments. As marketers, there is plenty of work to be done to keep both the public and people in the healthcare sector educated on the value of the science being done, ultimately helping patients find the treatments they need.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

I kept hearing about the use of organoids in clinical trials and elsewhere and was curious to know more. Luckily, I connected with Samantha Nicholson, the Global Technical Marketing Manager for Cell Culture at Millipore Sigma. She has a very cool job. Samantha is a hub, as she calls it, bringing together scientists to make progress in this exciting new area of research. She described her role, the applications of organoids, and their implications for future scientific research and healthcare.Organoids, as Samantha explained, are critical in basic research like organogenesis and developmental biology, offering insights into organ functions and disease modeling. Beyond that, their utility spans from drug discovery, where they aid in understanding drug effects and disease development, to pharmacogenetics and even regenerative medicine, potentially leading to breakthroughs like synthetic organs or alternative meat production.Organoids are not just a mix of cells from a particular organ, they mimic the structure and function of the organ itself. She gave the example of a colon and an organoid having a mucosal layer, an absorptive layer, and a muscle layer , derived from a specific subset of adult stem cells. This allows them to model diseases and organ functions more accurately than traditional 2D cell cultures.Perhaps most interesting is how organoids can significantly improve the inclusivity and diversity of clinical trials. Historically, clinical trials have suffered from a lack of diversity, often excluding women and other demographic groups. Organoids can be developed from tissue samples from diverse populations worldwide, allowing for a broader understanding of how diseases and treatments affect different demographic groups without the ethical and logistical complexities of human trials.We'll also be able to do patient stratification. So we're able to look at specific metabolic profiles or racial profiles or genetic mutational landscapes and thentest those drugs in those patients as a stratified process.So we can compare female and male, Caucasian versus African versus Middle Eastern, for example. And we can also start to develop patient-specific models. So we can take, for example, someone who has hereditary cholesterol and compare it to somebody who has developed cholesterol. And what does that mutational profile, differences in that mutational profile, what does that mean for those people?Are you subscribed yet? If not, can we fix that?As someone whose last job in a lab was studying host pathogen interactions, I got pretty excited when she told me about the applications in this area. Organoids may fill the goldilocks region between expensive experiments in small animals like mice and the limitations of 2D cell cultures with representing a single cell type. I could have used this 25 years ago!We briefly dove into process of creating organoids, starting from the isolation of stem cells from a tissue biopsy or through induced pluripotent stem cells. This involves cultivating these cells in specialized media to promote growth and differentiation, mimicking the natural growth environment of cells within the human body.Despite the promising applications, there are challenges in organoid technology concerning the variability and reproducibility of organoids. The size and shape of organoids can vary, which complicates their use in high-throughput screenings and other standardized tests. Achieving full functionality and maturation of organoids remains a hurdle, as they often lack certain cell types found in natural organs, such as immune or endothelial cells.When I asked her what is next in the world of organoids, Samantha was optimistic about their potential to democratize drug development and reduce reliance on animal models. She believes that advancing organoid technology could lead to more personalized and effective treatments, enhancing the inclusivity and ethical standards of biomedical research.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it also. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

By now, I imagine most of you have interacted with ChatGPT in some way. You can use it to summarize a document, brainstorm a campaign or plan a vacation away from technology. The capabilities are mind-boggling and the BS (if you detect it) is amusing. All that aside, how can you use an internal vertical GPT to serve your customers? I spoke to Ian Birkby, CEO of AZONetwork about Azthena, the internal vertical GPT they built as an AI assistant deployed on their various websites to help users find relevant news and product information. If you are not familiar with AZONetwork, Chat GPT describes them like this: The AZoNetwork is a company that specializes in digital marketing and content solutions within the science, healthcare, and technology sectors. They provide a range of services aimed at connecting scientific, medical, and technology communities globally. These services include content creation, marketing strategies, and communication solutions designed to disseminate knowledge and promote products through various online platforms. AZoNetwork operates several websites that publish articles, news, and resources relevant to professionals in these fields, helping them to stay informed about the latest developments and technologies. As a media and marketing company, AZONetwork has a lot of content, over a million assets, by Ian's estimate. This is the content was used to train Azthena to to answer users queries.The value of this type of GPT is that the data it has been trained on has been reviewed and vetted by humans in the course of publication over many years. The same can't be said for everything one finds on the internet, some of which ends up in the answers to your ChatGPT queries, not to mention outright hallucinations.General LLMs, if I'm going to exaggerate, are a mile wide and a few inches deep. We're trying to be, you know, maybe 12 inches wide, but three foot deep… - Ian BirkbyAzthena took nine months to build. That was impressive to me given that includes putting some structure around all of their content.The quality of the output should enhance the customer experience by providing specific answers to queries along with relevant references.If you find this helpful, it kind of makes sense to subscribe, doesn't it?Ian and I discussed what this will mean for companies, buyers and human creativity broadly.External GPTs trained on the same broad collections of data may all end up homogenized. How will you differentiate your company to be a source of unique and valuable (essential) information? Building your own specialized GPT is one possible answer.We agreed that the buyer's journey will change. Once people adapt to the new approach (this will take some time but too much), they'll expect to find answers and recommended next steps regarding what to look for or look at along the way to a purchase. No more clicking through multiple links hoping to find the best information. As I write that last sentence, I'm stunned at how quickly we are spoiled by new technologies. I'm old enough to remember mailing away to get a catalog or brochure from one vendor! If you are a marketer, you should be thinking about what comes next.In reaction to this change, big information providers e.g. The Guardian, etc. are blocking crawlers from sucking up their information. Models built on search might also change. Will we have to pay for things that were free for the last 20 years?Finally, I asked Ian about the future of human creativity.…emotional intelligence… that's definitely an area where, you know, the human has still got a role I think, in that, very pure form of creativity… seeing what nobody else has seen before and thinking something different. You know, that I still think there's mileage in, in humans having a role to play there. However, there's probably 80 percent of the drudgery-related tasks that we all face that are going to end up sitting on the desk of AI.But for those routine tasks, the efficiencies will be too attractive to pass up. The next question is where is the line that makes a task routine?Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Could bacteriophage be an alternative to antibiotics for Group B Strep (GBS) in pregnant women? GBS is a commensal bacteria, found harmlessly in the gut of some people. But it is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause significant disease - sepsis, meningitis, lung injury and bacteremia - in newborns exposed to it in the vaginal tract during birth, for example. Lucy Furfaro is an Emerging Leadership Fellow at the University of Western Australia in Perth. I spoke to her about her research in this area, how she became interested in the microbiology of newborns and their mothers, and the advantages of living in the most remote city on Earth.Lucy works at the King Edward Memorial Hospital, the referral center for all of Western Australia which covers an area approximately equal to the US west of the Rocky Mountains.What makes the hospital unique is that it hosts The Raine Study, the world's oldest prospective birth cohort, which has been collecting ongoing health data on mothers and their babies for 35 years. Preventing infection of newborns is done differently depending on where you are. The standard in Australia and the US is universal screening, typically a swab test. Expectant mothers testing positive for GBS in the vaginal tract (about 1 in 4) are given antibiotics pre-emptively. The UK and New Zealand take a risk-based approach (e.g., a history of infection) to determine who gets the antibiotic. While antibiotic resistance is not an issue of concern in GBS yet, we know that eventually it can be. Also of interest is what antibiotics do to the microbiome of moms and their babies. These concerns lead to the consideration of phage as a possible targeted therapy for GBS. At least a few challenges, both scientific and regulatory, remain to be solved.Are you subscribed yet? If not, can we fix that?Bacteriophage or simply phage are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. They are typically specific to a single type or closely related bacteria. Some are obligately lytic phages that infect a bacterium, replicate inside, lyse the cell and move on to the next bacterium. Others can hedge their bet, taking either the lytic pathway or occasionally integrating their DNA into the DNA of the host bacteria. These temperate phage might later be induced to lyse their host cells and move on. Ideally, phages chosen for antimicrobial therapies are of the lytic variety. But every phage found to infect Group B Strep so far is a temperate phage. That is either a sampling problem or an interesting biological question of why that is so.Beyond the biology are the regulatory questions. Are phage biologicals? They aren't alive. However, neither is an engineered antibody, which is subject to a lot of analysis to confirm its identity. One possible solution is to avoid using intact phage particles. It involves the engineering of phage lysins, the enzymes that disrupt bacterial cell walls and membranes. These might be delivered in a topical cream to prevent infection at birth avoiding broad spectrum antibiotic resistance and causing minimal disruption to the maternal microbiome.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it also. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

