Hopkins Biotech Podcast

Alex Harding is a  Senior Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Strategy at Remix Therapeutics , a Boston-based biotech company developing small molecules that alter RNA processing prior to protein translation. Their REMaste r platform “enables the design of molecules that can selectively degrade RNA, enhance RNA expression, induce exon skipping or rescue genetic lesions.” Their tec...

The crab season is here! If you are a Baltimore resident, you might have enjoyed dozens of our famous blue crabs, perhaps dozens of dozens every year. If you are new to Baltimore, you must have been encouraged to try them. Blue crabs are indeed tasty, but other than their nice savor, what do we know about them? This week on Sci'more podcast, crab biologist Shaun Miller from the Maryland Depar...

Our episode features two leaders at the global specialty pharmaceutical company Kyowa Kirin. Kyowa Kirin has a particular focus on the discovery and development of novel, first-in-class medicines that have a profound impact on patients in multiple therapeutic areas. Rachel Soloff is an executive director of research with expertise in immunology and the discovery of novel monoclonal antibodies and...

McKane is a 5th year PhD student in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health  She is conducting her PhD project under supervision of Dr. Terri Powell ( https://www.researchbypowell.com/ ) trying to identify how multiple levels of support interact to influence positive sexual health among U.S. adolescents by analyzing nationally...

Dr. Michael Nedelcovych is a Vice President of Equity Research at Cowen Inc. , a diversified financial services firm that operates as a broker dealer and investment manager. Mike works on the large cap pharma equity research team – covering large, multinational pharmaceutical organizations –  evaluating the performance of those companies in order to make investment decisions. Prior to his role at...

Eric Vivier is an SVP, CSO, and co-founder of Innate Pharma , a company developing innovative immunotherapy approaches with the goal of eradicating solid and metastatic tumors in the body. Eric is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort and holds a Ph. D. in Immunology from the Paris University (Paris XI). After completing his post-doctoral fell...

Dr. Michelle Ols is a Director and the Head of Cell Therapy at Obsidian Therapeutics . Obsidian Therapeutics is a private, Cambridge-based biotech company focused on the development of engineered cell and gene therapies for a range of indications. Obsidian has also pioneered their proprietary cytoDRiVE™ technology platform that leverages drug-responsive domains (DRDs) to control protein function u...

Peter is a 5th-year PhD student from the Pathobiology program at Johns Hopkins School of medicine. As part of Dr. Laura D. Wood’s lab, his thesis is focused on to understanding new mechanisms of invasion of pancreatic cancer by using patient derived samples in organoid models. The decision to follow the Academic or Industry path has been always in his mind.  During his undergrad Peter worked in in...

Marisa is a fourth-year PhD candidate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Laboratory of Dr. Drew Pardoll.  After her undergrad, she worked as a technician in industry for almost 6 years before deciding to go back to Academia to Pursue a PhD. Her thesis involves studying the role of AMPA receptors in T cells in the context of autoimmune disease. She is as well the leader of Di...

 Dr. Greg Verdine is an eminent serial entrepreneur and investor in the life sciences industry. He has founded a number of companies and currently serves as President, CEO, and CSO of both Fog Pharma and LifeMine Therapeutics . Greg also worked in the venture capital industry as a Venture Partner with Apple Tree Partners, Third Rock Ventures, WuXi Healthcare Ventures, and Texas Pacific Group. Prio...

Beyond the Horizons is a mini podcast series about different career paths and relevant professional development topics to discover what lies beyond. Join Ken Igarza (MS Neuroscience), to learn more about his career journey as a NSF-GRFP Graduate Researcher.  Hosted by Ona Ambrozaite, Chemistry Ph. D. candidate at Johns Hopkins University, Co-Chair for the Graduate Representative Organization (GRO)...

Beyond the Horizons is a mini podcast series about different career paths and relevant professional development topics to discover what lies beyond. Join Dr. Samantha Black (PhD Nutrition Sciences), Editor-in-Chief at Science Board, to learn more about careers in writing and publishing.  Hosted by Marta Sliwa, Chemistry Ph. D. candidate at Johns Hopkins University and Project Operations Associate...

