Bio Eats World
Biology is breaking out of the lab and clinic—and into our daily lives. Our new ability to engineer biology is transforming not just science, research, and healthcare, but how we produce our food, the materials we use, how we manufacture, and much, much more. From the latest scientific advances to the biggest trends, this show explores all the ways biology is today where the computing revolution was 50 years ago: on the precipice of revolutionizing our world in ways we are only just beginning to appreciate. Through conversations with scientists, builders, entrepreneurs, and leaders, host Olivia Webb (along with the team at Andreessen Horowitz), examines how bio is going to fundamentally transform our future. In short, bio is eating the world.
Episodes
Today's episode features Aviv Regev, PhD, the Head and Executive VP of Genentech Research and Early Development, and founding co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas. She is joined by Vijay Pande of Bio + Health.
Together, Aviv and Vijay talk about how Aviv's love of both abstractions and details led her to biology, how CRISPR really set the field into motion, and how AI could transform the process of biological and medical discovery.
Andrew Ng, PhD, a distinguished authority in the field of AI, is known for founding DeepLearning.AI and multiple other ventures. He also co-founded and led Google Brain and serves as an Adjunct Professor in Stanford University's Computer Science Department. In this episode, he is joined by Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health.
Andrew has thought deeply about the implications of integrating AI into many areas of our liv...
Carl June, MD, an immunologist and oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania, joins Jorge Conde, general partner at a16z Bio + Health.
Together, Carl and Jorge talked about Carl's pioneering work in CAR T therapy — including the terrifying moment where he thought he had accelerated one of his patient's deaths, how he started working in human immunology, and his take on where cancer treatment is headed next.
Dan Nomura is a distinguished professor at UC Berkeley and an Investigator at the Innovative Genomics Institute, specializing in Chemical Biology and Molecular Therapeutics. He serves as the Director of the Novartis-Berkeley Translational Chemical Biology Institute and founded Frontier Medicines and Vicinitas Therapeutics. He’s also a16z Bio+Health’s newest advisory partner.
In this episode, Dan joins general partner Jorge Conde an...
In this exclusive conversation from the Bio + Health BUILD summit, founding partner Ben Horowitz sits down with general partner Jorge Conde. They discuss everything from the inspiration behind Ben’s book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, how the open Internet was secured, the difference between wartime and peacetime CEOs, scaling culture, and understanding how bio and healthcare differs from other forms of technology.
Together, Lloyd and Vijay chatted about how AI could change the practice of medicine, and what the implications are for medical students now and in the future.
join Lloyd and Vijay as they discuss AI and medical education—from how students learn to how doctors become licensed.
Together, Margaret and Julie chatted about Margaret’s background — and how she taught herself to program — her time at Devoted, and the advice she gives to healthtech CEOs.
Join Margaret and Julie as they discuss building a developer-friendly environment in healthcare, introducing engineers to the complexity of the industry, and how AI might affect engineering in healthcare.
Together, Vijay and Zak talked about having been through AI winters and hype cycles before, and why they think this time could be different. They also talked about how AI could revolutionize the healthcare model — what Zak calls the “flipped clinic.”
Join Zak and Vijay as they talk about how AI could flip the clinic, how foundation models could quickly transform the discovery and development of drugs, and how Zak thinks about the fu...
Dan Rosenthal, a provider network expert and the newest advisory partner for a16z Bio + Health, joins Julie Yoo, general partner.
Together, they talk about the 101 and 201 of provider networks, tactical advice for digital health builders, and how AI could theoretically change the way networks are constructed.
The holy grail of company building is finding product-market fit. But what most people don’t tell you is that once you’ve found it, product-market fit brings its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to scaling rapidly and hiring the right executives at the right time.
Drawing from their extensive experiences, a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Databricks cofounder and CEO Ali Ghodsi sit down with Steph Smith of the a16z po...
When Greg started out in science, he heard other researchers referring to certain targets as “undruggable.” In response, he’s devoted his life to drugging the undruggable, cofounding the field of chemical biology along the way. After a robust career founding multiple biotechs and serving as the cofounder, chairman, and CEO of FogPharma, he is the newest venture partner at a16z Bio + Health.
Join Greg, Vineeta, and Jorge as they talk...
After his own health scare, Jeffrey got obsessed with how MRIs work—and decided that they were too unscientific to really track human health over time. In response, he built a new kind of imaging, creating a “digital twin” that can be tracked over time. And if health can be tracked over time, in theory it could eventually become as forecastable as the weather.
Join Jeffrey and Vijay as they talk about human imaging, health forecasti...
AI has the potential to save the world — that’s the thesis of Marc’s most recent article, linked below. This episode was recorded right after Marc published his article, live from a16z Bio + Health’s first summit.
Join Marc and Vijay as they talk about how AI can save the world, and where it can go wrong.
Additional reading:
AI is not just a sci-fi concept anymore; it's being woven into the fabric of healthcare, revolutionizing everything from research to patient care. It has the potential to create more streamlined and efficient processes. The challenge now is how we adapt and regulate this ever-evolving technology, while ensuring safety and trust.
Amy Abernethy, former Principal Deputy Commissioner at the FDA and now the President of Product Developme...
In this episode, taken from a live a16z event, Bio + Health general partner Vineeta Agarwala moderates a panel of UCSF faculty founders, including Michelle Arkin, Jimmie Ye, and Natalia Jura (full bios below). Together, they discuss fundraising, the decision to stay in or leave academia after founding a company, and their tips for managing the IP process.
Michelle Arkin is a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF, chair of ...
Today’s episode is with Mark Cuban, founder of multiple businesses, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, one of the sharks on Shark Tank, and cofounder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. He is joined by Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health.
Together, they talk market forces in healthcare, the importance of trust to patients, and Mark’s ideas to tackle the Gordian knot that is American healthcare.
Today’s episode is a cross-post with the a16z podcast. It features founders—Chris Severn, Florian Otto, Andrew Adams, Jade Chan, Jimmy Chen, and Fay Rotenberg—chatting with a16z podcast host Steph Smith, about how they're trying to reinvent the healthcare system, using fintech.
Additional reading:
- https://a16z.com/healthcare-meets-fintech/
- https://a16z.com/2023/02/07/healthtech-x-fintechs-biggest-prize/
- https://a16z.com/2022/06/01/...
Today’s episode is with Greg Meyers, EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb (or BMS). He is joined by a16z Bio + Health general partner Jorge Conde.
Together, they talk about how AI could transform drug discovery and development at a large biopharma company—and how a company might have to adapt to harness AI; modalities they’re excited about; and Greg’s do’s and don’ts for startups looking to partner wi...
Healthcare payments are difficult, confusing, and opaque. But Julie and David discuss the ways that technology could change that for the better, and where they see the greatest opportunity for founders to solve big challenges.
Additional reading:
- https://a16z.com/healthcare-meets-fintech/
- https://a16z.com/2023/02/07/healthtech-x-fintechs-biggest-prize/
- https://a16z.com/2022/06/01/payvidors-unbundled-opportunities-in-healthcare-fint...
In this episode, a16z Bio + Health investment partner Becky Pferdehirt chats with Robbie Majzner, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Stanford, and co-founder of Link Cell Therapies.
Together, they discuss Robbie's recent paper published in Nature. The paper outlines a new approach to develop logic gated intracellular network, or LINK CAR T cells, as a means to simultaneously enhance bo...
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