BIOS Alix Ventures

Professor Dane Wittrup attended the University of New Mexico as an undergraduate, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering in June, 1984. Wittrup went on to attend the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where he worked with Prof. James Bailey on flow cytometry and segregated modeling of recombinant populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Biology in 1988, he spent a brief time working at Amgen before becoming an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. He moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in September of 1999, where he is now the C.P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering, in addition to working with the Koch Institute as the Associate Director for Engineering.

w/ Special Guest Host: Jacob Becraft - Co-Founder & CEO @ Strand Therapeutics

Jake Becraft is a synthetic biologist and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Strand Therapeutics, and serves on its Board of Directors. Together with colleagues at MIT’s renowned Synthetic Biology Center, he led the development of the world’s first synthetic biology programming language for mRNA. Jake has been featured in Fierce Biotech, Bloomberg, the Boston Business Journal, and BioCentury, among others, for his vision and mission at Strand of applying this unique platform for real world disease applications. He has also been the recipient of prestigious national and international awards for his scientific and entrepreneurial achievements, including the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Award, the Andrew Viterbi Fellowship of MIT, Amgen Fellowship, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb 2018 Golden Ticket for recognition of Strand as an innovative startup. Beyond his work at Strand, Jake’s broader interests span synthetic biology, biologically engineered organism-machine interfaces, and the intersection of tech and biotech methodologies. He is an advocate among the life science entrepreneurial ecosystem for supporting young founders in biotech entrepreneurship. Currently, he serves on the advisory board of Starlight Ventures, an early stage venture firm, and also serves on the Executive Board of Public Health United, a non-profit focused on helping scientists better communicate their research for maximum impact. Previously, he served as a Science and Technology advisor to legislators in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Jake received his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering and Synthetic Biology from MIT and his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating Magna cum Laude with distinction. He is an author or inventor on numerous high profile publications, patents and white papers, including in top tier journals such as Nature Chemical Biology and PNAS.

Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement nor recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views & opinions expressed by guests are their own & their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them nor any entity they represent. Views & opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees & do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, nor its content sponsors.

Thank you for listening!
BIOS (@BIOS_Community) unites a community of Life Science innovators dedicated to driving patient impact. Alix Ventures (@AlixVentures) is a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting early stage Life Science startups engineering biology to create radical advances in human health.
Music: Danger Storm by Kevin MacLeod (link & license) 

Holden Thorp became Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals on 28 October 2019. He came to Science from Washington University, where he was provost from 2013 to 2019 and professor from 2013 to 2023.  He is currently a professor at George Washington University and on leave to serve as the Editor-in-Chief at Science.
Thorp joined Washington University after spending three decades at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he served as the 10th chancellor from 2008 through 2013.
Thorp earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from UNC in 1986. He earned a doctorate in chemistry in 1989 at the California Institute of Technology, working with Harry B. Gray on inorganic photochemistry. He completed postdoctoral work at Yale University with Gary W. Brudvig, working on model compounds and reactions for the manganese cluster in the photosynthetic reaction center. He holds an honorary doctor of laws degree from North Carolina Wesleyan College and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  
Thorp cofounded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, which developed VIVJOA (oteseconazole), now approved by the FDA and marketed by Mycovia Pharmaceuticals. Thorp is a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, a consultant to Ancora and Urban Impact Advisors, and is on the board of directors of PBS, the College Advising Corps, and Saint Louis University.  He serves on the scientific advisory boards of the Yale School of Medicine and the Underwriters’ Laboratories Research Institutes.
Thorp is the coauthor, with Buck Goldstein, of two books on higher education: Engines of Innovation: The Entrepreneurial University in the Twenty-First Century and Our Higher Calling: Rebuilding the Partnership Between America and its Colleges and Universities, both from UNC Press.

Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement nor recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views & opinions expressed by guests are their own & their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them nor any entity they represent. Views & opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees & do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, nor its content sponsors.

