The Big Experiment

Is the answer to sustainable chemical manufacturing floating in our oceans? Ocean cyanobacteria, like plants, use sunlight as power to help them make complex chemicals.  Traditional industrial chemistry requires a lot of power and can be quite polluting. Cyanobacteria are actually more efficient at producing high-value chemicals, while capturing carbon dioxide rather than releasing it. In this epi...

What if the solution to chronic wound healing has been floating in our oceans for 600 million years? Jellyfish collagen isn't just different from the cow and pig-derived materials used in medicine today. It's actually better at healing human tissue. I sit down with Dr Andrew Mearns-Spragg, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Jellagen, who's proving this remarkable claim with har...

Can neuroscience finally catch up with the complexity of mental illness? Society faces a huge and growing burden from mental illness and impairment. Schizophrenia, for example, is a bigger socioeconomic burden than all cancers put together. We have medicines for some of these conditions, but typically they work well for some, not at all for many, and cause side-effects for others. One of medicine&...

Forget drilling—what if diesel could be grown instead? In this episode we head into the world of engineered biology with Paul Beastall, CEO of HutanBio . He explains how his team is cultivating an oil-rich microalgae, previously unknown to science, that thrives in desert heat, tolerates high salinity, and could transform the future of sustainable fuel. From modular algae farms that resemble vineya...

What if the future of computing isn’t silicon... but neurons? In this episode, we explore a radical new frontier where biology and technology come together — programming living neurons as processors. I am joined by Dr. Ewelina Kurtys of FinalSpark, a pioneering scientist bridging neuroscience and AI. We unpack the astonishing potential of bioprocessors —miniaturised clusters of human neurons that...

Three-quarters of women report that menstrual symptoms impact their daily performance, yet until recently, no one had looked at the brain's role in these symptoms. In this eye-opening episode I am joined by Emilė Radytė, PhD—Harvard and Oxford-trained neuroscientist, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and co-founder/CEO of Samphire Neuroscience. Emilė reveals how a woman's brain during PMS can...

Electrical monitoring and stimulation could revolutionise diagnosis and treatment for some of the most aggressive brain cancers and intractable neurological diseases. In glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive brain tumour that is hard to treat and almost invariably fatal, the impacts of an effective treatment would be huge. My guest in this episode, Dr Elise Jenkins, is working with a new class o...

Imagine that we could make tissues indistinguishable from those produced by humans or animals, at will, and at comparable cost to the natural products. With the rate of progress being made, it won’t be imaginary much longer. If we don’t need to kill animals for food, leather, or other products, then we reduce animal suffering. We increase biodiversity because we don’t need to devote huge land area...

In this episode of The Big Experiment, we are live, recording from the Synthetic Biology UK 2024 conference hosted by the Biochemical Society, at Hinxton Hall near Cambridge, home of the famous Genome Campus. Synthetic biology is the practice of manipulating biology to achieve outcomes that don’t occur naturally or in some cases are not naturally possible. Common examples include producing new pro...

Weight loss drugs are in the spotlight. Obesity is a huge and potentially profitable problem, attracting lots of scientific and medical resources. But there are circumstances where avoiding weight loss is crucial and where it is beneficial to put weight on. Cachexia is a serious condition affecting cancer patients, which is characterised by significant weight loss and muscle wasting. Appetite is o...

Heart valve surgery is one of the most complex procedures in medicine. Francis White and his company Heart Biotech Ltd are trying to change all of that, by making heart valves in a totally new way. This will make surgery simpler and more accessible globally. Building on the pioneering work of Professor Magdi Yacoub and colleagues, Heart Biotech are innovating the field by creating living tissue he...

This episode went live on World Menopause Day. Menopause is an inevitable aspect of life for half of the global population, but one that requires far more study. New genomic insights could empower women with better reproductive choices and insights into likely future health. In this episode, I talk with Dr Stasa Stankovic. She has a PhD in Genomic Medicine from Cambridge University, and is on a mi...

