Materially Better Tsung Xu

Ryan Graves is the CTO of Humble Bee Bio, a NZ-based early stage startup developing novel biomaterials to replace plastics. Ryan is on a mission and it was a lot of fun to dive into Humble Bee Bio’s approach and challenges as they develop their proof of concept material.
Note: I am late publishing this episode (was meant to be last week) because I was struck down with COVID, and am still recovering.

Outline
(03:50) How synthetic biology rapidly improved in the last 20 years
(09:34) How distributed research teams helps Humble Bee Bio move faster
(16:07) Properties of Humble Bee Bio's polymer
(19:26) Why the Australian solitary masked bee makes this unusual material
(28:06) Humble Bee Bio's beachhead market
(33:21) Using plants instead of microbes as biofactories
(41:13) Contrasting drop-in materials with better materials
(43:10) Vision for Humble Bee Bio

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EPISODE LINKS
Humble Bee Bio: https://www.humblebee.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/humblebeebio?lang=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humble-bee-ltd/

PODCAST INFO
A series of conversations about new performance materials and their applications. I believe that new materials will play a big role in unlocking innovation and solving pressing problems and this podcast helps surface insights and learnings from the frontier.
Website: https://www.tsungxu.com/podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3FXZPeLvyAZ5aeDtL3X1RC?si=7db4e89a52cc486e
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/materially-better/id1651542338
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tsungxu
CONNECT
Twitter: @tsungxu


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tsungxu.com

Antonio Castro Neto, dubbed the “godfather of graphene”, is a professor at the National University of Singapore. There, he directs two research institutes in 2D materials and functional materials, the latter as a co-director with Konstatin Novoselov, a Nobel laureate. He has also cofounded these graphene startups: 2D Materials, MADE Advanced Materials, and Graphene Watts.
Antonio is full of energy, especially as he chose to record this at 10pm Singapore time! His passion really comes through.

OUTLINE
(05:06) The first meeting of scientists after graphene's discovery
(13:56) Graphene powders and films
(19:53) The Center for Advanced 2D Materials
(22:07) Cofounding a startup with a novel graphene manufacturing process
(25:54) Why graphene quality matters
(29:29) The challenge with dispersing graphene into composites
(35:27) 2D Materials's lightweight graphene-kevlar helmet
(38:58) Graphene ink in smart clothing
(40:58) How another startup he cofounded aims to develop lithium sulfur batteries
(48:27) Co-directing a materials research institute with Nobel laureate Sir Konstatin Novoselov
(52:42) Materials as dynamic elements that impact the world

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EPISODE LINKS
Center for Advanced 2D Materials: https://graphene.nus.edu.sg/
Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials: https://ifim.nus.edu.sg/

PODCAST INFO
A series of conversations about new performance materials and their applications. I believe that new materials will play a big role in unlocking innovation and solving pressing problems and this podcast helps surface insights and learnings from the frontier.
Website: https://www.tsungxu.com/podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3FXZPeLvyAZ5aeDtL3X1RC?si=7db4e89a52cc486e
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/materially-better/id1651542338

CONNECT
Twitter: @tsungxu


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tsungxu.com

Melik Demirel is the co-founder of Tandem Repeat, a startup working on squid-inspired bioengineered materials, a professor in Biomimetic Materials, as well as the director of the Center for Research on Advanced Fiber Technologies, both at Penn State University.

OUTLINE
(03:23) Demonstrating unique properties of squid-inspired protein
(13:35) How Tandem Repeat's protein and fibers are made
(25:24) Go-to-market strategy and their first product
(29:13) Approach to scaling Tandem Repeat
(38:35) Performance composite biomaterials

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EPISODE LINKS
Tandem Repeat: https://www.tandemrepeat.com/
Center for Research on Advanced Fiber Technologies
Nature paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-020-0736-2
PNAS paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2120021119

PODCAST INFO
A series of conversations about new performance materials and their applications. I believe that new materials will play a big role in unlocking innovation and solving pressing problems and this podcast helps surface insights and learnings from the frontier.
Website: https://www.tsungxu.com/podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3FXZPeLvyAZ5aeDtL3X1RC?si=7db4e89a52cc486e
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/materially-better/id1651542338

CONNECT
Twitter: @tsungxu


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tsungxu.com

Max Mundt is the VP of Business Development and employee #1 at Insempra and a part-time venture partner for Amino Collective. He is a rare scientist-operator who thinks big about the future, and our conversation was a lot of fun!

OUTLINE
(03:51) PhD lacking application so he started building
(05:25) A revolution of matter, by biology
(13:25) Insempra’s novel approach to commercialize biomaterials
(22:44) Insempra's beachhead markets for lipids and proteins
(24:21) Partnering with incumbents and startups
(29:11) Being asset-light with contract manufacturing
(33:00) Venture advisory work at Amino Collective
(36:24) The future of biomaterials and self-improving bio-iPhones

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EPISODE LINKS
Max's Twitter: @maxmxndt
Max's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxmundt/
Insempra Bio: https://insempra.bio/
Amino Collective: https://www.aminocollective.com/

PODCAST INFO
Website: https://www.tsungxu.com/podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3FXZPeLvyAZ5aeDtL3X1RC?si=7db4e89a52cc486e
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/materially-better/id1651542338

CONNECT
Twitter: @tsungxu


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tsungxu.com

Materially Better will feature biweekly conversations about high performance materials and the ways they are being integrated into novel products.
I am really excited to deep dive with guests on this exciting future. My two part series of articles on performance materials were well received, and helped inspire me to start podcasting.
I’ve already recorded three episodes with leading founders and a world-class scientist, and have three more guests lined up.
Expect the first three episodes to drop in the week of November 7th!
https://www.tsungxu.com/podcast
Connect on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tsungxu


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.tsungxu.com