Thank you for listening!
BIOS (@BIOS_Community) unites a community of Life Science innovators dedicated to driving patient impact. Alix Ventures (@AlixVentures) is a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting early stage Life Science startups engineering biology to create radical advances in human health.
Music: Danger Storm by Kevin MacLeod (link & license) 

Darrell Irvine obtained an Honors Bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from the University of Pittsburgh. As a National Science Foundation graduate fellow, he then studied Polymer Science at MIT. Following completion of his PhD, he was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell postdoctoral fellow in immunology at the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine. He is presently a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is also an Associate Director for the Koch Institute and serves on the steering committee of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. Irvine is the founder of Elicio Therapeutics, Strand Therapeutics, and Ankyra Therapeutics. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the MGH Cancer Center, the University of Toronto Medicine by Design Consortium,  Venn Therapeutics, Alloy Therapeutics, Jupiter Therapeutics, Parallel Bio, Surge Therapeutics, and Gensaic Therapeutics.
w/ Special Guest Host: Jacob Becraft - Co-Founder & CEO @ Strand Therapeutics
Jake Becraft is a synthetic biologist and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Strand Therapeutics, and serves on its Board of Directors. Together with colleagues at MIT’s renowned Synthetic Biology Center, he led the development of the world’s first synthetic biology programming language for mRNA. Jake has been featured in Fierce Biotech, Bloomberg, the Boston Business Journal, and BioCentury, among others, for his vision and mission at Strand of applying this unique platform for real world disease applications. He has also been the recipient of prestigious national and international awards for his scientific and entrepreneurial achievements, including the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Award, the Andrew Viterbi Fellowship of MIT, Amgen Fellowship, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb 2018 Golden Ticket for recognition of Strand as an innovative startup. Beyond his work at Strand, Jake’s broader interests span synthetic biology, biologically engineered organism-machine interfaces, and the intersection of tech and biotech methodologies. He is an advocate among the life science entrepreneurial ecosystem for supporting young founders in biotech entrepreneurship. Currently, he serves on the advisory board of Starlight Ventures, an early stage venture firm, and also serves on the Executive Board of Public Health United, a non-profit focused on helping scientists better communicate their research for maximum impact. Previously, he served as a Science and Technology advisor to legislators in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Jake received his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering and Synthetic Biology from MIT and his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating Magna cum Laude with distinction. He is an author or inventor on numerous high profile publications, patents and white papers, including in top tier journals such as Nature Chemical Biology and PNAS.

Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement nor recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views & opinions expressed by guests are their own & their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them nor any entity they represent. Views & opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees & do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, nor its content sponsors.

Thank you for listening!
BIOS (@BIOS_Community) unites a community of Life Science innovators dedicated to driving patient impact. Alix Ventures (@AlixVentures) is a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting early stage Life Science startups engineering biology to create radical advances in human health.
Music: Danger Storm by Kevin MacLe

Stan Lapidus is an inventor and entrepreneur who currently serves on a number of healthcare and medical technology boards. 
He’s been founding CEO of three medical diagnostics companies. Two of them have been among the most successful diagnostics startups of all time: Cytyc Corp., which he founded in 1987 and which revolutionized early detection of cervical cancer through its development of the modern Pap test—the ThinPrep. The two ThinPrep prototypes are at the Smithsonian’s American Museum of National History. And, EXACT Sciences, which he founded in 1995, which pioneered non-invasive early detection of colorectal cancer through its Cologuard test. Since its introduction, Cologuard has become the fastest growing test in the history of the diagnostics industry.
Stan holds 37 patents, primarily in methods for early detection of cancer. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2014 for his work on the early detection of cancer. He also served as an instructor at MIT from 2001 to 2017.
‍Stan graduated from Cooper Union in New York City with a BS degree in electrical engineering.

Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement nor recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views & opinions expressed by guests are their own & their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them nor any entity they represent. Views & opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees & do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, nor its content sponsors.

Thank you for listening!
BIOS (@BIOS_Community) unites a community of Life Science innovators dedicated to driving patient impact. Alix Ventures (@AlixVentures) is a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting early stage Life Science startups engineering biology to create radical advances in human health.
Music: Danger Storm by Kevin MacLeod (link & license) 

David Epstein joined Seagen as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors in 2022, bringing more than 30 years of drug development, deal making, commercialization and people leadership experience on a global scale. Prior to Seagen, he was executive partner at Flagship Pioneering. From 2010 to mid-2016 he served as Chief Executive Officer of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, a division of Novartis AG.
Previously, David started and led Novartis’ Oncology and Molecular Diagnostic units. Over the course of his career, he led the development and commercialization of over 30 new molecular entities, including major breakthroughs such as Glivec, Tasigna, Gilenya, Cosentyx and Entresto.
David holds a B.S. Degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers University College of Pharmacy and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He serves as a member of the board of directors for OPY Acquisition Corp. I and Senti Biosciences, Inc.

