Nucleate Podcast

Time Stamps: (2:37) Introduction to Kendra’s professional journey and how she found her path into science  (7:30) Understanding the consumer mindset and patient perspectives (13:05) Key parameters that shape important decisions  (17:45) Core lessons on bridging the gap between science and business  (25:30) Introduction to Bayer and Kendra’s  role as Senior Vice President of Business Development an...

  Time Stamps 01:42: Jodie’s early interest in science and the defining moment   03:31: Starting from the bottom in clinical research shaped her leadership style as a CEO 08:32: How she joined Q32 Bio and then took them public 10:11: Jodie’s inspiration to get involved with challenging companies 11:42: The emotional reward of biotech: the long hours are worthwhile to save lives   13:46: Navigating...

Time Stamps [00:00] Laurence explains biotech to a five-year-old  [01:55] Early life in the UK and first steps toward biotech  [02:47] How The Double Helix and Celltech shaped his path  [07:15] Moving from bench science to Cell and a wider view of research  [13:04] Learning business development at Millennium [15:30] Why relationships matter in biotech deals  [17:43] How Millennium changed from pla...

Time Stamps (0:55) Introduction to Michal’s background and her professional journey  (7:58) How Michal leveraged tech skills to break into computational biology  (13:15) Her experience at Compugen working on early AI-enabled drug discovery   (19:52) Challenges startup founders face and strategies to overcome them (25:19) Michal’s personal experience as a founder at Anima Biotech (32:52) Resources...

Time Stamps 1:37 Introduction to Szabi’s journey from economics to healthcare  3:23 Szabi’s early startup experience at Tresorit  5:27 Key takeaways from his first venture 11:46 What led Szabi to pivot into healthcare and how he managed that transition 14:37 Introduction to Turbine 17:10 Example of running large-scale experiments in collaboration with Merck  19:17 Explanation of the main phases of...

Time Stamps 1:58 Merrick Smela's Early Influence 03:36 Ovelle's Founding:  Travis Potter and Merrick Smela 05:07 Travis Potter's Motivation After Facing Fertility Struggles 06:44 Underfunding of IVG 07:48 Finance/Biotech Commonalities 09:15 Scientific Co-founder Role: Merrick Smela 09:56 Using Statistics in Design 12:25 Definition of IVG 12:54 Ovelle's Mission to Revolutionize Infertility Treatmen...

In this episode of the podcast we sit down with Claire Smith, Partner at SpringTide. She reflects on her journey from a biological engineering student at MIT to her current role in venture capital, and the key lessons she’s learned along the way. Claire explains SpringTide’s investment scope, introduces companies from her portfolio, and shares what drives her investment decisions. The conversation...

In this special panel episode recorded in Zurich, the founders of Apricot Bio, Michael Zering (CEO), Lucas Pelkmans (Scientific Founder), and Independent Professor Andreas Wicki from the University of Zurich explore the new field of functional precision oncology—an approach that goes beyond genomics to test how living cancer cells actually respond to treatment. The conversation covers the limits o...

Time Stamps: 01:22 First spark for science   05:09 Burnout with academia & turn to activism   10:18 Who should pursue a career in science   13:31 Leaving academia for industry & biotech   17:36 Rethinking drug development timelines   22:11 “Chief drug hunter” philosophy   24:39 What makes a good drug hunter   30:42 Third Rock Ventures  35:26 Curie Bio’s model & “freeing the founders”   42:52 Forwa...

Time Stamps [00:00] Titus’s ethos of doing hard things with good people [00:43] Introduction to the Nucleate Podcast and Alexander Titus [01:22] Titus discusses his post-college pivot and solo travel through Central America  [04:47] How travel philosophy maps to Titus’s career  [05:56] Titus discusses his experience living in a casino and learning risk management via blackjack [12:39] Resilience a...

Time Stamps [00:44] — Introduction to the Nucleate podcast and Mikael Dolsten. [02:42] — Mikael shares his upbringing and academic journey at Lund University, highlighting the influence of mentors. [05:46] — Transitioning from academia to the pharmaceutical industry, driven by curiosity and patient needs. [19:18] — Reflecting on the pressures and leadership style of managing thousands of scientist...

In our latest episode, we sit down with Dr. John Maraganore, the legendary founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and one of the most influential voices in modern therapeutics. Raised in a Greek immigrant family in Chicago, John’s journey is a rare blend of scientific obsession, business acumen, and relentless optimism. We cover his whole career journey. From his early days at Biogen, where he in...