What role does 3D genomics have in drug discovery? In this episode I am joined by Hazel Jones, CEO of Enhanc3d Genomics, to find out more about this cutting-edge technology. Hazel is a dynamic and flexible senior leader with experience of oncology research, both in pharma/biotech and an academic/charity setting. Making her insights into the workings of not for profit and big pharma invaluable. We...

What does it take to get a new drug to market? I have been involved in the drug industry for 35 years. I’ve worked for big pharma like GlaxoSmithkline, contract research organisations (CROs) like Charles River and IQVIA, and for several biotech and “virtual” drug companies. I’ve consulted for many more. I now run a laboratory instruments company that supplies crucial equipment used by thousands of...

1 in 2 of us will be affected by dementia in our lives. Something so prevalent without a cure requires novel approaches for diagnosis. In this episode I am joined by Professor Zoe Kourtzi, from the University of Cambridge. Zoe is an expert in Cognitive Computational Neuroscience and a pioneer in translating Artificial intelligence to brain and mental health. We discuss new approaches to diagnosing...

Men’s fertility is falling and fast. In the last 50 years sperm counts are down by 60%. Yet this is still a topic that no one is really talking about. My guest in this episode, Lily Elsner, is the co-founder and CEO of Jack Fertility. They are trying to break the taboo with thier product, the world’s first postable sperm test kit. Lily discusses the importance of addressing male fertility and the...

This edition of The Big Experiment is a little bit different to the usual format. I'm on the road visiting the famous University of Cambridge Judge Business School to talk to people at the Ignite program.  It’s an intensive weeklong boot camp for early-stage founders, generally in tech and sometimes in biotech, but can be all sorts of different tech themes. Ignite is about business and risk,...

My son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 13. Which is why this episode is very close to my heart. There are big life-altering challenges for the patient and their family in managing type 1 diabetes. With limitations to the current insulin therapies that make the work of my guest in the episode, Mike Teiler, all the more important. Mike is the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at LeviCure...

The challenges of scientific entrepreneurship don’t end when you get funding. In fact, a whole new set of challenges arise, from finding labs, to building your team and more. In this episode I talk to Dr. Kärt Tomberg, CEO and co-founder of ExpressionEdits. She is now at that exact moment, where she has just secured £10 million of funding. So, who better to talk us through the pitching process and...

Would you have the guts to pitch directly to the customer to sell your idea? You need to be prepared to hear no a lot, and learn from the experience to adapt for the next time, to get the yes you need. This was the reality faced by my guest in this episode, Ruchi Sharma, CEO & Founder of Stemnovate Limited. She used that customer-first approach and eventually got the funding needed to start he...

It is a guilty secret that the pharma and biotech industry has a big carbon footprint. Single-use plastics are a huge problem. Sensitive experiments need clean, sterile labware. This has often meant using virgin plastic with little or no recycling or reuse.  Innovative approaches are needed to reduce plastic consumption in the lab. How bad is bad? On average, cell biologists produce several kg of...

Imagine being able to internalise the pharmaceutical factory into the human. You could avoid the contamination risks and need for purification in biologic production. In this episode I am joined by Dr James Dooley who is doing just this with his work at Aila Biotech. James and his team developed technology to drive the production of immune-regulating biologics at the exact site of disease. Through...

The global population is getting older and with that comes more disease. What if we could delay ageing as a way of treating those diseases? My guest in this episode is Janette Thomas, CEO of Five Alarm Bio Ltd., a drug discovery company focusing on novel approaches to anti-aging, with broad potential therapeutic applications. She discusses the applications of this approach and where the idea came...

Imagine having to climb a mountain every day just to get to school. This was the childhood of my guest George Adjabeng. George Adjabeng grew up in Ghana, the son of subsistence farmers. He excelled at chemistry in school and college, and emigrated to the USA to pursue a pharmaceutical career before turning entrepreneur. His successful company Ecodyst is now giving back to Ghana by donating equipme...

What is the future of DNA and gene synthesis? Before the covid pandemic, nucleic acids were mostly research tools. Terms like mRNA vaccines (nucleic acids as clinical agents) were relatively unknown. But since then, RNA and DNA have been thrust into the limelight for both the public and investors alike. How will the field evolve? My guest in this episode, Steve Harvey, is working at the forefront...