When I'm eating blueberries from Chile here in California, I assume that they arrived by air after being picked a couple of days ago. That isn't necessarily true. Delivery by sea could take weeks from the time they are picked by the grower until they arrive on the shelf at my local grocery store.In this episode, I talked to Tristan Kaye, Director of Global Marketing and Business Development at It's Fresh about the challenges of shipping fresh produce across the planet while avoiding waste and spoilage. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, up to 45 percent of all fresh produce grown is never consumed. For two reasons. One is food loss. So this is through poor infrastructure, lack of appropriate cold chain, mishandling these sorts of things, or food waste. Another significant challenge in the supply chain is controlling the levels of ethylene, which is a signaling molecule produced in plants for many things, including maturation and ripening. And it doesn't take much to have an impact on fruit during shipping. …kiwi fruit can be sensitive down to four or five parts per billion. So to give that a sort of sense of context, a billion seconds is about 33 years. So it's lik if you're looking for ethylene in kiwifruit, that is the equivalent of trying to find five seconds of a 33-yearr period… But it fundamentally affects all of the elements in terms of the fruit and many vegetables that are developed.It's Fresh offers an interesting solution to this challenge. We didn't go deep into the chemistry of their ethylene control technology. It allows growers to pick fruit a little early and allow it to ripen slowly so that, ideally, it shows up on our local shelves ready to be consumed. Our conversation focused on all the other aspects of the supply chain that illustrate the challenge of getting fruit to market in a condition that consumers expect regardless of where they were grown:Growers get paid based on what arrives at the destination. They must decide when to harvest their fruit at some interval before ripening, yet they have no control over much of what happens or how long it takes before fruit arrives.Market pricing and seasonal demand influence the decision of whether to ship by air or sea.There can be tremendous uncertainties around the time spent in a warehouse at either end. Even shipping routes are facing uncertainty as there is a restriction on what can go through the Panama Canal due to a drought that has Lake Gatun at record low levels. Ships may have to wait in an anchorage at the canal, deliver some containers elsewhere or go around the tip of South America. Conflict near the Suez Canal, or the inability to access the Port of Baltimore might also be a factor right now.Damaged fruit produces ethylene as a stress response. To top it all off, there is ethylene in the exhaust of internal combustion engines. Warehouses that store fruit may use electric machinery like forklifts, but imagine the challenge of keeping motor exhaust out of your entire supply chain.The next time you grab a handful of blueberries grown out of season in the other hemisphere, give a thought to all the considerations and decisions that help preserve them from the moment of harvest to the moment you enjoy them.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it also. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

If you have a PhD in life science, are working toward one, or just considering it with an eye toward getting an academic job, the math is not in your favor. There are way more PhDs than the number of academic slots available. How that gets resolved with respect to your career was the core of my discussion with Ali Divan, Founder of Trulitica, where he is helping life science PhDs get into biotech. Don't miss the SPECIAL OFFER at the bottom of this post.For many, there is a mismatch between expectations of what a career in life science might look like and where you end up working. But it's not all bad. There are good jobs to be had. Just maybe not the ones you expected. Ali's job is helping folks reframe their skills (and conversations) to open up new opportunities.A math problemOur discussion covered the challenge from several angles. PIs need to generate publications. Historically, that has been done in the process of training scientists who then go on to train more scientists in their own quest for publications.This has led to an oversupply of scientists looking for academic jobs. Entering graduate school now betting on an uncertain outcome eight years down the road (generously) is risky. But should you give up your dreams of doing science? No. The system is definitely ripe for change. At the same time, it's important to be open to new possibilities. That's good advice for anyone looking eight years ahead.We don't really walk in and go, “Yeah, I'm, I'm going to do some career planning. I'm going to figure out what I'm going to do.” Most of us, we go, “Hey, I'm pretty good at school. I should keep doing it.”Universities need to changeCheck out Ali's article at the end of this post for details. Ali says some of them are aware:What I've seen when I started speaking to the deans of graduate schools at universities, they're very well aware of this. And a lot of them, what they say is, “You know, I think we just need to be a little bit more responsible at the time that graduate students are applying and beginning.We need to tell them what they're signing up for and what the landscape is” so that they don't show up thinking, as I thought, that if you just show up and be excellent and try hard enough, that's enough because (for) everything up to that point in your life, that was enough.The other challenge for PhD graduates is that university career centers are set up for undergrads. For a new PhD, your PI and whatever network you have created through conferences, your committee etc. is your career center. The problem is that the only job they can likely help you get is one that looks exactly like theirs. Because of the bottleneck or for other reasons, some people will decide to leave academia. But their training (they're 30+ years old now) has not prepared them. The rest is up to youHow do you build a good life as a scientist? Isn't that the real goal? Do good science, make discoveries, solve problems and enjoy all the other things life has to offer?What should you do if you had planned on a career as academic scientist and now need to look elsewhere? And how do you make that transition? How do you frame the skills you have in a way that's relevant for employers? Here's the good news: Ali says most of what you need is around strategy and communication, not hard skills. You're only a few months away from being ready.The way that I help them is we first start out by sort of dismantling some of the practices that are that are so common and valued in academia. And so, as an example, in academia, it's highly valued to debate.It's highly valued to ask anytime you feel like you have a question or an argument. You just, you put it out. What I generally say is, well, in the industrial setting, when you don't have time, you have to have a very good reason for meetings. It's much more valuable to listen…That's just one example of the difference you might find in industry.Focus on skills as opposed to topicsYou must realize that the people who will be hiring you probably don't have a problem that your dissertation will solve. They have problems that require similar skills. Talk about those.The first step is networking. Ali also gives some great recommendations here. I could go on forever about this because there is good networking and bad networking. I'm sure I have been an instigator and a recipient of both types. No one enjoys it until they really understand it. But it doesn't have to be uncomfortable. Be human. Build a relationship and don't be in a rush to hand someone your resume. This is a valuable skill worth developing for the long haul. You had a long view when you started grad school didn't you? I'd add that getting good at making conversation with anyone, is not only a good skill to have, it actually will bring you joy. I like what Ali said here: …so if somebody says something nice to you, and they're sincere, and they say, “Oh, hey, it looks like we also both study at this university, or I see you're a fellow immunologist… You know, my default answer, when I don't know anything, is cytokines. That'd make them laugh and they'll go, okay, who is this, who is this guy?My own perspectiveI find this whole topic fascinating. I went to graduate school because I didn't look around enough to see the opportunities a bachelor's degree would give me. I thought, “Who's going to hire me?” My undergrad advisor founded a biotech with some of my other professors. I didn't even ask them for fear of being laughed at. They wouldn't have. It took me too long to realize that I wasn't cut out for the bench. I feel fortunate to have eventually found positions using what I had learned that were scientifically stimulating, fun and rewarding. Personally, I enjoy a broader view of cutting-edge science as opposed to chasing a single thread to the end in the hope of a significant discovery. I also hope that the life science ecosystem (universities, funding agencies etc.) can evolve to help people find their path more quickly while maintaining the pipeline of PhD scientists we need to do basic research. Because beyond the bench, we need more science and appreciation of science in our communities. There are so many ways to use your scientific knowledge and skills. I promise that there is a job out there that you will enjoy. I only wish I had met Ali thirty-five years ago.SAVE 10% on the Trulitica Biotech Careers Course (Affiliate link valid until 5pm PST, April 30, 2024.) Use Code: LIFESCIENCEAnd if you're in a hurry, you can hire Ali to work with you at Trulitica.How universities can prepare Ph.D.s for a changing job market.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it also. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Reduce. Refine. Replace. These are the three Rs of animal research. The intent is to reduce the number of animals used, refine methods to be efficient and humane and replace animals with other models where possible.This cc: Life Science episode is sponsored content, courtesy of MediLumine.I talked to Stephen Marchant, Founder and CEO of MediLumine about the importance of animal research, how imaging in small animals is different from humans and innovations that support the 3Rs of laboratory animal sciences.    While the FDA no longer requires the testing of all new drugs in animal models prior to clinical trials, for some drugs, the requirement may stand. Animal research has been essential for many advances in human health and will surely remain relevant in the quest to discover new treatments in the future.As compassionate beings, we want to help our fellow humans whenever possible. When a child has cancer or a mother with a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's tells her children that at some point she may not recognize them (or they her), no options will be left unexplored to look for and find solutions and those options likely include some research using animal models to better understand disease. The animal technicians and scientists working in laboratory animal sciences have a passion for developing therapies and treatments for human disease but also for taking care of animals. For those interested to know more, Stephen recommends the GetReal Podcast by Dr Cindy Buckmaster to truly appreciate the reality of this and what it is like to work with laboratory animals in the life sciences.In vivo imaging is used to better understand disease progression or response to treatment, and it is one aspect of research that isn't likely to be replaced soon. The development of novel contrast agents allows scientists to visualize structures such as tumors or vasculature much deeper in the organism thus precluding the use of visual inspections and use of a caliper to measure tumor size. This breakthrough is built in to MediLumine's tag line ‘Vision without Sacrifice'.      