Biofounders – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Episode highlights in 5-min video

* MeliBio started as a precision fermentation company yet pivoted towards a plant-based product to avoid remaining as a “garage science project” for too long, without fulfilling their mission.

* Darko experienced first-hand the hurdles of building not one but two manufacturing facilities in his previous jobs. He’s now outsourcing that for MeliBio and focusing on building a great team that improves the science and the brand for their customers.

* Coming from a place of scarcity of resources, Darko is the only biofounder I’ve heard talk about the importance of using venture capital as a launchpad, which means making the right decisions to reach profitability.

PS: HAPPY 4th-year BIRTHDAY, MeliBio 🥳!! Looking forward to trying out Mellody on my pancakes very soon 🍯.

Christopher is the founder and CEO of EdenBio, a startup building a Machine Learning platform to help biotech startups have higher yields in precision fermentation.

In this episode:

1. How to face the recession as a biotech startup


2. All about EdenBio


3. Rock-paper-scissors in the biotech startup environment


4. Why some biotechs scale better than others


5. Will biology be predictable one day?

Follow me on Twitter @SofiasBio for more biotech updates!

"Keep all of your fundamentals strong and for sure you'll find a place in cell ag". Irfan is currently a Ph.D. candidate and New Harvest Fellow at the Engineered Biomaterials Research Laboratory at the University of Vermont where he is tissue engineering cultured meat on plant-based scaffolds.

In this episode:

• from mechanical engineer to tissue engineer


• Irfan's research in plant-based scaffolds


• fundamental vs applied research


• why plastic is so great that biomaterials haven't fully replaced it yet

Find me on Twitter @Sofiasbio for more bio stories!

"Talk to as many people as you can and don't be afraid to reach out. Naturally they'll become your mentors because they'll see you grow"--Subaita Rahman, cofounder of Nucleate Dojo and the Dojo House (the global community for biotech undergrads and the first-ever co-living house for young scientists).

In this episode:

• Reverse-engineer your path to be a biotech founder


• The biotech environment in Toronto


• Why Subaita founded BioDojo (now Nuclete Dojo) with her friends

Find me on Twitter @SofiasBio for more updates on what I'm building, creating, and learning.

"You can work on incredibly interesting and difficult challenges, make money, and have a fulfilling career while improving people's lives and the planet's life. So what's stopping you from joining this movement?"--Cai Linton, CEO and cofounder of Multus Media, UK-based startup accelerated by IndieBio NY in 2020.

In this OBio episode:

• Insights from Cai's previous work experience in academia research and at an IP law firm


• How Multus Media uses Machine Learning to optimize the development of their growth media


• Advice for aspiring biotech founders

Find me on Twitter @SofiasBio for more biotech content.

Yadira es una científica Mexicana que estudió su doctorado en inocuidad alimenticia en Canadá. Hace unos años, se adentró a la industria de agricultura celular y fundó Cell Ag Canada. Ahora es la directora de colaboraciones en New Harvest, una organización de agricultura celular, sin fines de lucro, reconocida internacionalmente.

En este episodio:

• Breve introducción a la agricultura celular


• La historia de Yadira


• Retos en la industria


• Ideas locas

Links mencionados en el episodio:

• Bistro In Vitro - menú de alimentos hechos a través de agricultura celular


• Self Made - queso hecho con bacterias del microbioma humano


• Bite Labs - carne de celebridades, hecha a través de agricultura celular

"Be more conscientious of how our buying choices could make people's lives better and impact the world"—Alan Perlstein, CEO and founder @CaCultured, @indbio SF21.

In this OBio episode:

• Alan as a founder


• Lessons of a biotech CEO


• Patenting


• Ethics of cellAg

"Stay humble, biodesigners"—Jake Wintermute

Jake is a synthetic biology teacher and researcher currently based at the CRI in Paris, France. Outside of studying antibiotics and the human microbiome, his interests range from wood as the perfect biomaterial, to making biotech more accessible.

As I’m interested in scicomms, Jake’s charismatic tweets and synbio jokes really caught my attention. Plus, I couldn’t help my curiosity about his recent role as a synbio evangelist at Ginkgo ;)

In this episode:

• elegance in science


• what the first-ever synbio evangelist does at Ginkgo Bioworks


• bringing biotech to the mainstream


• what makes a good scientist and a great biotech entrepreneur

Zimri is the CEO and founder of Bucha Bio, a biotech startup growing biomaterials using bacterial nanocellulose and plant-derived proteins. They were part of Indiebio, have raised over 250k, and are working on expanding their library of biopolymers.

In this episode:

• Zimri’s story as a founder


• All about BuchaBio


• Scaling up a biomaterials startup

IndieBio is the place where entrepreneurship meets science, founders from diverse backgrounds connect, and solutions to the world’s biggest problems come to life. Arvind Gupta is the founder of Indiebio and Po Branson is the managing director. They both wrote the most creative book I’ve ever read: Decoding the world, on the science of our future.

In this episode:

• Why microbes are so cool


• The scientific method applied in daily life


• Other main takeaways from the book

Follow Amy on Twitter @Amyli0