Beyond the Horizons is a mini podcast series about different career paths and relevant professional development topics to discover what lies beyond. Join Dr. Smiti Nathan (PhD Anthropology), Senior User Experience Researcher, to learn more about careers in UX Research.  Hosted by Dr. Roshni Rao, Director of PHutures at Johns Hopkins University. Brought to you by PHutures, an innovative and empathy...

Beyond the Horizons is a mini podcast series about different career paths and relevant professional development topics to discover what lies beyond. Join Dr. Abeer Saha (PhD History), Curator at the National Museum of American History, to learn more about careers in museums.  Hosted by Dr. Christine Kelly, Associate Director of PHutures at Johns Hopkins University. Brought to you by PHutures, an i...

Wei-Chiang Chen, PhD is an Associate Director of Bioprocess Analytics in the Genome Medicine Unit at Sanofi , developing cell and gene therapies for areas of high unmet need. Prior to joining Sanofi, Wei-Chiang held positions at several large and small biotech companies including Biogen , Solid Biosciences , and Flexion Therapeutics . Additionally, he earned his Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins, developi...

Dave is the CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of BioPhy, a healthcare fintech company committed to enhancing outcomes for patients and creating value for investors using their proprietary AI technology. Prior to starting BioPhy with his co-founders at the The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he received his MBA, Dave was a Senior Scientist in the Advanced Analytics and Technol...

Soufiane Aboulhouda is the co-founder and co-president of Nucleate , a new, student-run, non-profit activator program for the next generation of biotech founders. The mission of Nucleate is to train graduate students (PhDs, MBAs, Post-Docs, JDs, MDs, and Master’s) in company creation through a world-class network of advisors plus access to education, networking, and mentorship. The idea for Nuclea...

Joe is a fourth-year PhD candidate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Laboratory of Dr. J.N. and R.F. Siliciano.  If you are a Hopkins Biotech Podcast follower,  you know Joe as the podcast co-director, producer and host. This time we have the pleasure to have him as a guest and to know more about his exciting career. His PhD thesis involves characterizing the reservoir of l...

C.G. Moore, Ph. D., J.D., is a Partner at McBee Moore Woodward & Vanik IP, LLC., a boutique law firm based in Alexandria, Virginia, that specializes in intellectual property management in biotech, pharma, medical devices, and other life sciences-related industries. In this episode, C.G. describes his career path from experiencing the patenting process as a research assistant, to pursuing a Ph....

Gian is a fourth-year PhD candidate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience. His thesis under the supervision of Dr. Dwight Bergles focuses on studying the dynamics and functional significance of cortical remyelination in diverse mouse models of multiple sclerosis. Gian is a Senior Fellow at PHutures, a career and professional developm...

 Christy Wyskiel is the Senior Advisor to the President of Johns Hopkins University for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and the Executive Director of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures. JHTV is the division of the university responsible for technology transfer, industry research partnerships, and startup acceleration under the brand ‘FastForward.’ Prior to her appointment at JHTV in 2013, Christy...

Ben Portney, Ph. D. is a Senior Associate at Flagship Pioneering , a life sciences venture capital firm specializing in company creation for transformational technologies. Ben is an entrepreneur-scientist, having previously worked in several ventures during his time as a graduate student including NSF I-Corps , an equity research externship at T. Rowe Price, and co-founding the Entrepreneurship an...

Patricia Phelps, PhD is the Associate Director of Academic Career Services at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she oversees professional development training for graduate students and postdocs. Pat has had an extensive career in biomedical PhD career training, previously serving as the Associate Director for the Professional Development and Career Office (PDCO) at Hopkins, and establish...

Caroline Loew, Ph. D.  is the President and CEO of Glympse Bio , an MIT spin out company trying to change the paradigm of in vivo diagnostic and prognostic monitoring for a wide range of disease indications. Prior to running Glympse Bio, Caroline held a number of high-level positions within some of the top global pharmaceutical companies including Merck and most recently Bristol Myers-Squibb. Her...

Sam Semenkow, Ph. D. is a Director of Portfolio Intelligence at Bridge Bio, a unique biotechnology company that develops drugs in several modalities for a number of diverse disease areas. Prior to joining Bridge Bio, Sam was an Associate in the equity research group at Citi, a multinational bank. As an equity research associate, Sam covered a number of public biotech companies- applying valuations...