Imaging structures in a mouse, whether by MRI or PET scan is very different from imaging in humans. The structures are (obviously) much smaller. What I hadn't realized previously is how the small size requires longer measurements to get the desired resolution. Typical contrast agents like CT contrast agents used in the clinic are rapidly cleared making it more difficult for small animal micro-CT systems to generate high resolution images with these contrast agents. Stephen explained how the development of contrast agents like Fenestra HDVC, allows improved imaging of mouse organs with in vivo micro-computed tomography (CT).Depending on the goal of an experiment, modalities like MRI or CT can provide good resolution which allows researchers to calculate, for example, the volume of an object such as a tumor. Other modalities, such as optical imaging, are preferred when sensitivity is important. Bioluminescent reporters can sensitively be detected in vivo with the trade-off being resolution.…with optical imaging, it's a very sensitive modality. So you might be able to see something at lower concentrations, for example, with bioluminescent imaging. If you look at some of the tumor studies, in some of the publications, we see even a few days after the injection of tumor cells, we're able to see signals, but we're not necessarily able to localize them very well. So, for example, if you have, let's say, a signal in the right lobe of the liver, you would see something coming with optical imaging, but you wouldn't necessarily be able to localize it and say precisely exactly where it is.Without these in vivo imaging methods, understanding the biology of tumor progression would require a larger cohort of animals, with a requirement to euthanize some fraction at various time points to locate tumors and measure their size. That's the reduction element of the 3 Rs.Refinement is also possible. Stephen shared an example of how new contrast agents in microCT allow the study of fatty liver disease that couldn't be done previously with terminal studies and histology.As for replacement, the development of organoids, small collections of differentiated cells, offer an alternative to some animal assays while more closely reflecting an in vivo condition than monolayer cell cultures. I'll be covering that in a future episode.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.If you appreciate this content, you likely know someone else who will appreciate it also. Please share it with them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

AgBio, sustainability and DoE all come together in this episode. Tim Cuthbertson is the Chief Science Officer at VelociGro where they are using Design of Experiments to optimize plant growth media for vertical farming.I was curious to learn about the concept of vertical farming and how it can make an impact relative to the massive acreage involved in traditional agriculture. There are scenarios where it makes a lot of sense. First of all, greenhouse-grown produce is nothing new. Tomatoes are the most commonly grown crop in what is known as protected agriculture. And overall, in 2019, 55% of vegetable growers had some component of indoor operation, extension of the growing season being the primary reason. A greenhouse can produce 2.5 pounds of food per square foot per year. That's horizontal growth. Growing plants vertically should increase that productivity further. So where is the impact? Consider what it takes to send blueberries from Chile to Alaska. Now what if blueberries could be grown indoors locally year-round? With LED lighting (which apparently doesn't have to work on a 100% duty cycle) there could be significant savings in carbon emissions. Not to mention loss from spoilage etc in transit. In case you haven't heard, the Panama Canal is backed up and the largest container ships can't go through with a full load currently because there is not enough water in Lake Gatun due to decreased rainfall. That means produce either being offloaded elsewhere and sent by train or truck or a longer trip around Cape Horn and associated delays. Don't miss my upcoming episode on “the ethylene problem”. We'll talk about what it takes to keep fruit “fresh” on those long journeys.Sorry to interrupt. Not subscribed yet? Let's fix that.Either way, I appreciate you spending time here.Local access to fresh produce in urban areas is another opportunity to deploy vertical farming. It occurs to me that a lot of empty office space is ripe (yeah, I said it) for conversion to urban indoor agriculture. I'm beginning to imagine a back-to-the-office campaign where a company leases some of its space for growing produce to be sold while allowing people who come back to the office to have access to a share of the crop to take home each week. Where does Design of Experiments come in? We covered DoE in a previous episode. Briefly, it's a method of testing multiple variables simultaneously to quickly iterate and find the optimal solution to a problem or process. A typical one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) approach makes all the results dependent on the optimal value of the first variable you test. That doesn't in any way guarantee the best final outcome.How is VelociGro using DoE? We didn't go into details about their products. Whether plants are grown on a substrate or in a soil-free environment, they need nutrients to grow. DoE allows their company of six people to iterate and optimize formulas for new products in as little as six weeks. Even if agriculture is not your field, you can see how DoE can save huge amounts of time in product or method development.It strikes me that once again, regardless of what area of the life sciences you work in, thinking about how things are done is as important for delivering a successful product as the science that goes into the product itself.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Thomas Farb-Horch is the CEO of Thrive Bioscience. He has founded 18 companies. Seven of those turned out to be unicorns (sold at a valuation of >1 billion dollars).I was curious to know how he had identified so many opportunities correctly. BTW, Tom is not a scientist and has no advanced degrees in case you were thinking that was a requirement.He credits his success to being observant and inquisitive. That means keeping your eyes open for problems and asking why things are the way they are. The most attractive problem is one where people have been working the same way for a very long time. And if a process can be digitized, even better. As ever more computing power and storage capacity becomes available, more processes are in reach.Yet good ideas and smart solutions aren't enough. Tom told me that every one of those unicorns came close to failure multiple times.How did he manage to dodge the bullet so often? One area where data and computing power won't solve anything is our interactions with other people. To be successful as an entrepreneur, in addition to solving whatever technical challenges you have identified, you are still left to deal with customers, investors and board members. This is where Tom's experience struck me.If you think reproducibility is a challenge in science, no amount of data or computing power can make humans more predictable.Getting people to change something that has been done the same way for decades is difficult. First for them to recognize the value and then to adopt new behaviors. Even early and late adopters won't respond the same way. Your solution needs to appeal to both.At another level, while all your investors have a common goal of getting a return on their money, how and when they expect that to happen may be different. As you are likely to pivot at some point, it's worth considering how you will keep them aligned on the new approach.The makeup of your board is critical and Tom has some essential advice on how you should negotiate their selection with investors. Listen to the episode for details. When it comes to what you are looking for, I'll share one example here. Board members are sometimes (often?) selected for their name recognition as opposed to their domain expertise. Alexander Haig (former NATO Commander and Secretary of State) might have fit that description. Nevertheless, he brought value to the table in other ways. Tom told me that his skill at observing people and making sure everyone was heard to get to a result was off the charts. Given the roles I just mentioned, maybe that's not so surprising. These skills are applicable everywhere.Board of directors is one of my favorite topics. It's so incredibly important. Many entrepreneurs don't spend enough time focusing on compatibility across the board. And kind of the profile of what they want.Every founder is likely to encounter a dark night of the soul moment. Tom said, “Fear is a terrible advisor.” It's at those times when having chosen the right investors and board members will pay off. Who will stand by you and brainstorm solutions to see you through?Science is complicated and often difficult. Human behavior is even more so. It strikes me that in science, even if we don't yet know the answer, we know it's there and that certainty is comforting. I wonder if we shouldn't spend more time thinking about how the people around us are going to affect our success and who we choose to do that.As an example of how humans can make an impact in our interactions, more than once over several conversations, Tom asked me, “How can I make this podcast successful for you?” I replied, “That mindset alone is all I need.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Susanna Harris is the Director of Community at Breakout Ventures. She is also the Founder of PhD Balance, a collaborative community empowering graduate students to build their personal and professional resilience and the 2023 recipient of the SAMPS Young Person of the Year Award.This episode is a little different. For the last couple of years, I have interviewed the winner of that SAMPS award on this podcast. Susanna has been a guest before and although we've chatted a few times since and both live in the Bay Area, we had never met face to face. Susanna mentioned hiking in one of our calls so I thought this would be an opportunity try something new. I suggested we meet up for a hike and record some stuff along the way. Thank you Susanna for being game for one more experiment. We had a free-flowing conversation covering our inspirations in science, science communication, marketing, career paths, longevity, mental health, and more. AI, psychedelics and The Andromeda Strain all came up as well. Give it a listen to find out the context.I typically focus these episodes around a theme and try to point toward a specific takeaway. While there is a thread to the topics we discussed, the takeaway for me this time was simply about the value of conversation. I trust that the listeners to this podcast will learn something about each of us and may be prompted to think about something they heard from a new perspective.As a listener, you don't have to be part of a conversation to benefit from it. That's the magic of this medium. You can listen in as if you were there. Taking that beyond podcasts, consider the value of people listening to your team members, executives and subject matter experts in their natural, unscripted style. Podcast listeners report (and I can verify this both as a host and a listener) that they feel like they know the people they hear from regularly. There is a level of know, like, and trust that is hard to replicate except face-to-face.Finally, one never knows where having a conversation will lead in the long run. I don't even remember how Susanna and I connected initially. Yet here we were, 3 years later, hiking the hills, sharing our experiences in science and creating unique content along the way. If we get a chance to help one another out in the future, that would be icing on the cake. It all started with a conversation.Mentioned in this episode:Books: Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven JohnsonThe End of the World is Just The Beginning by Peter ZeihanMovie: The Andromeda Strain (also a book by Michael Crichton)Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Kurt Mussina is the CEO of Paradigm Clinical