w/ Special Guest Host: Brian Fiske - Co-Founder & CSO @ Mythic Therapeutics

Brian Fiske co-founded Mythic in 2017 & currently serves as Mythic’s Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to Mythic, he was a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Ohana Biosciences and a Senior Associate at Flagship Ventures, where he also co-founded KSQ Therapeutics. During his time at Flagship, Brian successfully led R&D teams to key milestones, recruited 25+ FTEs across all levels of seniority, and raised $34M across multiple rounds of financing. In 2016, he was nationally recognized for healthcare entrepreneurship by Forbes 30 under 30.
Prior to Flagship, Brian completed his PhD in biology in Matt Vander Heiden’s lab at MIT where he published over 10 papers in the field of cancer metabolism. He also worked closely with Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AGIO) on their cancer metabolism programs, which have since translated into four clinical programs that include two approved drugs. He holds an AB summa cum laude in Biochemical Sciences with a secondary field in Economics from Harvard University.

Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement nor recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views & opinions expressed by guests are their own & their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them nor any entity they represent. Views & opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees & do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, nor its content sponsors.

Thank you for listening!
BIOS (@BIOS_Community) unites a community of Life Science innovators dedicated to driving patient impact. Alix Ventures (@AlixVentures) is a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting early stage Life Science startups engineering biology to create radical advances in human health.
Music: Danger Storm by Kevin MacLeod (link & license) 

Vijay Kuchroo is the Samuel L. Wasserstrom Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Senior Scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Co-Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, at the Brigham Research Institutes, Boston. He is also an associate member of the Broad Institute, and a participant in a Klarman Cell Observatory project that focuses on T cell differentiation. He is the founding Director of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His major research interests include autoimmune diseases—particularly the role of co-stimulation—the genetic basis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis, as well as cell surface molecules and regulatory factors that regulate the induction of T cell tolerance and dysfunction. His laboratory bred several transgenic mice that serve as animal models for human multiple sclerosis. The Kuchroo laboratory was also the first to describe the TIM family of genes, and identified Tim-3 as an inhibitory receptor expressed on T cells, which is now being exploited for cancer immunotherapy. He was first to describe the development of highly pathogenic Th17 cells, which have been shown to induce multiple different autoimmune diseases in humans. Kuchroo is the lead author on a paper describing the development of Th17, which is one of the most cited papers in the field of Immunology.
Kuchroo came to the United States in 1985, as a Fogarty International Fellow at The National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD for one year, before joining the department of pathology at Harvard Medical School, as a research fellow. Later, he joined the Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a junior faculty member in 1992.
He obtained his degree in Veterinary Medicine from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Hisar, India. Subsequently, he specialized in pathology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia, where he obtained a Ph.D. in 1985. He received the Fred Z. Eager Research Prize and medal for his Ph.D. research work at the University of Queensland. Based on his contributions, he was awarded the Javits Neuroscience Award by the National Institutes of Health in 2002 and the Ranbaxy prize in Medical Research from the Ranbaxy Science Foundation in 2011. He was named Distinguished Eberly Lecturer in 2014, and obtained a Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty Lecture/Prize in 2014.
Kuchroo has 25 patents and has founded 5 different biotech companies including CoStim Pharmaceuticals and Tempero Pharmaceuticals.  He also serves on the scientific advisory boards and works in advisory capacity to a number of internationally recognized pharmaceutical companies including: Biocon, Syngene, Pfizer, Novartis and Glaxo-Smith-Klein (GSK).

Alix Ventures, by way of BIOS Community, is providing this content for general information purposes only. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement nor recommendation by Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, or its affiliates. The views & opinions expressed by guests are their own & their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them nor any entity they represent. Views & opinions expressed by Alix Ventures employees are those of the employees & do not necessarily reflect the view of Alix Ventures, BIOS Community, affiliates, nor its content sponsors.

Thank you for listening!
BIOS (@BIOS_Community) unites a community of Life Science innovators dedicated to driving patient impact. Alix Ventures (@AlixVentures) is a San Francisco based venture capital firm supporting early stage Life Science startups engineering biology to create radical advances in human health.
Music: Danger Storm by Kevin MacLeod (link & license)