17. Academic Entrepreneurship: George Church - Professor @ Harvard / Core Faculty @ Wyss Institute
Guest: George Church (@GeoChurch) - Prof @ Harvard / Core Faculty @ Wyss Institute
Hosts: Chas Pulido (@AlixVentures), Alexander Titus (@BioeconomyXYZ), & Eric Dai
George Church leads Synthetic Biology at the Wyss Institute, where he oversees the directed evolution of molecules, polymers, and whole genomes to create new tools with applications in regenerative medicine and bio-production of chemicals. Among his recent work at the Wyss is development of a technology for synthesizing whole genes, and engineering whole genomes, far faster, more accurate, and less costly than current methods. George is widely recognized for his innovative contributions to genomic science and his many pioneering contributions to chemistry and biomedicine. In 1984, he developed the first direct genomic sequencing method, which resulted in the first genome sequence (the human pathogen, H. pylori). He helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 and the Personal Genome Project in 2005. George invented the broadly applied concepts of molecular multiplexing and tags, homologous recombination methods, and array DNA synthesizers. His many innovations have been the basis for a number of companies including Editas (Gene therapy); Gen9bio (Synthetic DNA); and Veritas Genetics (full human genome sequencing).
George is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is Director of the U.S. Department of Energy Technology Center and Director of the National Institutes of Health Center of Excellence in Genomic Science. He has received numerous awards including the 2011 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute and election to the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering.
w/ Special Guest Host: Alexander Titus
Alexander Titus is a genomic data scientist and technologist with a background spanning industry, government, and academia. He is the founder and CEO of Bioeconomy.XYZ, a biotechnology publication about great tech and the people making it happen. He's also a strategic business executive at Google Cloud, and previously he was the head of biotechnology at the Department of Defense.
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BIOS (@BIOS_Community) unites a community of Life Science innovators dedicated to driving patient impact. Alix Ventures (@AlixVentures) is a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting early stage Life Science startups engineering biology to create radical advances in human health.
Music: Danger Storm by Kevin MacLeod (link & license)
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