Research. Their model involves dedicated sites chosen for access to their desired patient and physician populations to participate in clinical trials. Access to historically underrepresented populations for both patients and healthy volunteers is a key requirement.One can imagine it takes a lot of effort to figure that out from demographic data etc. Kurt shared with me their approach using ChatGPT with some plugins not only for determining the best places to lease space, but also for qualifying and scheduling potential participants and determining which contracts to pursue based on their historical successes and current strategy.3 Applications of ChatGPT or AI:Where to lease and build out clinical trial sitesKurt and his head of clinical operations are based in Boise Idaho. The first requirement was to be able to visit sites without spending too much time traveling. He searched the website of the Boise airport for nonstop destinations that were reachable in a half day or less. That narrows things down to the western half of the US. They queried ChatGPT to identify which of those have, within a two-hour drive, populations with a significant proportion of people historically underrepresented in clinical research.For example, Chico California is one of those cities. Paradigm already has sites in Sacramento and Redding, which allows them to use the staff they already have on the ground and existing relationships to get a good start.Using AI chatbots to qualify patients and volunteers for studiesParadigm runs ads on Facebook to recruit potential participants. When a person visits the website looking for trials to participate in, rather than delivering a long list to browse, a chatbot will ask them questions about their age, background etc, to preview relevant trials and pre-qualify the person. It can then help schedule a phone appointment for further information and qualification.Thanks for reading cc: Life Science! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Contract assessment and budgeting There are thousands of trials going on at any one time. Which ones does Paradigm want to bid on based on their patient populations, investigators, and desired indications?Paradigm uses Salesforce to manage their sales pipeline. A sponsor or CRO may send out a feasibility questionnaire. This clip from the interview explains how an AI, based on their previous successes, helps decide which studies they'd like to bid on as well as providing a range of cost estimates and contract terms. I asked Kurt, how they decided to take this approach to all of these important steps. It turns out the husband of a board member is pretty AI-savvy. Would you be as comfortable trying something similar if you didn't know anyone with that kind of AI expertise? In a couple of years, no one will think twice about this kind of approach. As I see it right now, the real barrier is our own imagination in terms of what problems do we need to solve and how to ask the right questions. Many of the current examples we see are using AI to generate content - images or drafts of written content, or some data analysis. It might be helpful to think of ChatGPT and its “colleagues” as individuals you hire to do a specific job. In this example, it would be like, “Hey Joe, can you compile a report on cities we can get to easily that have historically underrepresented populations? When you are done with that, set up a web page to qualify and inform people interested in participating in a clinical trial. Oh, and then, take a look through our historical data and let me know which of our leads in Salesforce are the most promising.” Those are the jobs to be done. I should say that Kurt was very clear that they worked with people outside the company to get these tasks done. In the end, one can see how it improves efficiency at every step.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Up to this point, I have resisted doing any episodes around cannabis because 1. I'm a little old-school 2. I probably don't know enough and 3. I want to avoid, in the words of my guest, “being painted with green paint” and tainting the brand.Separating emotions from logic, however, if there are cannabis components that could be effective therapies, it would be foolish to ignore them. There is already one cannabis-derived compound approved by the FDA. Epidiolex is pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol (CBD) prescribed for the treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. Pebble Life Science is taking a rigorous approach to investigate whether other compounds derived from hemp might be effective as therapies, either for other neurological disorders or even cancer, initially focused on ovarian.I spoke with Patrick Moran, the founder and CEO of Pebble Life Science about their approach, the challenges they have faced, and the success they have had in forming collaborations with the MD Anderson Cancer Center as well as participating in the NCI Applicant Assistance Program.Everything we discussed is in the pre-clinical phase, preparing for and gearing up toward clinical trials. A key event in this journey was the 2018 farm bill that allows the cultivation of hemp as long as the THC content is below 0.3%. That opened the door to growing and extracting components from hemp, all non-psychotropic, for investigation.Thanks for reading cc: Life Science! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Either way, I appreciate you spending time here.One obstacle was bridging the gap between (clinically unproven) claims of cannabis killing cancer and putting in place procedures to rigorously investigate those possibilities. Another challenge, as mentioned above, was breaking through the cloud of suspicion that exists around cannabis. After being invited to apply for a drug development grant by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, one reviewer labeled them as drug dealers.While the research staff took that hard, their legal team suggested taking their data and the positive feedback they had received from the other three CPRIT reviewers and contacting the NCI. That led to an NCI sponsorship for the NIH Applicant Assistant Program which Patrick said was invaluable in helping his executive team prepare to submit an SBIR grant to help fund clinical trials.Based on pre-clinical studies in mice, Pebble is currently focused on the potential of a hemp-derived compound as both an adjuvant therapy and a frontline monotherapy for ovarian cancer. At the end of our interview, I asked Patrick what he had learned that would be helpful to any biotech startup whether or not they are in the cannabis space.Interestingly, I've recently had another conversation with someone I hope will be on this podcast soon. We concluded that science is difficult. People can be more so. It's yet one more challenge to get people to change their thinking or to deal with the obstacles they place in front of you, intentionally or not. I hope this episode help you figure that out on your own journey.There were a few terms I had to look up in our conversation. You may find these useful:RPPA analysisEntourage effectYour deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.0 Comments This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

This week, I talked to Dr. Michael Harman, an executive advisor, and consulting partner at Harmon Consulting about commercializing medical diagnostics, exploring various aspects from technology development to market trends and the integration of different scientific disciplines.I asked Michael about the process of transitioning laboratory technology into clinically viable products. He described a series of well-defined steps, starting from concept generation to prototyping and feasibility testing, eventually leading to a minimally viable product ready for market launch. It starts with identifying a gap in the market and scouting relevant technologies.Scouting is the process of identifying existing technologies that can be utilized to construct different subsystems of the proposed diagnostic tool. He used the analogy of assembling Lego pieces. While innovation can add value and is, of course, a little more exciting, it also increases risk.The engineering process of diagnostics involves bringing together various fields like industrial design, electrical and mechanical engineering, and crucial business aspects like sales and marketing. I didn't know much about the world of diagnostics that lies between lateral flow tests like the ones we all use for COVID-19, and large analyzers running thousands of samples per day delivering results of multiple assays to your doctor.Michael noted a significant shift from centralized laboratory instruments to more compact, point-of-care devices, largely influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. He highlighted the growing trend towards personalized medicine and home testing kits, demonstrating the evolution of diagnostic technology in response to global health challenges.This got me curious about the role of electrical engineering in diagnostics. So we took a little sidebar into the intricacies of technologies like thermocyclers for PCR. While heating a metal block seems straightforward, doing so evenly across 96 samples may not be. And I never put much thought into what it takes to cool that block quickly and where the heat needs to go. Needless to say, I have a new appreciation for electrical engineering beyond circuits and robotics.A key takeaway from our conversation was the integration of various scientific disciplines, such as computer science, biology, and physics, in developing new diagnostic methods. He mentions several innovative diagnostic projects he's involved in, such as non-invasive tests for endometriosis and personalized contraception compatibility tests. These projects exemplify the potential of predictive diagnostics to revolutionize patient care and treatment.There have been significant strides made in this field, largely due to the collaboration across different scientific domains. He emphasizes the importance of bioinformatics and the role of computer science in medicine, marking a paradigm shift in how medical research and diagnostics are approached. It also presents challenges:People don't always necessarily know what to do with diagnostic information either. That is a big challenge in terms of, okay, great. You've identified a marker now exists, but what is that now? How do you then inform the patient of or change their treatment based on that information?If you find this helpful, it kind of makes sense to subscribe, doesn't it?Thanks for spending some time here, either way.As we often do, we discussed the challenges faced by academic founders in transitioning their ideas from academia to industry and the mindset changes required for successful commercialization. He notes that while academics are used to being highly independent and handling various aspects of a project, success in the industry often requires a more collaborative approach. Founders must learn to trust and leverage their teams, allowing each member to contribute their expertise to the project.Michael mentions the debate about the necessity of having clinicians or scientists in leadership roles in medical companies. While their deep understanding of the technology is beneficial, it can also be challenging for them to step back and allow others to handle aspects of the business they are less familiar with. This transition, from being an independent academic to a team-oriented industry leader, is crucial for the successful commercialization of medical technologies.Our conversation shed light on the complexities of commercializing medical diagnostics and highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in driving innovation in this field.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