In this episode, Allyson Berent, Chief Science Officer, Foundation For Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST), shares her remarkable journey from a career in veterinary medicine to becoming a leading advocate and innovator in the field of rare disease drug development, inspired by her daughter’s diagnosis with Angelman syndrome. She recounts the challenges of obtaining an early diagnosis, the emoti...

  In our latest episode of the Nucleate Podcast, we sit down with Joe Horsman, Investor at Madrona VC, to explore his unique path from academic researcher to biotech operator and ultimately to venture capital.   Joe shares how growing up in Seattle shaped his passion for science, why he pursued a PhD in biochemistry, and what it took to stand out when transitioning into industry. From early roles...

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, Armon Sharei shares his journey from early life experiences in California, Iran, and Dubai to pursuing higher education at Stanford and MIT, ultimately leading to a career at the intersection of science and entrepreneurship. The conversation explores his motivations to make a positive impact on the world, the transition from academia to founding his first c...

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, we are joined by Prof. Dr. Dominik Rüttinger — oncological surgeon, MD/PhD, and Global Head of Research & Early Development Oncology at Bayer Pharmaceuticals. We talk about his journey from the operating room to biotech startups and global pharma leadership, navigating a 10% success rate in oncology drug development, building unbiased decision frameworks fo...

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, Armand Cognetta, founder and CEO of General Proximity, shares his compelling journey from a directionless college student to a biotech entrepreneur. Drawing from personal experiences of academic struggles and scientific curiosity, Armand discusses how his passion for chemical biology and small molecule drug discovery led him to create a groundbreaking proxi...

From science to startup: real talk on biotech founding paths. For many early-stage biotech founders, that’s where the real challenge begins—and that’s where Persephoni Bio Partners comes in. In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast , Hillary Schultz and Dr. William Heath share how their unique journeys from clinical medicine and pharmaceutical R&D to early-stage investing led them to co-found Perse...

Follow us at https://signal.nucleate.xyz 0:03:41 - Dr. Pao discusses losing his father to colon cancer at age 13, which motivated his career in medicine 0:05:30 - Describes his early academic training, including his PhD work on Gamma Delta T cells 0:09:54 - Begins discussing the EGFR mutation discovery in lung cancer research 0:13:16 - Shares the story of being "scooped" by other researchers when...

Follow us at https://signal.nucleate.xyz/ [0:00] Peter begins by discussing his upbringing in a New Zealand university town. [2:39] He realizes he is not suited for bench work during his PhD and discovers a passion for computational analysis. [4:30] Campbell joins the Sanger Institute and participates in one of the first cancer genome sequencing projects using new technology. [8:00] He describes t...

Follow us at signal.nucleate.xyz 2:23 Raj describes growing up in India as a land of hustlers and the importance of being aggressive to advance oneself. 6:37 Discusses the challenges of the current biotech funding environment and the importance of being capital efficient. 11:17 Explains his career transition from large pharma to biotech, highlighting his ability to translate breakthrough science i...

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, Aikium co-founder and CEO Eswar Iyer joins host Anastasia Janas to explore how drug discovery can move beyond structured targets to engage the disordered proteome. Aikium is developing SeqRs, programmable, sequence-specific binders that can selectively target intrinsically disordered regions of proteins, unlocking new therapeutic possibilities in cancer, ne...

In this episode, Anastasia Janas and Paula Lengerke Diaz sit down with Dr. Uli Stilz, Head of the Bio Innovation Hub (BIH) at Novo Nordisk, to explore how strategic partnerships and emerging technologies are redefining the future of drug discovery. Uli reflects on his journey from chemistry and molecular biology to biopharma leadership, and shares how the BIH is accelerating breakthroughs in cardi...

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, Anastasia Janas sits down with Shelby Newsad, Partner at Compound VC, shares her journey from a small town in Appalachia to investing in some of the most transformative technologies shaping biotech and beyond. Starting as a first-generation college student with a pre-med background, she realized that commercialization is key to translating scientific resear...

Follow us here https://signal.nucleate.xyz/ 02:16 - Dave discusses his early career path and how he got into science  04:41 - Dave’s work on the Human Genome Project  13:38 - Founding Cofactor Genomics 16:42 - Discussing Pioneer Fund and its investment approach  48:58 - Thoughts on AI in health and biology  58:27 - Advice for founders in the current challenging funding environment  1:09:04 - How P...