Episodes

40
April 4, 2023

VeriSIM Life: Using AI to build translational indices to push better drug moieties into clinicals

Jo Varshney, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of VeriSIM Life, a startup developing disease-specific simulation software designed to replace animal drug testing by using artificial intelligence. We talk about translational gap in drug discovery, the...
39
March 21, 2023

Osage University Partners- Funding university spinouts

Manny Stockman is a Partner at Osage University Partners. OUP exclusively invests in startups spun out of university research. We talk about the investment thesis of Osage University Partners; technology readiness challenges; lessons learned from...
127
March 7, 2023

Lucira Health

Debkishora Mitra and John Waldeisen are the co-founders of Lucira Health. Lucira Health, which was originally founded as Diassess, is the first company to get an FDA approval for at-home PCR based test for COVID. We talk about the story of Lucira...
37
Feb. 21, 2023

Legal 101 for deeptech founders; Understanding the basics; dilution, and safeguarding employee equity

Nick Dorsey and Amanda Gold are partners at Cravath, Swaine and Moore, LLP. Cravath has been known as one of the premier law firms in the US for more than two centuries. We talk about a wide variety of topics involving legal aspects for startups...
36
Jan. 17, 2023

Cuberg- Next generation Lithium metal battery technology for the electric mobility industry

Richard Wang, Ph.D., is the Founder and CEO of Cuberg, a startup building the world’s first aviation-certified lithium metal battery pack. Robert is also the CEO at Northvolt America, which acquired Cuberg in 2021. We talk about the current...
35
Jan. 3, 2023

Gradient- Building smart heat pumps that use better coolants to cool and heat the world

Vince Romanin, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CEO of Gradient. They are developing a new heat pump technology to address the impact that air conditioners impose on our climate. We talk about the problem with the current HVAC systems and air...
34
Dec. 13, 2022

Valitor- Engineering better medicines by leveraging its multi-valent biopolymer technology

Wesley Jackson, Ph..D., is the co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Valitor. Wes was the founding CEO and led the startup through its Series B financing where they raised over$30M to date. Valitor is a biotech startup that uses a...
33
Nov. 29, 2022

Translating lessons learnt on diversity from academia to startups and the tech world.

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III is the President Emeritus of UMBC (The University of Maryland, Baltimore County) who served as president from 1992 to 2022. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority...
Nov. 15, 2022

[REPLAY] Building the startup muscle for academic founders.

Martin Casado is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a pioneer of software-defined networking, and a co-founder of Nicira Networks. We cover the lessons learnt from Martin's journey as an academic entrepreneur founding Nicira and factors...
32
Nov. 1, 2022

Nucleate Bio- A collaborative student-led organization that facilitates the formation of pioneering life sciences companies

Anjali Ramaswami, Tobias Schmid and Miroslov Gasparek, are leaders at Nucleate Bio, a nonprofit educational organization that empowers the next generation of bio-entrepreneurs to launch successful life sciences ventures. Their program connects...
116
Oct. 16, 2022

Activate- Empowering scientists to bring their research to market

Matt Price is the co-founder and President of , a program teaching scientists how to bring their research to market. He was previously the Managing Director of Cyclotron Road, and comes with experiences in the  Renewable Energy space , Materials...
30
Oct. 4, 2022

National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC)- Funding dual-use hardware startups

Salvador Badillo-Rios, an Associate at the National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC). We talk about the origins of the National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC); funding priorities; criteria for funding; application process; and insights into best...
29
Sept. 20, 2022

Market intelligence reports for startups - Arkady Hagopian

Arkady Hagopian is an experienced professional in the market intelligence reports space both in industry and academic startup sectors. In this episode of lab to startup, we will talk about what market intelligence reports are; the building blocks of...
28
Sept. 6, 2022

Revolutionizing organ preservation and transplantation by mimicking antifreeze proteins of Arctic fish

Xiaoxi Wei, Ph.D (CEO) and Mark Kline, Ph.D. (CTO) are the cofounders of X-Therma, a biotechnology startup developing a breakthrough technology for regenerative medicine and organ preservation. In this episode of lab to startup, we talk about the...
27
Aug. 23, 2022

Building the Bay Area Life Sciences Startup Ecosystem

Regis Kelly and Doug Crawford have been instrumental in building the Bay Area life sciences startup ecosystem over the past two decades. They continue to grow this ecosystem, making it easier for aspiring founders to translate their research to...
26
Aug. 9, 2022

RH Capital (a Rhia Venture Fund): Investing in reproductive and maternal health

Alice Zheng is a Principal at RH Capital, a venture fund investing in early-stage high-impact companies across the reproductive and maternal health landscape. Alice holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and MD and MPH from the University of...
25
July 26, 2022

Caribou Biosciences- Developing CRISPR based genome-edited, off-the-shelf immune cell therapies for the treatment of cancer.

My guest today is Rachel Haurwitz, co-founder, President and CEO of Caribou Biosciences. Caribou is a CRISPR genome editing company spun out of Jennifer Doudna’s lab at the University of California, Berkeley. In this episode of lab to startup, we...
24
July 12, 2022

Nodexus- Benchtop single cell sorting and dispensing

Karthik Balakrishnan (CEO) and Anand Kesavaraju (Chief Strategy Officer) are the co-founders of Nodexus, a Biotechnology startup that is developing scientific tools to accelerate biological workflows and make them universally accessible. Their first...
23
June 28, 2022

Raydiant Oximetry- Preventing unnecessary C-Sections and making childbirth safer

Dr. Neil Ray is the Founder and CEO of Raydiant Oximetry, a medical device company that has developed a safe and non-invasive technology that directly monitors babies’ oxygenation during childbirth. This prevents unnecessary C-sections for women...
22
June 14, 2022

Ignite Immunotherapy- Success story of novel “build to buy” business model with Pfizer

Dr. David Kirn MD, is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Ignite Immunotherapeutics, which was recently acquired by Pfizer. David is a Physician-scientist and a serial biotech entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the industry with a focus on viral...
21
May 31, 2022

UbiQD- Leveraging quantum dots to improve crop yield & harvesting sunlight to generate electricity

My guest today is Hunter McDaniel, the founder and CEO of UbiQD, a startup exploiting quantum dots to improve agricultural yield in greenhouses and generating electricity by embedding them into windows. In this episode of Lab to startup, we talk about...
20
April 12, 2022

Calwave Energy- Unlocking the power of ocean by harvesting energy from waves

In this episode of lab to startup, we talk to Marcus Lehmann, the Co-founder and CEO of Calwave Energy. Calwave is unlocking the power of the ocean by harvesting the dense energy packed in waves, which is about 30-60 times more dense than solar or...
19
March 29, 2022

Horizon Partners- M&A for bootstrapped technology companies

Sandy Kory is a Managing Director and co-founder of  Horizon Partners; and most recently announced a new Seed Stage Venture Capital Fund HorizonVC, where he is a General Partner.  Sandy has been advising bootstrapped technology companies for...
18
March 8, 2022

University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners- Investing and supporting startups from the seed/early stages in academia in Japan and abroad.

Keis Ide is a partner at UTEC, a Japanese Venture capital firm investing in deep tech across the world. Keis focuses on innovative technologies as well as IT-enabled solutions. He spent 15 years in the US, half of which in Silicon Valley. He was...