When it comes to chemical reactions, if you can imagine it, somewhere out there a microbe is already doing it. This was something we used to say in graduate school. The challenge is finding that microbe among the billions that exist in environments all around us.Surehka Karudapuram is the VP, Commercial Operations at Isolation Bio where they are helping researchers solve that needle in a haystack problem. In this episode we talked about the what, the how and the why.Check this out:Isolation Bio specializes in high-throughput and automated isolation and cultivation of microbes. Surehka explains that Isolation Bio's platform consists of an instrument, consumables, and accessories that enable the efficient study of new microbes, their unique products, and their impact on the world.One could isolate many different microbes by diluting and plating extracts from your environment of interest on petri plates and then waiting to see what grows. Isolation Bio's technology allows researchers to perform massively parallel cultivation of hundreds of bacteria from various samples, such as soil or feces. This takes place in an array with over 6,000 nanoscale wells. I found it amazing enough to sort microbes into the wells. What blew my mind was the ability to then pick the desired samples out of those wells and transfer them to 96- or 384-well plates for further analysis.Incubating the array under specific conditions is the first step in screening for the type of bacteria you are looking for. In one example, the desired bacterium grew slowly and would typically be overtaken by other species. Creating individual isolates gave researchers the chance to find and cultivate exactly the species they were looking for.Thanks for reading cc: Life Science! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Either way, I appreciate you spending time here.Microbiome research has evolved from observation and cataloging into studying actual biology. We've gone from metagenomics (identifying what's there by next-gen sequencing) to identifying the capabilities of bacteria and purifying compounds. We discussed various application areas, including human health, animal health, agriculture, and environmental sciences, where microbiome research and bacteria play a crucial role.Human health is a big area for our customers and the microbiome space and it's just so many kinds of diseases that are now being linked to the microbiome and then also getting to that point of that causation. I'll just use the example of drug response or immunotherapy response in cancer patients. There's a clear population difference between the responders and the non-responders.And now we're starting to see work where the bacteria from the responders are being isolated and then being used in mouse models and then again, down to the next step, which is purifying, you know, maybe from the supernatant, the molecules, and then seeing that that can enhance immunotherapy drug response.Getting back to “If you can imagine it…”, we discussed potential commercial applications of isolated bacteria, including the development of probiotics, therapeutics, and products for various industries. Surehka highlighted the possibility of bacteria as "chemical factories" that produce beneficial compounds and explained how synthetic biology can be applied to engineer bacteria for specific functions, such as producing biodegradable plastics.It's an exciting time to learn about the connection between our gut microbiome and other aspects of human health. On the other end of the spectrum is the possibility of discovering useful new compounds or ways of synthesizing them in living chemical factories. Where do you see the biggest potential? Leave a comment.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Rochelle Prosser is the founder and president of Orchid Healthcare Solutions, the company she created to consolidate cancer treatment information and improve access to that information. We discussed the difficulties in navigating healthcare systems and the importance of having comprehensive, scientifically-driven resources for cancer patients and caregivers.Rochelle is a neurotrauma critical care nurse with 30 years of experience. She has had her own journey in healthcare and felt the impact of cancer on both her husband ( a two-time survivor) and young daughter. She described the challenges of a family trying to stay together and making decisions for a daughter who was only beginning to experience life when she was diagnosed with a rare cancer at the age of four. She had this arbitrary, completely rare brain cancer and it took nine years to figure it out for her to find survival. And that's a long time. Most people can't deal with that. Marriages are lost, finances are ruined, but we remained intact.Although her daughter was put into hospice five times, Rochelle never gave up advocating for her. I was curious about how you persuade a doctor to try something new when your child is already in end-of-life care. Her advice was to try to always be collaborative. Doctors and nurses want to help. There is value in being persistent, but it's also important to listen. Not every treatment is the right one. If the doctor says no, there is likely a reason. But that doesn't mean you stop trying:And so I had to find a way. to politely and effectively navigate and communicate so that I could get to that next cure, to that next option. For me, 50 percent chance of working for two years until the next treatment was a better option than 10 percent chance on a conventional treatment.Thanks for reading cc: Life Science! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Either way, I appreciate you spending time here.Based on genomic analysis, her daughter's tumor was a mosaic of glioblastoma and DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma). Imagine how complicated that sounds even to a healthcare professional, let alone anyone else. In addition to advocating for her daughter, Rochelle decided she would try to help others in similar situations.I felt the need to intercede in that space intentionally with what I knew and how to navigate. So this is why I started Orchid Healthcare Solutions. I created a cancer treatment library that houses all cancer treatments from soup to nuts. Everything that's out there that is scientifically driven in one place. One of the biggest pain points, being on the provider side, but also on the recipient and caregiver side that I found was there wasn't a place that had a unified place to go.It was really difficult to navigate to get information just to find out that knowledge. And I said, if there was one way that I could share my knowledge was to consolidate that, remove the silos so that you have effective and appropriate information sharing, and that will help vulnerable populations. That will increase knowledge and awareness and increase participation in clinical trials.Because genomics was so important in her daughter's case, Rochelle feels strongly about the need for diversity in clinical trials to understand how treatments affect different populations. Representation in those trials is critical to advance medical science that benefits everyone. At the same time, she is very clear about the importance of informed consent and the conditions around consent for participation. Bottom line - we need more people to participate AND understand their rights regarding their tissues and data. That's how we get to the end goal of more diversity and better understanding of which treatments will work for different populations.That is the only way to move us forward. We all must come together because where it works or is expressed in one, it doesn't work (in another), but we need to find out why. And when you find out why, it is that nuance of why that then can put protection and then advancement and an improvement in care overall for all of us. Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Jeffrey Kiplinger is the co-founder and partner at Selling Science, a consulting firm dedicated to helping life science, contract research, and tools companies boost revenue by building and optimizing their scientific sales teams. He is also the author of the book "Expert to Entrepreneur."Jeff shared his personal journey from obtaining a PhD in organic chemistry in the late '80s to his corporate experience with Pfizer. He highlighted the frustrations he faced being siloed in his role and the desire to take his expertise on the road. I appreciate his perspective on the disconnect many scientists face when building businesses. I guess I would say, your expertise is the product, but it is not the business. I'm still chewing on that one as I think there is a lot to be learned from that. Jeff emphasized the importance of viewing the business as an entity itself, separate from the scientific expertise it offers, and focusing on growing the business side.Personally, I find marketing easy (talking about what I do). But sales is hard (asking for money). We talked about that and how to find the right people for your offering, stressing the need to identify the ideal customer and tailor marketing efforts to address their specific problems. What is, what do you do that's provided real value for your customers in the past? And the easiest way to find that out is to ask them. And that's also something that we're terrified of doing.I asked him about a quote from Brian Tracy. “Sales is just a transfer of enthusiasm.” When you believe in what you have, you can have a conversation and talk about why you are enthusiastic. But first you need to find out if the person in front of you has a problem you can solve.If you find this helpful, it kind of makes sense to subscribe, doesn't it?Thanks for spending some time here, either way.The conversation also touched on hiring experienced salespeople, both within and outside the scientific domain, and the critical factor of finding the perfect customer. Jeff outlined the significance of defining an ideal customer profile, which guides marketing efforts and ensures a more focused and effective approach. Does the salespersons skills and experience match what you are trying to do? Do they have the right mix of science and sales expertise? For example, selling from a catalog is different from selling a solution comprising components from a catalog.If you're buying somebody's expertise in your science and they can't sell, that's a wasted investment. If you're buying somebody's network and their network isn't your ideal customer base, that's a waste.…I guess what I see is when people hire experienced sales reps or senior people who've already got field experience, very frequently they're not looking at whether that person is a match for what you're trying to achieve. They might be a match for your company, they might be a match in terms of the revenue they've produced in the past, but are you really checking them against what the company is trying to do?If you are on the road to selling your hard-earned scientific expertise, you should definitely give this episode a listen.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Tom Pesnot is the Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Concept Life Sciences. I invited him to talk about AI and virtual screening in the drug discovery process.By way of review, Tom laid out the overall process of discovery. One needs to identify a target whose activity can be modulated in a way that is of course, relevant to the disease of interest. Most often we are trying to stop a protein from carrying out its normal function. Then we are looking for hits — interactions of candidate compounds with the target molecule. The quality of those hits are important. Typically, this has been done in high throughput screening using in vitro assays. This requires lots of compounds and lots of assays, making the process inaccessible for many. As you might imagine, it is very expensive with fancy robots etc.All of this provides the rationale for virtual screening because computers are becoming more powerful for predicting interactions between small molecule compounds and target proteins.Instead of starting with a compound collection (that few have access to), you start with a database. It's possible to virtually make tens of billions of compounds in silico for screening. What blew my mind was the fact that they are only screening molecules that can be made in two or three steps from existing building blocks. Tens of billions! That means the time from identification to testing is essentially the time needed for shipping the constituent compounds.And of course, at the other end, you still need a model to recapitulate the proposed activity in vitro.AI is used along with known protein structures to see what molecules fit and how well in the target's binding site. I asked about binding in other places that would affect activity. Ligand-based interactions are legitimate, Tom told me. For example, GPCRs (G-protein coupled receptors) elicit different pharmacology depending on where binding occurs, but AI has more impact in structure-based screening focused on active site binding.Thanks for reading cc: Life Science! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Either way, I appreciate you spending time here.The big innovation is narrowing down the possibilities to test. The traditional brute force approach, even with AI, is to screen one compound at a time. This requires huge amounts of computing power. An AI-derived algorithm that tests the most likely candidates can accelerate the process 1000-fold.“And that means that because you're accelerating the process by a hundredfold or a thousandfold, then you don't need 10,000 CPUs. But you need 12 CPUs. And then you can screen billions of compounds using, you know, average Joe's (gaming) computer and get that done in a week. So that's really one of the aspects where AI is having a huge impact on virtual screening. It means that even for huge collections, this process is accessible to small biotechs, to everybody.”While machine learning is working on making hits more relevant, false positives are a still a challenge. Many things need to work well for a drug to be approved. Safety, efficacy, solubility etc are all important.We're not making virtual medicinesSo how many compounds from a screening will be tested in an actual in vitro assay? Tom says they might start with 500-1000 molecules. Then those are whittled down to 50-100.Then they make/buy them and do an in vitro assay.I've been curious about where we are in terms of AI developed drugs in the pipeline. It's still early days with respect to approved drugs from discovery by AI. According to this article, as of August 2023, none are yet at the approval stage.One big problem, yet to be overcome, is that typically negative data are not published.“The problem is, We have a lot of positive data points, negative data points are not necessarily as available because we don't tend to publish negative data. Even though there are some channels to do that and the problem is to build and test and validate a machine learning model or any model, you need to have positive and negative data.”There are many reasons why a tested compound doesn't work including a specific protocol or human error. Yet, I can't help but wonder how much money and effort is wasted on testing compounds that have already been shown to be ineffective, but the data not shared.Worse yet is the fact that there are published papers with fake data written by AI which is a whole other topic.Maybe drug discovery is getting harder because we are getting to the proteins that are involved in more complex processes. But Tom points out that many targets that were thought to be undruggable have seen success. Ideally, AI will help us get there faster.My question for all of you: Where else might AI be applied to make drug discovery more successful, improving on the 90% failure rate? And is anyone working on that?Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Note: For this episode, I asked ChatGPT to write a summary based on the transcript of our conversation. I enjoy doing these interviews and consider myself a decent writer. However, it takes a lot of time each week to write a summary that I find minimally satisfying and acceptable. You deserve better and I can put my efforts to better use elsewhere or upgrading the whole experience here. I did lightly edit this to make it sound as if I could have written it. This is my second attempt following some feedback from a respected colleague (you know who you are). I'm beginning to see how my own style differs from ChatGPT, even if what it produces is perfectly readable, but somewhat less memorable. Let me know what you think in the comments.Miranda Lipton is a talented freelance writer, photographer, and multimedia storyteller. In this episode we talked about earned media from a freelancer's perspective, focusing on how companies can collaborate with freelancers to get their stories published in widely read publications. Our discussion centered around Miranda's recent success in securing a feature in Fast Company about cultivated meat from fish. Our conversation should be enlightening for both freelancers and the companies that work with them.Miranda's Journey into Freelance WritingMiranda journey into freelance writing began in high school, and continued at the local town newspaper, a path that eventually led her to major in journalism at Ohio State University. Her desire to explore different facets of storytelling, including writing and photography, drove her to the freelance world. The Genesis of the Lab-Grown Fish StoryMiranda's fascination with food sustainability and innovation in the past few years led her to investigate the idea lab-grown fish. The idea for the article emerged from a deep dive into the world of lab-grown meat, a concept that had been around for nearly a decade. Miranda recognized a gap in coverage, particularly in the realm of lab-grown fish, which was an emerging and innovative field. This, combined with her passion for food sustainability, created the perfect recipe (ChatGPT made a pun!) for a compelling story. She did her research and interviewed folks at relevant companies, eventually leading to the publication of her story in Fast Company.The Art of Pitching to PublicationsI was curious about the pitch process. How did she get an articled idea accepted at Fast Company? She utilizes a consistent pitch outline, typically comprising two to three paragraphs that encapsulate the essence of the story. Miranda stressed the importance of familiarity with the publication's focus. In her case, she had been an avid reader of Fast Company for years, allowing her to confidently identify the magazine as an ideal platform for her lab-grown fish story. .Navigating Interviews with CompaniesWhile pitching to publications can be challenging, arranging interviews is more straightforward. Companies are generally eager to discuss their work. Her process involves reaching out to individuals at relevant companies, often beginning with CEOs or co-founders identified through LinkedIn. Of course, it's important to gather a diverse range of perspectives to provide a well-rounded view of the subject.Thanks for reading cc: Life Science! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Feedback and ChallengesI asked her if she had gotten any feedback. While direct feedback from readers is not common, she occasionally receives emails from individuals who have read her articles. The overarching response to her articles on topics like lab-grown and 3D-printed food often revolves around skepticism and the novelty of the subjects. Many readers express interest in these innovations as well as uncertainty about trying them. The unfamiliarity of concepts such as 3D-printed food explains their hesitation. She thinks that as research in these fields progresses, more people will embrace these innovations. I have similar feelings of hesitation. I did an episode several years ago on the SDBN podcast.Guidance for Companies Seeking Media CoverageFor companies without extensive PR resources, it is still possible to secure media coverage. Miranda recommended using platforms like Muck Rack to connect with journalists directly. The key is to reach out to journalists who cover topics relevant to the company's work. Tailored and timely pitches can catch a journalist's attention and pave the way for a mutually beneficial collaboration.Collaborating with FreelancersTo get the writer's attention and interest, you need a story with a clear angle and a sense of timeliness. Timeliness is one of the most critical factors. A story needs to be relevant in the current moment or have enduring relevance. Other elements, such as impact, prominence, proximity, and oddity, can also contribute to making a story compelling and newsworthy. Understanding the freelance writer's perspective and the dynamics of storytelling can be instrumental in building successful media relationships and getting your stories into the limelight.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Note: For this episode, because we are discussing the narrative capabilities of AI, I asked ChatGPT to write a summary based on the transcript of our conversation. I enjoy doing these interviews and consider myself a decent writer. However, it takes a lot of time each week to write a summary that I find minimally satisfying and acceptable. You deserve better and I can put my efforts to better use elsewhere or upgrading the whole experience here. I did lightly edit this to make it sound as if I could have written it. Let me know what you think in the comments.In this episode, I had the opportunity to chat with Matt Lewis, the Chief AI Officer at Inizio Medical. We dove into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and its pivotal role in the field of medical affairs, particularly in aiding the commercialization of medical innovations. This conversation shed light on the remarkable ways in which AI can be harnessed to enhance decision-making, streamline data analysis, and shape the narratives around product launches.Introduction Inizio supports various players in the life sciences arena, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, digital therapeutics, and more. Inizio helps these entities translate their scientific endeavors into compelling narratives tailored for a diverse set of stakeholders, from clinicians to regulators, payers, and patients.AI has been a significant player in the medical field for several years. Matt, with over a decade of experience in medical affairs and 15 years in AI, highlighted how AI first emerged as a solution to address the overwhelming volume of scientific data, including clinical research, published papers, and patient information. This surge in data presented a challenge as it exceeded the capacity of an individual to process effectively.Matt went on to explain how AI, particularly Natural Language Processing (NLP), was employed to sift through vast amounts of content. This enabled the identification of relevant terms and concepts that were crucial for strategists and scientists to focus on. It essentially acted as a tool for surfacing meaningful insights from the sea of information. The AI-driven lexicon analysis and scientific platform considerations played a vital role in ensuring that medical professionals could efficiently navigate the complex landscape of scientific data.The Role of Subject Matter Expertise in AIWhile AI is a powerful tool, it requires substantial input from subject matter experts. To effectively utilize AI, you need to define the key terms and concepts that the tool should focus on. In the medical field, this entails understanding the therapeutic area, specific indications, and relevant terms and vocabulary that are integral to the domain. Without this critical input, AI can't effectively sift through and categorize the data. It should be viewed as an amplifier of human expertise rather than a replacement for it.Crafting Effective Narratives with AIHow can AI be used to craft narratives that resonate with various audiences? Matt explained that in the past, narrative development was often based on subjective, qualitative discussions within multidisciplinary groups. While these discussions were essential, they sometimes lacked objectivity. The loudest voices or the strongest opinions often win.There was a lot of evidence, but sometimes the subjectivity and the qualitative nature of kind of what made sense of the organization kind of won the day, if you will. I think when we started moving into more of an evidence-centric, data-centric, AI-centric type of environment, those contributions are still there for sure, but they're kind of counterbalanced by more of an objective evidence-based approach…AI has transformed this process by providing an evidence-centric, data-driven approach. Instead of relying solely on subjective opinions, AI can analyze data to reveal how different narratives perform in the market. For example, if several competitors dominate a specific narrative, it might not be the best strategy to enter that conversation. AI can help identify unexplored "blue ocean" areas where the competition is less intense.Matt also highlighted that AI has evolved to provide real-time insights based on citation information, sentiment data, and relevant word associations. This dynamic approach allows companies to adjust their narratives based on changing market conditions and emerging trends. The ability to capture contextual intelligence from medical encounters, such as conversations between medical science liaisons and opinion leaders, provides valuable insights for crafting narratives. AI's role is not to replace human input but to augment it and ensure that strategic decisions are grounded in data-driven insights.Thanks for reading cc: Life Science! