I AM BIO

The I AM BIO podcast has gone on a brief hiatus while we reimagine the format, dream up interesting topics, and dive deep with riveting guests. Listen for a sneak preview into the new season. 

Trailing in the polls this fall, President Trump dusted off the 2016 campaign playbook and went after the drug companies again. But channeling anger at the companies the whole world is depending on to end the pandemic was always dicey politics. Post-election, the Trump administration hastily issued a final rule setting Medicare Part B reimbursement rates at the lowest levels charged by counties in...

The diversity of our adaptive immune system is why people are reacting so differently to the novel coronavirus. No two people present the virus the exact same way to their immune systems. We’ve evolved in this way as humans to ensure no virus can eradicate our species. Hosted by Jim Greenwood.

Millions of travelers ignored public health warnings and packed into airports over the holidays to see their loved ones. As a result, U.S. hospitals are bracing for the deadliest COVID surge yet this month. Meanwhile, Sherlock Biosciences, which has already made history once with CRISPR, seeks to do so again with an inexpensive, accurate home test that could be a global game-changer.

One day before 16-year-old Izzy Thorpe-Wall takes her first dose of Vertex’s stunning Cystic Fibrosis breakthrough, Thorpe and her mother, Clare, open up about their emotional journey and one brave girl’s determination to stay healthy long enough to meet this day of her dreams. Hosted by Jim Greenwood.

Historic distrust of government institutions, a growing partisan disdain for peer-reviewed science, Russian bots, physical threats against public health officials, and an open spigot of online misinformation and disinformation raise the troubling specter that tens of millions of Americans will forgo COVID vaccination and forestall herd immunity in the United States. Learn how believers in science...

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which take its name from the center and brightest star in Orion’s Belt, is working on an RNAi therapy to destroy the genome of the novel coronavirus — and with it, its ability to replicate and kill. Hosted by Jim Greenwood.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier leads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work to safely vaccinate the country. Whether the question is who to vaccine first, how to restore trust, or how to administer two doses of a vaccine stored at -70 degrees to a nation of 328 million people, she’s got the answers.

Covid threatens those whose immune systems can’t make enough neutralizing antibodies to fight off the viral invaders. But what if scientists could make super-potent antibodies in the lab and infuse them into newly infected patients? That’s exactly what the first FDA-authorized coronavirus antibody treatment has achieved. Its maker, Eli Lilly, has generated clinical evidence that their therapy can...

As the vaccine race enters the homestretch, Pfizer and Moderna both announced that their mRNA vaccines was 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 during Phase 3 clinical trials. Emergency use authorization could be just weeks away. The National Academy of Sciences released an influential report about who gets vaccinated first while companies scale up vaccine production. The Academy makes a co...

While Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has kindled a global dialogue about the ravages of climate change and the role of airline emissions, a Colorado biotech is putting forward a jaw-dropping alternative to flight shaming: actual jet fuel with no carbon footprint. Hosted by Jim Greenwood.

Joe Biden’s election as 46th President of the United States is a chance to soothe our bitter body politic so we can unite to defeat an enemy that infects and kills without regard to partisan affiliation.

The 2020 election will be held both during and about a global pandemic. Democratic strategist Steve Elmendorf and Republican Rai Downs preview the stakes for the biotech industry and what the outcome will mean for America’s COVID response.

The first clinical study dedicated to preventing Alzheimer’s disease is now in its late stages. The participants are 300 members of the same Colombian family with a rare gene mutation that gives them a 100 percent chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Armed with this new data, could neuroscientists be closing in on an elusive breakthrough to defeat neurodegeneration?

As the pandemic lays bare the links between human and environmental health, neuroscience leader Biogen lays out the most aggressive fossil fuel elimination plan of any Fortune 500 company while doubling down on efforts to lead on clinical trial diversity and racial equity.

Biotechnology investors, armed with troves of data and “misfit” minds, have become key-decision makers in everything from when to open up the states to which medicines can turn the tide in this pandemic the quickest. As the BIO Investor Forum kicks off virtually today, a biomedical renaissance has Wall Street bullish on biotech’s future.

Overcrowded hospitals during the pandemic can pose treatment challenges for patients with other serious illnesses. As Kite Pharma CEO Christi Shaw says, “Cancer doesn’t stop in a crisis.” Neither do her company’s employees, who go to extraordinary lengths to get personalized CAR-T treatments to patients around the world. Hosted by Jim Greenwood.

The ability to produce COVID vaccines in record time only scratches the surface of what synthetic biology can do. Gingko Bioworks out of Boston is now 3-D printing millions of letters of DNA code and then using CRISPR to insert them into living cells, transforming what’s scientifically possible.

Two potentially deadly respiratory viruses — the coronavirus and the influenza virus — will test our health care system and American common sense this fall. As millions return to school, campus and work this fall, the 2020 flu season is shaping up to be something of a pandemic pressure test for our nation. Vaccinations, social distancing and mask-wearing will be the key to containing both flu and...

Need a dose of inspiration in a time of national tragedy? A remarkable biotech breakthrough from Global Blood Therapeutics offers fresh hope to patients living with sickle-cell disease.

For years, leaders on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense told Congress and the White House that it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, a pandemic would happen. Exploring the panel’s unheeded recommendations can give the United States a blueprint for what to do going forward to protect us from the coronavirus and future threats.

The pandemic has unleashed overwhelming levels of fear, isolation, anxiety and loss in our society. A CDC mental health survey this summer found that 1 in 10 people had “seriously considered” suicide within the last month. As America comes to grips with the severity of our ongoing mental health crisis, telepsychiatry has emerged as a virtual lifeline to help patients access treatment from home.

The engine powering Maryland vaccine maker Novavax is a recombinant nanoparticle platform that is impressing vaccinologists as well as government and nonprofit funders. Learn about the innovative biotech generating big buzz in the global covid vaccine race.

Patients with autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis have been forced to ration or skip doses of hydroxychloroquine during the pandemic due to shortages caused by off-label prescribing. Yet despite multiple FDA clinical studies that concluded the drug offers no clinical benefit against covid and may increase dangerous side effects; President Trump continues to use the bully pulpit...

As Moderna breaks the record for speed in starting the final stage of human testing for its covid vaccine, new BIO CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath tackles the thorny issue of how to best structure the historic Phase 3 clinical trial. The Boston biotech’s Chief Medical Officer reveals the strategy to test vaccine efficacy on communities of color and others hardest hit by the coronavirus. Hosted by D...