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Either way, I appreciate you spending time here.AI and Drug RepurposingAI is also playing a vital role in drug repurposing. AI can help identify existing drugs that have the potential to be repurposed for new therapeutic uses. By analyzing vast amounts of scientific data, AI can uncover hidden connections and suggest novel applications for existing drugs. This approach not only accelerates the drug discovery process but also helps in finding treatments for conditions that were previously overlooked. The ability to sift through extensive literature and uncover these hidden gems is a game-changer for the pharmaceutical industry.The Data Sources for InsightsConversations between medical science liaisons and key opinion leaders are a primary source of the data used. These conversations are crucial for understanding the sentiments, opinions, and insights of experts in the field. Additional data sources include advisory board meetings, market research, and physician interactions with medical information customer centers.Currently, conversations are not typically recorded due to privacy and legal considerations. The information is likely captured in field notes, which are then input into Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. AI is used to analyze this data and extract insights, but the human touch remains essential in filtering and interpreting the information.The Future of AI in Medical AffairsThere is the potential for AI to capture not only the words spoken but also the tone and emotional cues in conversations. AI could help detect subtle nuances in conversations, allowing for a deeper understanding of sentiment. This level of emotional intelligence could be a valuable tool for improving customer interactions.The integration of AI in CRM systems is also expected to grow, providing more robust insights and streamlining the entire process. With advancements in technology and an increasing comfort with AI in the medical and scientific community, we may see a shift toward recorded conversations, enabling more comprehensive and context-rich analysis of customer interactions.ConclusionAI, when combined with human expertise, has the potential to revolutionize the way medical professionals navigate the sea of data and make informed, data-driven decisions. The future promises even greater integration of AI, enhancing the quality and depth of insights, and ultimately improving the medical and scientific landscape.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

All of us in the life sciences are in the business of making the world healthier. The instruments and reagents we sell and the technologies and therapies that result save lives. A scientist (after a lot of research) will look at a disease or problem and say, “I think I can find a way to fix that.”Can we, as an industry, look at trade shows like a scientist would, and ask, “How can we do this better and stick to our mission of making the world at least less sick if not healthier?”If you've been with me for a while, you know I have a love-hate relationship with trade shows. When I was a MarCom director, events were by far the biggest part of my budget. I imagined all the other awesome campaigns I could execute with that money. And then there is the waste. The stuff that ends up in the hotel trash before you get back on the plane and the shipping of huge amounts of equipment all over the world.On the other hand, if a lot of customers are going to be in one place at the same time… it makes sense to take your offering to them. And human connection is important. I know it's important because this episode came out of my trip to ADLM, the event formerly known as AACC.Stuart Warrington is the CEO of Envoke. They create virtual demos to make your instruments accessible at more events and present a consistent story across the customer journey. More on that below.Stuart is a filmmaker. He has been created videos for the likes of Thermo and Bio-Rad. Videos used to have a longer useful lifespan. Then his customers wanted new content at a faster pace that was more engaging. Stuart suggested video games. “No. That's not it.”“How about a virtual demo?“Yes!” It turns out those are basically the same thing just packaged differently. (They are both virtual experiences that tell a story with the user as the hero.) Stories are the key here. (The crowd cheers.)People need to tell their own story, right? And sales and training and all that is about that. It's like, how can I communicate the message of what this thing does in the most accurate possible way? And you need to give people freedom to craft that story. And that's why we do things the way we do them.We make this story block library and it's loads of little clips. And in each clip tells its own individual message. And then your user, your sales rep, your engineer, your trainer can take from that library and craft this story. It might be about a really specific bit of qPCR on the qPCR devices in the platform. And you know your customer only really cares about that. So we give you the opportunity to just pull those bits in and tell a story that is about your product with your product rather than PowerPoint presentations and brochures and videos and things like that. It just takes that to a slightly higher level and it also then starts saving you loads of money on shipping. Right?The result is that consistent experience for the user from the web to sales to training to maintenance and service. We talked about training people the same way pilots train. On a simulation. They can make mistakes without breaking an expensive piece of kit.Not subscribed yet? It would mean a lot to me.Thanks for spending some time here, either way.In addition to the contribution to sustainability without shipping products, the ability to customize a story improves the sales process. So one of our customers built a storyline for the event from the story block library. So they built something that was like, this is what we want to talk about. This is the story we're telling here. But then what it also did was they put on a QR code, so that you scan the QR code as your customer, and what you do is, you walk away with a different storyline that's specific for you, that's just about the thing that you were talking to him about.It's all come from the same place, we've just pitched it slightly differently. So it's all come from that story block library, we've just created specific storylines for different environments. And one of those environments is, “I need something a little bit better to take away and show to my boss.” And they take, they scan the QR code, they get their demo, and it's just for them, it's tailored for them, and they walk away and they show their boss, and it's a path to sales, right?This sounds better than walking away with a PDF or printed literature that the boss has no interest in reading.What is the path to this magical virtual future? For now, Stuart thinks companies will continue to send at least some products to events. The change comes from the bottom up where they no longer send instruments to smaller shows or remote locations. At some point, customers and salespeople see the benefit of this approach and hopefully, we all get more creative about how to use our space at larger events. Instead of bringing one instrument or a few, companies could present their entire catalog or larger configured solutions.This is only one way that we can improve the trade show experience and get a better return on investment. In an upcoming episode, we talk a little bit about the interactions that happen in the booth and how they can be improved as well. Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.Intro Music stefsax / CC BY 2.5 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Barry Goldman, founder and CSO of Pluton Biosciences introduces the concept of microbial cover crops as a new and innovative approach to improving soil health and sustainable agriculture. A plant cover crop e.g. alfalfa, is typically grown in the off-season and plowed back into the field to enrich the soil before the actual crop is planted. Barry and his team set out to see whether some bacteria can do this, particularly around nitrogen fixation, adding ammonia to the soil from the atmosphere. He points out that since the 1950s and 1960s the world's population has gone from roughly 3 billion people to 8 billion. Some part of that is due to the use of synthetic fertilizers - ammonia made from the Haber-Bosch process. That has fed a lot of people. But that process creates a lot of greenhouse gas as well.Is there another way to add nitrogen to the soil that avoids undesirable side effects? When Barry and I were classmates and labmates in grad school studying Salmonella genetics, We had a saying. “If you can imagine it, a bacterium is already doing it.” Starting with a soil sample containing about 10,000 different species, the scientists at Pluton Biosciences have identified a consortia of bacteria that will grow in the absence of carbon and nitrogen except for what they can get from the air. The consortia work together using energy from the sun to reduce CO2 into usable energy sources (photosynthesis) and fix N2 to ammonia which can be used to synthesize amino acids etc. As an additional benefit of deploying microbial cover crops on a large scale for nitrogen fixation, it's possible to sequester a significant amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. "If you could now take this on a hundred million acres, you removed a hundred million tons of CO2 per year... you can start tackling this and give ourselves more time to come up with even better solutions. We also believe we can put on 30 pounds of nitrogen per acre. So now, if you're on that for that much, you're essentially almost turning the amount of the Haber-Bosch process to zero. That's roughly 20 percent of the greenhouse gases that are being emitted. You put those two together, now you have a massive impact on climate change." Not subscribed yet? Can we fix that?Either way, I appreciate you spending time here.What would it take the bring this potential to reality?Of course, like anything else in life science, safety and efficacy matter. These consortia need to be tested in the field. Because they are not genetically modified, the EPA would be satisfied to know that the constituents of the consortia have been identified and are typically present wherever they are intended to be applied.The second challenge is getting farmers to test the consortia in their own field (or a portion thereof). They will want some assurance that they would at least be compensated for any reduction in yield. And to be paid for their effort as well. Testing in real-world fields is crucial to prove that these microbial cover crops work as expected. This involves multiple phases, from starting with a few fields to expanding once efficacy and safety are demonstrated. Amazingly, the consortia create a visible crust on the soil. Similar to what we discussed in a very early episode of this podcast, drone technology and machine vision can be used to monitor the fields and gather data on microbial cover crop performance.Oh yeah. What's the business model? Someone needs to pay for this. If the consortia works, the grower gets value from savings on synthetic fertilizer. There is also the carbon market. Right now that's at $15-30 per ton of carbon sequestered per acre. Finally, does the soil improve? Does it result in better yields (more revenue)?Barry reminds us that this is not a complete solution. But microbial cover crops have the potential to put a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions giving us more time to develop additional remedies for climate change.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.Intro Music stefsax / CC BY 2.5 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

I traveled to Disneyland Orange County for AACC ADLM back in July to connect with a few folks and walk the floors of the exhibit hall. I was on my way out when Derek Hamre from Launchworks CDMO stood up at his table and got my attention with the best elevator pitch I have ever heard. And that landed him a spot on my podcast. I'll share what it was at the end of this post.*Imagine this scenario. You're in an academic lab or small biotech and you've developed a diagnostic test for a molecule or a disease. How do you go about commercializing your test? Do you need to get a bunch of regulatory approvals? What else do you need to think about? After all, you're in a small research lab stepping into a whole new world. It turns out there are people who do this for a living and can help you plan out your strategy.Launchworks is a CDMO for molecular diagnostics. Services range from commercialization strategy and supply chain management through to fulfillment. A company might come to them with a locked down bill of materials and work instructions for kitting tens to hundreds of thousands of units at a time, or maybe they are early in the process and need help thinking through strategy from the beginning. …one of the reasons that we are pretty present at ADLM, AACC is the RUO kits. Those that are taking an idea from the R&D space and bringing it to the market and that commercialization process is a big, you know, lift for a lot of companies, even if they're bigger. Um, but especially for smaller companies when they have 5, 10 workers that have never gone through the commercialization process.Beyond that, what level of regulatory approval do they want? In some cases, a kit might be sold as RUO (Research Use Only), but a customer's customer might want to take it further:And a lot of our customers, so we won't make those claims, obviously, our customers will go through the FDA filings or whatever, um, but some of our customers will just not want to go through the FDA process, so they'll make their kit RUO and then maybe one of their customers will buy the kit and then go through the FDA or 510K, PMA process… …so allowing another customer or their companies that they're working with to go through that process on their behalf might be the pathway for them. Regardless of the regulatory path chosen, Derek described the four main areas where a CDMO can help get a product to market.* Risk mitigation* Commercialization strategy* Manufacturing process* Supply chainYou'd like to avoid surprises in any of those areas. Taking supply chain, for example, it would be important to know if a supplier might be closing shop in the near future. Will you be able to maintain quality as you scale up?I asked Derek about the logistics of assembling and shipping hundreds of thousands of units from different vendors. Everything is done in-house. Mixing buffers, putting kits in bags, labeling and shipping. Launchworks has about a 30,000 to 40,000 square foot facility in Beverly, Massachusetts. Prior to this I knew that there were CDMOs for pharma, but not for diagnostics. ADLM was an eye opener in terms of the world of clinical chemistry. And this isn't the only episode I recorded as a result of that visit. More in a couple weeks.*I don't remember his exact words, but it was along the lines of “We're helping visitors to ADLM become vendors at ADLM.”Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.Intro Music stefsax / CC BY 2.5 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Dr. Antonio Tito is the Founder and CEO of rEthix in Houston, Texas. rEthix is the world's first Liaison Research Organization (LRO) facilitating clinical trials in Mexico and Latin America.A search of clinicaltrials.gov shows that several large pharma companies are currently running trials in Mexico. rEthix is leveraging the ICH (International Council for Harmonisation) guidelines to run these trials in Mexico and use that data to support IND-enabling studies in the US. The ICH sets the guidelines that the FDA and equivalent agencies in other countries follow. COFEPRIS, the Mexico Ministry of Health, assesses the laboratories. rEthix also prepares those laboratories to pass that assessment.One advantage is cost. According to Dr. Tito, the cost of a trial in Mexico may be 15-25% of the cost for a similar trial in the US.Another advantage is meeting your goals for testing diverse populations.While it's common to run trials in Mexico, it is not common to start them there. …that is reflected only that only 3. 5 percent of new drugs are generated out of Mexico. And most of that has to do with communication. It's important that we have these type of channels, like the one that you are promoting, Chris, to teach people that it's okay to start your clinical trial in Mexico. You can approach the FDA about it. Be very transparent with the FDA always. But don't let the communication gap, not only the language, but also the culture… the paperwork is very extensive in Mexico.Don't let that stop you from generating data that you can later use for submitting to your investors and, obtaining more funding.Antonio also mentioned the opportunity to expand into Latin America with, for example, devices already approved in the US.For a 510K device that you already have obtained approval for in the U. S., You can easily transfer that into Mexico very simply because you have all the data that you've used, you've generated it to demonstrate that it works and is similar to other predicate devices out there in the market.And you've generated that information for your filing for the FDA. All that information can be then translated by our team and we can pass it on to COFEPRIS and the process is similar to the U. S. as well. But it's... You get the advantage of tapping into sometimes virgin markets where there is absolutely no other alternative to that device or to that diagnostic in Mexico or Latin America.So you have a winning hand in leveraging tactics to negotiate with, like commercializing agencies in those countries. Whereas in the U. S., you have more competition. It takes longer to get your market traction. So it's a win-win situation.Not subscribed yet? Let's fix that right here.Thanks for listening to the podcast and sharing this post.rEthix is developing an app…Let's say you have a new discovery in your research institute, and you've received approval from your tech transfer office to take your technology out into the commercial markets and you have partnered with us to help you get your innovation out. We are, as part of the app, what it's going to be, it looks at all the data that you have, implements AI, And determines what is the best pathway in terms of the study design, the type of protocol that needs to be developed for better for commercialization for your device or your drug or your diagnostics. Until the app is ready, they are building an incubator in Houston at the medical center to connect life science companies to share ideas and facilitate access to data that will generate traction for IRB studies in Houston.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Jamie Gier is the Chief Marketing Officer at Dexcare, responsible for establishing the company as a category leader in modernizing the way consumers discover, access, and choose their healthcare services – from digital search to booking an appointment. We enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion about marketing beginning with selling high-value products with long sales cycles and multiple decision makers. You've heard it before, but no one wants to be sold to. That's the expressway to the delete button. Jamie emphasized building relationships and educating, showing customers how their lives could be better. At Dexcare, her team learns a lot from early adopters about why they chose their product and continue to use it. Ask as many questions as you can, just like we talked about last week… We don't know what we don't know.Jamie and her team are taking advantage of thought leadership in a big way.We happen to spend a big portion of our media budget on LinkedIn, for example, that happens to be the channel where a lot of our buyers are, and there's a lot of thought leadership.And so if anything, we've really focused our paid media on a single channel and we want to get really, really good at that. And so that's where we're placing a lot of our investments, but it's one of many. We know as soon as we capture their attention, a relationship begins. And that's where we have to start developing even higher levels of trust and rapport beyond just what they see with us in a digital way….we spend a lot of time with our clients simply promoting their own thought leadership on these topics.That's number one. Two, we do spend time on building content that is education- rich.Measurement is important and of course. I asked her how she makes the case for the tactics that are harder to measure. Observation and paying attention. When you land a large deal because someone heard about you on a podcast, that's a pretty good sign. Not subscribed yet? Can we fix that?Thanks for spending some time here, either way.Jamie thinks that because of the emphasis on measurement, marketers have moved away from creativity. That took us on a little side trip to talk about Jimmy Buffett, who died right before this interview, and storytelling. I had written a piece for LinkedIn (not posted) about the impact JB had on my career. (DM me for details).Besides writing fun songs about pirates and exotic places, Jimmy's clever use of language to make emotional connections set him apart. Jamie said:The thing about Jimmy Buffett is he brought you into his world, or he went into yours. And that was the power of the words he used in his songs.With one top-10 hit (not even close to his best song) Jimmy Buffett built a business empire around his collection of memorable characters and events. We should try to do the same.What advice does Jamie have for marketers just getting started?* Join communities where you can learn. (I recommend SAMPS) and * Don't be intimidated by people with advanced degrees. They may know a lot in a technical field that took years of study. And you know (and love) marketing! Learn what you can from them, but also show them how you can help them with what you know. Science doesn't get sold without storytelling.Your deepest insights are your best branding. I'd love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.Intro Music stefsax / CC BY 2.5 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com